TRAVEL RESOURCES
If you’ve ever wondered which travel tools I use the most – I’ll reveal this secret to you in a moment.
I have compiled a list of sites, tools and programs that will make travelling much more effortless.
For several years of travelling, I checked dozens of applications and portals – the list below is the ones that have worked well each time during my journeys.
May they serve you the best!
Where to book a stay?
Where to book a stay?
Booking.com is a booking portal where you can find accommodation offers around the world. Massive database of facilities, good mobile application and frequent promotions for regular users.
Hostelworld is a booking site with a massive base of hostels around the world. Specializing in hostels, it sometimes offers places in locations not available on Booking.com. A must-see for people who want to travel on a budget.
Couchsurfing is a portal that brings together hosts who welcome travellers to their homes for free. The idea of couchsurfing is based on the exchange of experiences between people from all over the world.
✈️ Where to find a cheap fly?
Azair.cz is my favourite website for finding the best low-cost airlines (including European Ryanair, Wizzair, EasyJet). It allows you to search for connections with transfers, with different arrival and departure airports. Azair.cz has allowed me to save a lot over the years on flights within Europe (but it is also doing well in Asia).
Skyscanner is the largest and most recognizable price comparison engine – next to Momondo and Kayak. It has a lot of possibilities to configure and set your alerts. Before you buy your tickets, check if Skyscanner can not get them cheaper.
Kayak is the last of the prominent (next to Skyscanner and Momondo) flight price comparison websites. In my experience, Kayak is the least useful, but it is still worth verifying before making a purchase. It works well in long-distance flights.
FlightConnections is my discovery of the season. This website allows you to check where planes fly from any airport in the world. The page shows the available flights, the days on which the flight will operate and the airlines.
Google Flights is a search engine helpful in planning a trip. It’s not as reliable as Skyscanner or Momondo, but you can’t miss its vast database. It works very well on local flights (especially in the USA). It allows you to set alerts about interesting connections.
💰 Where to exchange a currency the cheapest way?
Curve is a payment card that replaces all other cards in your wallet. The Curve is the “go-between” – instead of carrying many cards with you – all you need is the Curve. It allows for the cheapest possible currency exchange abroad.
If you order a free card from this link, you will get a £ 10 bonus as a gift from Curve.
I have been using it for several years to pay by card and withdraw funds from ATMs abroad. It offers interbank exchange rates, which allows you to save a lot on exchanges on the go. Using the Revolut card is free.
It seems to me that the Curve card is more suitable at the moment.
How to prepare a transportation plan?
How to prepare a transportation plan?
Citymapper is an application for planning intra-city transport from point A to point B. This application focuses on the largest urban centres in the world (cities like London, New York, Tokyo). A very convenient tool if you are in a given city for the first time.
The Man in Seat 61 is a blog about travelling by rail around the world. For many destinations, the author gives a way to get to this place by train from London. The blog helps you plan long-distance train journeys. The Man in Seat 61 is one of the best databases of this type.
The best maps and navigation
The best maps and navigation
Google Maps are the world’s most popular free maps from Google. An indispensable assistant when navigating in a foreign place. Thanks to the review system, it also helps to compare restaurants, hotels, etc. You can use offline maps thanks to the phone application.
OpenStreetMap contains maps created by an international community. In my experience, they are more accurate than Google Maps (more selected objects, fewer errors). You can use the maps on the phone (also offline), thanks to the MAPS.ME application.
Mapa-turystyczna.pl is a project thanks to which you will be able to plan trips along the mountain trails of Poland. On the website, you can save your routes, navigate in the mountains, check the altitude profiles of the track. It’s a convenient tool for planning trips to the mountains.
The best tools for travel and sightseeing planning
The best tools for travel and sightseeing planning
If you do not want to plan your visit to a given place on your own – use GetYourGuide and find an offer for a ready trip. GetYourGuide is a compromise between planning the entire trip yourself and using a travel agency. It’s worth taking a look here for inspiration – you can create your plan based on the offered tours.
TripAdvisor is the world’s leading travel planning website and app. We cannot forget about this portal, although I use his recommendations less and less often. The most popular attractions are too crowded for me to feel comfortable in them. It’s a good tool for verifying previously arranged plans.
Atlas Obscura is an excellent tool for finding less obvious attractions in the destination you are going to. It is worth looking at the portal in the final stage of travel planning to complete the visit plan with unusual places you will remember for a long time.
Showaround is a site of local guides who show visitors around their cities for a small fee. Anyone willing can offer guided tours. Showaround is an excellent alternative to tours offered by professional guides.
Notion is an application and web tool that allows you to organize your notes, manage information, and create your databases. I have been using Notion for a long time as my primary tool for organizing most areas of life. You can check how the program works, e.g. on a film by Thomas Frank.
Pocket is an application and browser plug-in that allows you to save web pages “for later”. An indispensable tool when looking for places I would like to visit in a given location. I usually open a million tabs, and after a while, I start to get lost. Thanks to Pocket, I can organize pages with tags and come back to them many times.
🗣️ The best tools for learning foreign languages
Other useful tools
Other useful tools
Everyone sometimes flies at such a time that it would be most convenient to spend the night at the airport. Thanks to SleepingInAirports.net, you can check precisely what conditions to expect at a given airport and whether it is possible to take a nap safely and reasonably there. Helpful when we’ve never been to a specific airport before.
What's next?
You’ve already learned about all the tools that I use when preparing for travels and during my journeys.
I hope you will find them helpful!
Check out the Travel Tips, where you will find articles on travel planning topics.
Also, visit the Start Here page.