We’ve spent years and hours planning our trips. During our travels, we’ve learned which companies, products, and services provide the best experiences. Having access to the best travel resources can make the difference between travel experiences that provide great memories versus frustration. To help you with your travel planning, we’ve compiled this page that includes a number of our favorite travel resources. You’ll find an overview including photo/video gear, travel credit cards, and products we bring with us on trips. Our list of recommendations is curated from personal experience, so you can trust that it’s the best that we have found.
Disclosure: Some of the listed travel resources are affiliate links. There is no extra cost to you, but we may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. This helps us to keep this website and our social channels up and running. Read our disclaimer and privacy policy for more information.
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GENERAL TRAVEL RESOURCES
Planning your travel should be easy and budget-friendly. We’ve compiled a list of resources we use to book travel that’ve saved us time and money. Check out our list of favorites and start planning your next adventure today!
Expedia: Expedia is our number one favorite travel resource tool when we begin planning our trips. Get your flight, hotel, rental car, and vacation package booked conveniently through Expedia. It’s our Swiss-Army knife for travel planning.
TripAdvisor: When we seek things to do and places to eat, TripAdvisor is our favorite resource. We rely on users reporting their experiences to guide our travel choices.
See how easy it is to book a trip on Expedia. Explore your future trip below:
HOTELS & LODGING
Agoda: Agoda offers discounted rates at approximately 2.9 million hotels and private homes worldwide, ranging from budget options to five-star luxury stays. You can book everything from tents to treehouses to tropical villas in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. In addition, Agoda lists more than 1.5 million private homes, including city apartments, family homes, and pool villas.
Trivago: Trivago’s hotel search lets you compare hotel prices in just a few clicks from over 300 booking sites.
VRBO: With over 2 million bookable vacation rentals, VRBO connects homeowners with travelers looking for something more than a hotel for their trip.
FLIGHTS
FareDrop: ✈️ Don’t miss out on incredible travel savings.
Sign up for FareDrop’s Limited plan and receive top flight deals straight to your inbox .
👉 You’ll get notified of the best flight deals available from your home airport.
👉 You’ll even get to test out the deal search feature.
Try it out now ✈️ Sign up for FareDrop to get top flight deals
AirHelp: Since 2013, AirHelp has assisted over 10 million passengers in understanding their rights and receiving up to €600 in compensation for delayed or canceled flights.
Google Flights: We appreciate the flexibility of Google Flights and utilize this resource frequently as well.
Skyscanner: Looking to score amazing flight deals? With Skyscanner’s “Whole Month” and “Everywhere” options, you’ll have no trouble finding the lowest prices on flights across the globe. You can keep your travel plans flexible by selecting “anywhere” as your destination. Skyscanner compares millions of flights, ensuring you’ll always get the most competitive prices.
GROUND TRANSPORTATION
Discover Cars: Discover Cars provides hassle-free online car rental bookings. With Discover Cars, the quoted price includes all mandatory fees, taxes, and extras, ensuring there are no unpleasant surprises when you reach the rental desk.
Omio: Omio is an innovative travel platform that simplifies booking journeys across Europe, enabling travelers to conveniently compare and book train, bus, and flight options all in one place.
GetTransfer.com is the world’s number one marketplace for booking transfers, long-distance travel, cab rides, hourly chauffeured car rentals, and delivery services worldwide. Millions of customers every year! Unique and available before payment: best prices, vehicle ratings, hospitality ratings, car photos, and descriptions.
Welcome Pickups: Welcome Pickups offers stress-free transportation solutions worldwide. Whether you’re arriving at the airport or need a ride to your next destination, Welcome Pickups ensures a seamless experience with professional drivers, reliable vehicles, and a warm welcome at every step. They also provide a tailored travel experience complete with local tips, recommendations, and a friendly face to meet you upon arrival. With options to pre-book and customize your journey, Welcome Pickups makes exploring your destination easy and enjoyable.
Car Rental Hacks and Tips: Check out our car rental tips guide to help you have a car rental experience that saves time, money, and stress.
Rome2Rio: Rome2Rio is our go-to website to discover detailed information on various routes from place to place and find out the approximate cost for each option.
FlixBus: Our go-to resource for finding bus transportation, particularly in Europe.
Eurail: Find Rail transit in Europe.
TOURS, SIGHTSEEING & ATTRACTIONS
FreeTours.com: FreeTours.com offers a range of complimentary walking tours in cities worldwide, providing insightful and engaging experiences led by expert local guides. Discover hidden gems and fascinating history without breaking the bank.
Get Your Guide: Find, compare, and book sightseeing tours, attractions, excursions, things to do, and fun activities worldwide. With over 60,000 activities listed, you’re sure to find something that piques your interest. Take the hassle out of planning and conveniently book and secure your tickets for exciting tours, awe-inspiring excursions, and so much more with GetYourGuide!
Groupon: Save up to 70% on 1000s of local restaurants, shopping, events & more. Find great deals on the best activities & things to do. Great deals for local dining and spas.
Tiqets: Tiqets has brought millions of people to museums and attractions worldwide with its instant and intuitive mobile booking technology. Every day, Tiqets works with thousands of renowned museums, thrilling attractions, and hidden gems to offer unforgettable travel experiences.
Viator offers a wide range of thoroughly vetted listings for various activities and tours. It is a fantastic resource for finding specific tours and activities wherever you may be. With over 100,000 different offers, there is something for everyone, whether you’re interested in food tours, skip-the-line tickets, or full-day experiences in different cities. In addition to tours, Viator also offers services such as airport transfers, wifi hotspots, and city tourist passes.
