Our Favourite Travel Tools & Resources for Easy Trip Planning
We’ve travelled to over 50 countries and tested countless tools along the way. Below, we’ve included all our favourites.
These are the exact services we use to find great flights, book stays, stay connected abroad, and more.
If it’s listed here, it’s because we’ve personally used and trust it.
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Accommodation
Booking.com – This is where we always start when looking for a hotel. It’s a global booking platform with a huge range of properties, and the filters genuinely help when you care about location and review score as much as we do. We especially like the free cancellation options because plans do change. We’re also part of their Genius loyalty programme, which gives returning users automatic discounts on many stays.
Agoda – When travelling in Asia, it’s worth checking Agoda before booking a hotel. It’s very popular across the region and often has listings or prices we don’t see anywhere else. Some of our favourite stays came from browsing here, including a traditional ryokan in Japan and a small, local hotel in Bangkok with a lovely rooftop pool.
Tours & Attractions
GetYourGuide – This is the site we use for most of our tours and attraction tickets across Europe and North America. Many experiences include a free cancellation up to 24 hours before, which keeps the day flexible. If something is likely to sell out, this is usually where we secure it.
Klook – Klook is particularly strong across Asia and often lists tickets and local experiences that GetYourGuide doesn’t have. If we’re travelling in the region, we always compare it.
Viator – Viator is another global tours platform, owned by Tripadvisor. We’ve found it especially useful when planning trips in the US and Canada, where the variety and availability are excellent. It’s more of a smart backup than a first stop for us.
Go City – Go City sells multi-attraction passes that bundle major sights into one prepaid ticket. These can be good value if you’re planning to visit several headline attractions in a short timeframe. We always run the numbers first and compare them to booking individually. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes we’d skip it.
Trains
Omio – Our go-to for booking trains, buses, and ferries across Europe, Asia, and North America. We’ve been using it for over seven years, and what we’ve always loved is how easy it is to compare routes and find good deals across different operators, all in one place.
Trip.com – Trip.com is widely used across Asia and simplifies our train bookings, especially when international payment methods are involved. We don’t use it for every trip, but we often compare it when booking rail tickets in Asia.
Car Rental
DiscoverCars – For most city trips, we walk and use public transport. But when renting a car makes more sense, DiscoverCars is where we compare options. It shows both major international brands and smaller local providers in one place. We like seeing everything side by side before committing.
Internet Abroad
Airalo – We used to buy local SIM cards at airports, but now we just buy a plan for our Airalo eSIM before we leave, and we’re online as soon as we land. For city travel, having reliable data makes navigating, checking opening hours, and adjusting plans far easier.
NordVPN – NordVPN is a virtual private network that encrypts your internet connection. Public Wi-Fi in hotels and cafés isn’t always secure, and when we’re accessing important accounts abroad, we prefer an extra layer of protection.
Flights
Skyscanner – We never book a flight without checking Skyscanner first. The monthly calendar view helps spot cheaper dates, and the “Everywhere” search is great if you’re flexible. We use it to compare options quickly, then usually book directly with the airline.
Google Flights – We also use Google Flights to track price trends and set alerts. The price graph makes it easier to see if a fare is genuinely good or fairly typical.
Travel Essentials
Universal Travel Adapter – Navigating the 15 different plug and socket types worldwide can be daunting, but a worldwide travel adapter with USB-C ports solves that problem instantly. We take ours with us on every single trip.
Anker Nano Power Bank – A power bank is one of those travel essentials we never want to be without. Long sightseeing days drain our phone batteries quickly. We always travel with our Anker Nano Power Bank because it’s compact, charges super fast, and holds enough power for 1.5 to 2 full smartphone charges.
Packing Cubes – Packing cubes are a great way to maximise suitcase space and keep everything in order. We were once gifted packing cubes by friends, and now we wouldn’t travel without them.
Away The Carry-On – After going through many suitcases over the past 20 years, the carry-on from Away has clearly stood out for us! We love its durable hard shell and smooth 360° wheels. Its size fits easily in most overhead compartments and has plenty of room for a weekend getaway.
Universal Phone Lanyard – A universal smartphone strap protects against drops and falls while keeping the smartphone accessible for snapping photos or checking directions.
Apple AirTag – If we check luggage, an AirTag goes inside. Being able to see where your suitcase is offers peace of mind during connections (and they’re even great for a carry-on bag!).
We hope these travel resources make planning your next trip a little easier (and a lot more fun).
If you’re ever unsure about one of them, just ask. We’re always happy to share what worked for us.
Safe travels and happy exploring,
