Travel resources are essential when planning any trip. Do as much research and planning to ensure your trip is smooth and the best it can be. Here are some that I use for my travels.
Culture Trip
Culture Trip is a U.K.-based company where you can discover off-the-beaten-track places from a global network of local writers, filmmakers, and photographers. They have articles, podcasts, and videos on culture, food, entertainment, heritage, accommodation, and unusual attractions. The site also allows you to create itineraries from what is available on their site. When complete, you can view your trip plan detailed on a map.
Atlas Obscura
Atlas Obscura, based in Brooklyn, should be one of the first places you check for travel inspiration. When the website published a book, it shot to the top of the bestseller lists. This one takes you off the beaten track and has many obscure travel destinations you usually wouldn't find. An excellent way to check if their recommendations are good is to look up your city and see what they tell you to visit. Check out both their book and website.
Wikivoyage.org
Wikitravel was the forerunner of Wikivoyage. Wikivoyage is part of a great organization supporting free knowledge for everyone, and contributors are allowed to insert opinions; they have to be “fair.” You can find lots of good information on their site.
Travel Blogs
Travel blogs are great. This blog focuses on people with high sensitivity, and I will give you information I found helpful in dealing with that while traveling. Other blogs focus on solo travel, backpacking, food-related, history, traveling with kids, or traveling with disabilities. Whatever point of view you would like to consider, you can find blogs that cater to that, which can make the difference from an ok trip to a brilliant trip.
Fodors
Fodors have been writing travel advice and publishing guidebooks for over 70 years, which puts them at the forefront of the travel industry. Fodors prefer to hire local writers instead of travel writers to make each guide book authentic. Their books are fun and great for exploring and planning new destinations.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is to travel what Google is to search. On their site, you can find reviews on everything to do with travel. It is one of the biggest platforms for booking accommodation, travel experiences, restaurants, and transportation. When reading reviews, try to do an overview without getting bogged down in the hundreds of reviews. I find wading through the reviews exhausting, but it is a great place to start planning where you will stay, what you will do, and putting together your itinerary.
TripIt
TripIt will organize all of your travel plans in one place. Forward email confirmations for your flight, hotel, car, or anything you book, you forward it to plans@tripit. It sees the email the confirmation is coming from and automatically adds it to your account. You can even upload PDFs, photos, boarding passes, digital passport QR codes, and more to your travel plans. They have a free and paid version.
PackPoint
PackPoint is a brilliant idea. Enter your destination and date of travel; then choose from a list of activities you plan to do. PackPoint checks the weather forecast for that date and creates a packing list for you around the destination, weather, and list of activities. You can add to it or edit it, but it essentially does most of the work. Once you are happy with your list, you can email it to any friends traveling with you, so they can also have a list they can work from.
Google Flights
Google Flights is a great place to start looking for flights. It has a clean and easy-to-use layout, which allows you to compare flights on different carriers, dates, and routes. A brilliant feature is that you can search entire continents! Enter the city you are flying out from, and then in the TO section, put Europe or the United States, and it will show you prices for all the different cities. It also includes a travel advisory.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a travel search engine where you can find the best deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals. It is the same as Google Flights, but sometimes Skyscanner will discover prices that Google Flights seems to have missed. As with everything, you should always research through more than one site before you book anything. Also, check the airline website directly to compare.
Hotels.com
Hotels.com has one of the broadest accommodation selections online, including independent and major chains. It is always good to check more than one place for prices before booking. You can also read reviews from fellow travelers. ** Note that you can sometimes get better rates if you go directly to the hotel website. Always check there before making your booking.
Expedia
Expedia is a great place to book hotels, but it excels with package deals. You can get a discount by adding flights, hotels, cars, or other transportation. When researching your trip, price out what each portion would cost separately, and then go to Expedia to see how much of a discount you can get by doing a package with them. Sometimes the savings can be significant.
World Nomad's Travel Insurance
National Geographic and Lonely Planet recommend WorldNomads.com. The company is based in Australia and provides travel insurance to travelers from over 140 countries. They offer the best coverage for the price you pay. The insurance was designed for adventurous travelers with cover for overseas medical, evacuation, baggage, and various adventure sports and activities. Their insurance is affordable by focusing on what you need and leaving out what you don’t. Also, while you are away, if you plan on extending your trip, you can contact them and buy more coverage until you return.
Lonely Planet
The Lonely Planet Guides app works when you purchase one of their guide books. You scan the barcode on the book from the app, and you are good to go. It is well worth it because you have everything at your fingertips. A great feature is that it works offline; you can view the maps, currency converters, and phrasebooks without worrying about finding the nearest wifi spot.
Rome2Rio
Rome2Rio is based in Australia and is an excellent tool for figuring out how to get from one place to another anywhere in the world, by plane, train, bus, boat, or car. It will give you the quickest route and combine different types of transportation, so you have options. It also works with remote locations, you can put in any address, and it will guide you.
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