Travel Resources
Need a little help planning your Travel Trip? With over four years of non-stop traveling around the world experience, here are some of my top travel resources that I go to and use on a regular basis. I hope this information is useful to you in planning and starting your Travel adventure, from a weekend break to a full on Round the World Trip the principals of planning a trip remain the same. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me. Enjoy and happy travels.
Flights
Finding and booking a flight can be a stressful experience. With so many online air travel comparison sites coupled with your local Travel Agency, where do you start? My first port of call is always skyscanner to get a general idea of how much flights start at and when the cheapest time to fly is. If you are flexible with dates I would recommend starting your search by looking at the ‘whole month’ option. You’ll be surprised how often the prices of flights differ over a few day period. Once you have decided dates and skyscanner has produced results, check on the actual airlines website to see if it is any cheaper. I then crosscheck prices with Expedia to make sure the prices align. A couple of small tips to bear in mind, If you search for flights one day and then come back a few days later, CLEAR your Cache and Cookies. Also Tuesdays and Wednesdays supposedly produce the cheapest results when searching. I’m not entirely sure if this is true, but hey every little helps. Oh and one final piece of advice: Sign up to all and any Frequent Flyers Miles programmes, they really are worth the time and effort.
Accommodation
Again, with thousands of sites where do you start? For Budget Travel I always start with Hostel World and Hostel Bookers (they have slightly different listings) where I book one or two nights to get acquainted with the area and then maybe look for an alternative when I’m there if its required. Other resources that I use are CouchSurfing (Check it out, it’s not always on a couch) and Airbnb (Great for more expensive destinations and cities)
If you’re a backpacker looking to cut down on accommodation costs, try Work Exchanges. They vary in requirements all over the world, but generally for 3-5 hours of work per day you’ll receive accommodation (in some cases even food) Workaway, wwoof and helpx are good places to start and a fantastic way to meet people and travel for free.
Travel Money
Access to money is getting easier and easier all over the world, with only the remotest of places not having ATMS. I suggest taking a Credit Card and your regular Cheque Card to withdraw money at your destination. Do not keep them together; if one gets stolen or lost you’ll still have a backup. To keep up to date with the latest exchange rates I use XE.com. For those isolated areas I always travel with about $200.00 in small bills for emergencies.
Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance is a must wherever you go. Make sure that it covers your destination and all the activities that you plan to do – Scuba Diving, Skydiving, Skiing are a few things that are not always included. If you do need medical attention while away and get charged for it, always keep the receipts in order to claim on the insurance. Check out Travel Guard.
Travel Guides
Whether you like a good old fashioned book, or an app for your smart phone Travel Guides for me are essential. I don’t follow them religiously but are an invaluable resource for pre-travel planning, Local Transportation, Historic and Interesting reading for the area and even accommodation. Personally I don’t use them for food, but thats up to you. Check out Lonely Planet Guides or Foders Guides for any destination. Websites include Travelfish, Wiki Travel, Trip Advisor and Lonely Planet.
Travel Gear
Well… I can certainly help with that. Here I aim to provide as much valuable information on the best travel gear and most appropriate travel to take with you. For your female counterparts check out Travel Fashion Girls Packing Lists.
Here is a general list of Travel Gear that I travel with on a regular bases