Booking Resources

All journeys need adequate planning. The blog helps sell the destination and experience but the journey is a part that needs to be comfortable physically and financially. Here are some of the sites I use when planning:

The travel holy trinity (Flights, Accommodation, and Car rental):

SkyScanner.com or Kayak.com: Uses an advanced search algorithm to search across all Airlines and travel agencies to bring you options. Now both companies have the options to search hotels and car rentals on the site as well. So this is a great start off point for planning and booking.

Accommodation Specific:

1. Trivago.com: This is my go to website which lists all the hotels in a destination based across multiple companies such as Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia.com, Agoda.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, Venere.com, the hotels actual website, and others. The Search functions allow you to sort by ratings and stars among the usual search areas. The Majority of hotels are listed here but not all.

2. Asiatravel.com: This is a new site I have started using across Asia. A lot of the top hotels here are not listed above for the Asian region and for the ones that are sometimes the prices offered here are cheaper.

3. Loyalty Programs: Most of the sites mentioned above in number 1 offer loyalty programs. Like hotels.com offer 1 night free accommodation if you have booked and stayed 10 nights through them. This works out cheaper sometimes in the long run but more beneficial if you travel quite a bit for work so you can reap the benefits from that for your free personal night down the track. Airlines loyalty programs also offer for example star alliance member’s points for staying at partner hotels. I will tell about loyalty programs in a separate article.

Cheaper Accommodation:

4. AirBnB.com: This has changed the game since its arrival and you can score some good deals here in great apartments, houses, or villas. Good for Europe, Australasian, and American travelling options. You can score some great villas in New Zealand and Greece, Riads in Morocco, and apartments in UAE here.

5. CoachSurfing.com: : I have never tried this myself but friends using it have reported that it is safe and works out okay. The occasional weird awkward moments are unavoidable so this is a choice if low budget is your plan.

Flight Specific:

1. Google Flights: Using the Worlds’ biggest search engine’s flight product to search for a flight is simple and effective. The results are fast and it is just as effective as Kayak and Skyscanner.

2. Frequent Flyer Points: : Flying with benefits is a must so make sure you are registered with Star Alliance and Oneworld. Collecting points for flights and hotel stays is a must these days and used correctly results in a free flights, lounge access and other benefits. Please read this article for more on Frequent Flyer Clubs:

3. Airlines Campaigns: A lot of Airlines have campaigns around big events. Expect a January sale and midyear sale. You can score some great deals with Qatarairways.com, Norwegian.com during these sales periods. For example Oslo > Singapore ($500 US return in February).

4. FlightChecker at MoneySavingExpert.com: For European travellers, you can try this site allowing you to choose your destination, and then look for the cheapest dates to travel. Unfortunately, this only searches budget airlines in Europe, but covers a lot of ground. Most options end up out of London.

5. FlyCheapo.com: will tell you who flies from where, and destinations you can get to on a budget airline from anywhere in Europe.

Destination information and Resources:

1. Wikitravel: The go to site for important information around a city and country. Population, currency, language and all the other essential Intel needed before locking the country into the plans.

2. TripAdvisor.com: Travellers reviews and experience for all things travel related. This is touch and go for me, a lot of the reviews are not fair or accurate. Some reviewers are negatively skewed because the reviewer saw a bug on a tropical island in summer, or there was too much fish in the sea while snorkelling, or there was too much sand on the beach. It is a nice comical relief some of the reviews. Stick to top level contributors (Level 4 and above) that tend to have more travel experience and credible reviews.

3. XE.com (Currencies): If you bouncing across countries then this is a good bookmark to have to keep you on top of the exchange rate.

4. Travellers Health : Good site to read and check which vaccinations you need. Also advises against any medical threats in an area like Zika, Ebola etc.