Travel Resources

Welcome to my travel resources page. I’m sharing my go-to online travel planning resources and tools for cheap flights, finding hotel deals, vacation rentals, unique accommodations, transportation, tours, and more.  

Hotels & Accommodation

Before deciding where to stay, I check pricing in a few resources first to compare.  

• Booking.com is my number one place for hotel stays. They offer competitive pricing and the more you book with them, the more perks you receive. Some hotels have good cancellation policies in case travel plans change. Their Genius loyalty program also offers rewards and discounts which I like.  

• I’ll also check Expedia and Agoda once I’ve found a hotel I want to stay in. It’s good to compare pricing to ensure you’re getting the best deal overall. 
• Jerne With Me is my lesser-known gem, offering exclusive deals at premium hotels and resorts worldwide. It’s free to sign up, and I’ve stayed at some beautiful places using them.

Unique Accommodation

If I’m taking a trip with a group or planning to stay a week or longer, I tend to look for accommodation with a kitchen, and generally more space. There are also trips when staying in a mountain lodge, a treehouse in the rainforest or a woodland cabin makes the trip extra special.

• Vrbo is my go-to resource for this type of unique accommodation. They have a range of options globally, and places can be filtered easily based on certain criteria such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking etc. I’ll also compare the pricing and value against Airbnb and Booking.com.

Transportation Resources

Flights

• Skyscanner – no matter where I’m going, I start my search with Skyscanner. This allows me to search for all available flights on my select dates. It’ll also show a low-fare calendar and cheaper days to fly if your schedule is flexible. If you’re open to discovering a new destination, Skyscanner also has a cool feature where users can type “everywhere” from their desired airport. It’ll pull up some cheaper fare suggestions to check out. It also allows users to track the prices of flights with alerts.

• I also check Google Flights if the prices seem too high, or if I want to track the prices on a specific date, like over a holiday weekend. I enter my dates and hit the ‘track prices’ toggle. Google Flights sends an email alert every time the price goes up, or down. It’s a great way to grab a deal if you plan ahead.

Budget / Low-Cost Airlines

Budget airlines don’t always appear on comparison sites. These are some of the airline companies I check, depending on where I’m travelling to.

Car Rental

• For car rentals in the United States, I always check Discover Cars. They show comparison pricing between the most well-known and local car rental companies, making it easy to check each deal.
• If I’m heading to Europe, Auto Europe does the same thing by comparing brands with pricing.

Train & Bus Tickets

• I typically use two companies when I’m travelling in Europe and require train tickets. The first one is The Trainline. It’s a comparison site and will include buses if it speeds up the journey time.
• The second one is SNCF if I’m going to be travelling in France.

Tours & Experiences

I regularly check the two companies below as they offer a range of activities around the globe. From simple tours to full experiences there are thousands of options to browse.

• GetYourGuide
• Viator

City Breaks

If you’re heading on a city break it’s worth researching which activities you’d like to do, as a city pass may provide the best value. CityPASS and Go City cover the most popular cities and are worth checking out. City Sightseeing also offers hop-on hop-off bus tours.

Package Deals

If you’re looking for package deals like flights and hotel combinations, or an all-inclusive getaway there are a number of travel resources I check online.

• Cheap Tickets is operated by Expedia and offers package deals in a range of destinations.
• Booking.com also offers package and flash deals that are worth comparing.
• Cheap Caribbean – as the name suggests, this company specialises in the Caribbean vacations (Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean).
• On the Beach specialises in getaways from major UK airports.
• Cruise Direct is a comparison site offering the latest cruise deals.

I hope you find a great travel deal, and happy planning!