The Ultimate List of Travel Resources

No matter where you’re going, travelling is always exciting. You’re going to visit new places, experience new cultures, see some of the world’s most beautiful attractions.

But before you get there, there’s a whole lot of planning to do! There’s flights, accommodation, attractions, transport, insurance, currency cards, there are so many things to think about and organise before you leave for your adventure.

We’ve put together the ultimate list of travel resources for you, everything we use to plan all of our trips. They’re websites and sources that are tried and tested, always reliable and extremely helpful for planning everything from weekends away to months abroad.

Here’s a complete list of everything you need to book your next trip.

In this post:

Booking Flights

Skyscanner is definitely the best place to search for flights and find the cheapest flight deals. Skyscanner literally scans almost every flight booking website available and offers you only the best prices. You can filter the results by specific airlines, quickest flying time, direct flights and more.

One of my favourite features of Skyscanner are that you can put in your main airport and then search flights to “anywhere”, and you will get a full list of the cheapest places to fly from where you are in the world. You can also search whole months rather than particular dates, to find the cheapest date for your destination.

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I Know The Pilot is the ultimate newsletter for flight deals. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you definitely need to. I Know The Pilot literally sends every flight deal straight to your inbox, letting you know the dates when flights are the cheapest and how long the sale will run for. It makes sure you never miss a deal and you always know when airlines have their best sales.

If you like to make sure you’re getting a good seat on the plane Seat Guru is also a good one to check out. It’s got the insider tips on every seat on your flight, and can tell you the best places to sit, if your seat is going to be limited in anyway (for example, not being able to fully recline if you’re near a wall or bathroom), and even offers super helpful guides on in-flight shopping and amenities that can just make all the difference on your flight.

Finding accommodation

Our main go-to for every adventure is Hotels Combined, no matter where we’re going. Hotels Combined search and compare the best deals on accommodation across all the major booking sites, so you always make sure you getting the cheapest price for your next adventure.

For some of the most unique, out there and interested place to stay around the world, Airbnb has the answer. On Airbnb you can book everything from medieval castles and jungle treehouses to restored trams, beach shacks and even your own private island.

Book through THIS LINK to get $55AUD off your first stay with Airbnb.

The main website we book our hotel stays with is booking.com. They offer all the information you could possibly need when you’re checking out hotel options, including maps of the area, ratings, and city guides when you book your stay. Their loyalty program, know as Genius is also fantastic, offering you permanent discounts when you get to higher levels of loyalty.

Get $30AUD back on your booking with booking.com when you book through THIS LINK.

We also like to check out HomeAway for holiday houses around Australia. It’s a great place to find houses if you’re travelling with a large group of people, and for coastal or more remote areas that might not have many big hotels or accommodation options.

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Getting Around

Compare the prices of all the major rental car companies in one place with Rental Cars. We have always found them the easiest place to book a rental car for your trip, with filters to organise by the size of the car, automatic or manual transmission, and even the ability to pick up in one place and drop off in another. Rental Cars also offers the option to reserve any extras you might need for your rental, including GPS, baby car seats or extra insurance.

For multi-country or city itineraries, Rome2Rio can be extremely helpful in figuring out how you’re going to get around. It will tell you how to get from one place to another by any form of transportation, including planes, trains, buses, car, taxi, ferry and more, as well as how much each option will cost.

Booking Activities & Attractions

Viator is the perfect place to book all your tours, activities and attraction tickets in one place. Viator has experiences and adventures from all around the world, allowing you to book all kids of activities for your trip in one place.

For anything in Australia, Experience Oz is the way to go, with the ultimate adventures and experiences around Australia. They have the best deals, the best tours and work with the best brands, to bring you the ultimate Aussie experiences. AND they also offer experiences around New Zealand, so definitely check them out for anything Australia or New Zealand.

Book your activities in advance can get you a discount, and also save you a lot of time while you’re on your trip, so it’s always a god idea to check a few things out before you go!

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Finding Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is so important. It makes the difference between something being a little inconvenience or a major disaster when you’re travelling.

We’ve been using Southern Cross Travel Insurance for the past few years and have definitely found them to be the best travel insurance providers we have used so far. They offer the best prices for comprehensive cover, to keep you protected in any situation that may arise. They’re also fantastic and super efficient with claims.

When you’re purchasing a travel insurance plan it’s always a good idea to check their limits on what you can and can’t claim – especially dollar amounts if you regularly travel with expensive items, such as lots of cameras and tech equipment, engagement rings, etc.

Travel insurance policies should cover medical bills, lost documents, stolen or lost luggage and personal items, dodgy travel agencies, illnesses or reasons you can’t travel before you depart, as well as things you never want to think about like natural disasters, terrorism and civil war.

Always remember – if you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel.

All the extras

Lonely Planet are our favourite travel guide books for practical information, helpful advice and just so much inspiration on what you can’t miss in every destination around the world. We collect Lonely Planet books like souvenir and have them for every country we’ve ever visited. Make sure you always check their online shop for promotions and sales, you can often get 30% off your purchase.

As the largest travel booking site in the world world, TripAdvisor has everything you could as for. With over 400 million reviews, they are a great place to start when researching different places, hotels or activities – and they also allow you to book everything straight through their website. They make life very easy.

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To keep all your travel plans and documents organised we also use the app TripIt. With TripIt you can literally just forward your booking conformation emails to the app and it will put everything together in an organised and dated itinerary for you. We find it invaluable when planning long term travel or multiple trips at a time, to make sure we don’t miss any details. You can also email your itinerary to your family and friends if you need to share the details of your trip.