PACKING
BACKPACKS:
Our advice is to pack as lightly as possible when traveling. We’re big fans of backpacks and have gone on multi-week adventures with just a backpack for each of us. We prefer Osprey backpacks, and usually travel with 24 liter packs. These are our preferred backpack sizes, as we can take them on most airlines.
We’ve been using Osprey backpacks for well over ten years and have several packs in various sizes. Their design offers considerable flexibility, and the build quality is excellent. Each of our packs are still as good as the day we bought them.
LUGGAGE
For carry-on luggage, we’ve moved over to Kenneth Cole Reaction Renegade Luggage. This 20-inch carry-on suitcase is an expandable 8-wheel spinner design in a hard side case.
PACKING CUBES
If you’ve not yet used packing cubes, you’re missing out. We started using these during a 3-week backpacking adventure in the UK and they’ve become part of our standard travel items. Shacke Pak 5-piece Packing Cubes come in multiple sizes and are a great addition to keep clothes organized and tightly packed.
ROAD TRIP ESSENTIALS
Check out our post about Road Trip Essentials For Couples. You’ll find over 50 ideas to make your future road trips more enjoyable.
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa
Our favorite travel credit card. It offers big sign-up bonuses. Chase Ultimate Rewards never expire and can be transferred into dozens of different partner points systems. Yes, it tops our favorite travel resources for credit cards. We’ve used points from our card to fund free stays in London for a week and even booked a two-week cruise, all with credit card points.
Travel Insurance Master: A Great site for comparing travel insurance plans.
Let Travel Insurance Master recommend the best value travel insurance plan for your next trip, so you can get back to the fun part, planning and ultimately enjoying your vacation!
XE Currency Converter: The XE Currency Converter is a handy tool that allows you find out exchange rates between currency from different countries. An app version for your phone offers offline features and automatically updates the most recent foreign exchange rates when you’re back online.
ROADTRIP PLANNING
Smappen: Smappen is an online mapping software tool that we use to plan trips by visualizing travel times and distances. This fun and effective tool lets you create isochrone maps (areas reachable within a certain time) and radius maps (areas within a certain distance). We’ll use this tool to identify where we can travel if we don’t want to road trip for more than 2 or 3 hours from our home. It’s really cool!
CAMPING RESOURCES
Harvest Hosts: Overnight RV Camping at 4475+ Farms, Wineries, Breweries, Attractions, and More!
Campendium: This is our most frequently used portal for finding camping destinations when we travel in our RV.
Bluetti Portable Power Generators: BLUETTI Portable Power Stations are the ultimate solution for portable power needs. Equipped with multiple outlets, including AC, DC, carport, and USB, you can conveniently charge all your devices, from phones and laptops to refrigerators, CPAP machines, heaters, and more.
ViAir Air Compressor: The VIAIR 400P-RV Automatic Compressor Kit ensures a safe and hassle-free RVing experience. With this incredible equipment, you can say goodbye to the frustration of finding air for your RV tires. Connect the compressor kit directly to the battery on your truck, and you’ll have more than enough hose to air up your tires effortlessly. It comes with us whenever we travel in our Airstream. It’s the perfect addition for RV enthusiasts seeking peace of mind to keep RV tires adequately inflated.
HIKING RESOURCES
Trekking Poles – We always bring our Black Diamond trekking poles with us on hikes. They have been part of our essential gear for hiking since 2012.
PHOTO & VIDEO GEAR
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Great For Travel Videos
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Must-Have for GoPro
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External Microphone for iPhone
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Primary Rating:
4.4
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Primary Rating:
4.5
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Primary Rating:
4.4
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$319.00
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$99.99
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$279.00
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TECHNOLOGY
Anker power bricks and cables are the ultimate travel companions, allowing you to significantly reduce the size and weight of your backpack. With just a single wall outlet, you can effortlessly charge all your essential devices, from your laptop and GoPro to your phone, camera, and even a power bank.
Anker, a trusted manufacturer renowned for their high-quality cables and power bricks, ensures that you never have to worry about running out of battery during your adventures. Make sure to bring along a power bank as well, with a maximum size of 20,000mAh, allowing you to stay powered up even during long flights. Anker truly enhances your travel experience by keeping you connected and powered wherever you go.
ENTERTAINMENT
Audible: We’re big fans of Audible, an ultimate paradise for audiobook enthusiasts! We always have a book or two on our devices for listening while traveling. It tops our favorite travel resources for entertainment.
RV & AIRSTREAM RESOURCES
PODCAST EPISODES – RV TRAVEL
California RV Show – Shopping for our Travel Trailer
Airstream Maiden Voyage (and Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort)
Harvest Hosts – Our First Experience
TRAVEL IDEAS & TIPS
Articles
100+ Travel Tips From Top Travel Bloggers (Traveling Gossip – featuring The Places Where We Go)
33 Expert Travel Planning Tips From Adventurous Travel Bloggers
Stopover vs Layover – Plan Better Flight Experiences
Passports – Second Passport Advantages
Planning an Overseas Trip? Here’s What You Should Do
Road Trip Essentials For Couples – 50+ Ideas For Better Adventures
Podcast Episodes
Do Something New – 10 New Ideas For Adventures
BLOGGING RESOURCES
Make Money Blogging – Learn How You Can Monetize Your Website With Monumetric
Thanks for visiting our page of favorite travel resources!
Art & Julie