Travel Resources
Plan Your Trip
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I’ve spent thousands of hours planning trips and searching for the best deals to maximize the value of every itinerary— you could say I’m a little obsessed! If you want to save yourself hours of research and money, my tried-and-true travel resources are below.
Click on the section you’re interested in to start planning your next trip.
Flights
Flights are usually the biggest expense so I’m always on a hunt for a good deal! These are the sites I run back to over and over again to find and book affordable flights.
Searching & booking with cash: Have a budget but no destination in mind? Google Flights lets you search a world map for the cheapest deals. If you know where you want to go, you can search for the dates with the lowest airfare.
Searching & booking with cash: Kiwi can help you search and book on major airlines and the regional airlines that don’t always show up on other searches. This is especially helpful if you’re flying to less traveled destinations.
Researching direct flights: Have a destination but don’t know what cities have direct flights into that destination? You can answer that question with Flight Connections. Once I know that answer, that gives me other hubs from which I can research flight deals into my destination airport.
Searching for award travel: When I’m looking for point redemptions for flights, PointsYeah is one of the first search engines I use. It’s fast, allows me search for a range of dates to find the best redemption, and provides clear instructions on how to transfer points from my credit card to the airline.
Searching for award travel: Roame is another option to search for points redemptions on flights. Its search engine includes airlines that PointsYeah doesn’t so I always check both.
Flight deal subscription & award travel: The Daily Drop sends informative newsletters and flight deals to subscribers. Their Pro service also lets users search for points deals with airlines and hotels!
Flight deal subscriptions: If you love flying where the deals are, Dollar Flight Club sends flight deals to subscribers. I’ve found $400 flights from the West Coast to Europe frequently through this service! I am a lifetime subscriber!
Flight deal subscriptions: I like that Thrifty Traveler‘s emails are easy to read and tell you exactly how to book the deal.
Use promo code: JUSTWANDERLUST for $10 off your first year with Thrifty Traveler
Researching seats: If you want to know which seats are the best ones to sit in on your next flight, head to SeatGuru. It tells you which seats have more legroom, less recline, or are less than ideal due to the proximity to the lavatories. I’ve used this site for over a decade!
Accommodations
I’m always looking for affordable accommodations with stellar reviews. My go-to sites to find and book accommodations are below.
Booking.com has accommodation options in both major cities and off-beat destinations at fair prices. They also make it easy to communicate with your host or hotel directly through the platform. I’m a fan!
Agoda has accommodation options in 200+ countries/territories. It also runs flash deals on its site at times helping you score a great deal.
VRBO has vacation rentals in 190 countries. Rentals here can also be less expensive than rentals listed on AirBnB.
Airport Transfers
It’s reassuring to have an airport pickup pre-arranged so you can land and head straight to the hotel. If I’m looking for transfers, I book them with these companies.
Booking.com makes it easy to book airport taxis at fair prices all over the world. Book early for the best prices.
Welcome Pickups connects travelers with local drivers all over the world who do airport transfers and in-town transfers.
Activities & Tours
If you want a shortcut to finding tours and day trips, these booking sites make it easy.
Viator has comprehensive lists of tours and day trips for many cities. It’s easy to book, you can generally cancel for free if it’s before 24 hours, and you can communicate with the local tour company from this platform.
TripAdvisor makes it easy to book top tours and day trips, especially if you’re already researching things to do in a city.
GetYourGuide has some of the popular tours and day trips but also some you won’t find on the other sites. It also often has very competitive pricing so it’s worth checking out.
Staying Connected
If you want to make sure you’re securely connected on your travels, get a VPN and eSIM for your travels.
VPN: Having a VPN on the road is important especially if you’re connecting to public wifis; I’ve been using Surfshark as my VPN solution for years.
Sign up for Surfshark with my link for up to 3 months of free VPN!
eSIM: Airalo is an e-sim provider that allows you to be connected as soon as you land in a new country.