This is my guide to the best travel resources when planning any trip. The companies listed on this page are the ones Mark and I use for all our travels. We trust these businesses and have only had positive experiences when using them. Be assured that we never recommend products or services that we don’t use ourselves.
In this article
Flights
Our go-to company when we’re looking for flights anywhere in the world is Skyscanner.
We like the fact that you can set parameters when searching and that the search engine not only finds the cheapest flights but also the ‘best’ based on the number of changes, length of time in the air, etc. With this information, it’s easy to make an informed choice. You can select a route and ask Skyscanner to e-mail you when prices drop. If your dates are flexible, Skyscanner makes it easy to see when the cheapest day to travel would be.
Another feature we love about Skyscanner is that you can set your destination as ‘anywhere’. This way, you can see where is the cheapest destination from your start point. You might end up somewhere you had never even thought of! That’s what happened to us. I’m writing this in Seychelles. We never thought about coming here. We were looking for flights from London to Johannesburg. When all the results were expensive, I searched Jo’burg to ‘anywhere’. Seychelles was one of the cheapest destinations. Working back from there, I realised that I could book flights from London to Seychelles, accommodation on the islands, and onward flights to Jo’burg for about the same price as direct flights from London to Jo’burg! Bonus!! 😊
When Skyscanner finds us a good deal, we always check with the airline’s own website to see if it would be cheaper to book direct. Invariably, it isn’t!!
Travel Insurance
First things first! NEVER EVER travel without travel medical insurance!!
We all hope that our travels will be incident free and that we will never have need of a doctor or hospital, but, the truth is, we just don’t know what’s lurking around the corner! We have been lucky and have never had to claim on our travel insurance, but we know plenty of people who have. We also know of those who have needed help but have taken the risk and travelled without insurance. We have seen the problems this has caused them and would never choose to put ourselves in that position. Yes, travel medical insurance is expensive but compared to the cost of a hospital stay or medical evacuation, it really is a drop in the ocean.
As permanent long-term travellers of a certain age, normal annual insurance policies which generally limit trips to 30, 45, or even 90 days, are not much use to us! Since we started Happy Days Travel Blog, we have always recommended World Nomads. Whilst we have never had to make a claim, friends have told us that World Nomads are great to deal with in times of difficulty. That said, in recent times their prices have increased considerably, and are now close to double that of some other providers, particularly for older travellers like us.
With this in mind, we have now also partnered with SafetyWing. Our friends Anna and Tom at Adventure in You recommended them to us. The more we researched SafetyWing, the more we were impressed by the service they offer. With prices starting at $11.27 per week, you get worldwide travel medical coverage in 180 countries (there is an additional cost if you are travelling in the US). Best of all, you can buy SafetyWing insurance if you are already travelling. It works like a subscription – you pay every 28 days, and stop paying when you’re not travelling. There is no limit on the amount of time you can travel for. The company offers 24/7 support with great response times. They currently have over 55,000 members and are growing all the time as they constantly improve their products based on feedback from their customers.
Group Tours
Mark and I have done a lot of independent travel. We love the freedom of booking as we go, staying longer in places if we love them, moving on more quickly if we don’t. As much as we love it, though, independent travel is exhausting! Constantly having to research your next night’s accommodation and booking travel tickets to get there is stressful and time-consuming. When we came to the end of our tour around southern India, we felt like we needed a holiday!!
As we’ve got older, we’ve come to appreciate the benefits of small-group travel. It’s great to journey with like-minded people and not have the worry about where you’re going to stay or which bus you need to catch. You can relax and simply enjoy the destination you’re in. Travelling with a group also means that you often do things that you wouldn’t know about, or be brave enough to do, if you were travelling alone or just with your partner.
Tour Radar
We use TourRadar a lot when looking for tours. This booking platform has details of over 40,000 multi-day tours all over the world so you’re sure to find something good. They offer a ‘best price guarantee’ meaning that if you find the same tour cheaper elsewhere, they will match the price.
TourRadar offer 24/7 customer support. We had cause to use this service when we had to cancel a tour we’d booked through them because my Mum was very ill. They were really helpful – a pleasure to deal with!
Activities
Once we are in a destination, we love to use organised trips and activities in order to find our way around and really get under the skin of a place. Our favourite types of activities are walking tours and cooking classes.
Get Your Guide
We have had nothing but positive experiences using GetYourGuide, from a Malay cooking class on a recent trip to Cape Town, to riding around Barcelona on a City Sightseeing big red bus!
GetYourGuide is a booking platform that helps travellers find incredible travel experiences wherever they’re headed. These experiences include:
- Skip-the-line tickets to the world’s most iconic attractions
- Walking tours by top local experts
- Immersive food and beverage tours
- Cooking and craft classes
- Bucket list experiences
- Niche offerings you won’t find anywhere else.
Travelers can also choose GetYourGuide Originals. These specialized tours are the ultimate way to explore the world.
Viator
The other travel resource we love to use for tours and activities is Viator. This platform is the experiences marketplace with over 300,000 bookable activities in more than 190 countries. It is a one-stop-shop if you want to book:
- Tours
- Classes and workshops
- Cruises
- Activities
- City passes
- Attraction tickets
- Travel and transportation services
We like that Viator offers free cancellation on most experiences up to 24 hours in advance. They also have a flexible “reserve now & pay later” feature to secure activities you don’t want to miss without being locked in. I like their wishlist, so I can keep all my bucket list experiences for each trip in one place. Filters make it easier to search specific categories.
On our recent trip to South Africa, this was one of several incredible activities we booked through Viator:
Go City
If we are in a city for a few days and want to see everything while we are there, we always check to see if it is one of the 28 cities currently included in the Go City platform. With Go City passes, travellers can visit bucket-list attractions, enjoy top tours, and discover plenty of hidden gems — all handpicked by local experts. Go City allows travellers to avoid multiple entry fees and paper tickets. With Go City, it’s one price, one pass, and you have everything you need on your phone.
Benefits of using Go City include:
- Savings of up to 55% compared to buying separate attraction tickets
- Ease of use
- Variety of attractions
- Passes available for a day, two days, three days, or a whole week
- You can choose the Explorer Pass which allows you to add any places you want
- You can purchase the pass well in advance of your trip which helps with budgeting
- If you don’t activate the pass, you can return it within 90 days for a full refund. Outside of this 90-day window, you won’t be eligible for a refund, but you will have two years in which to use your pass
Car Hire
Skyscanner Car Hire is our first port of call whenever we need to hire a car. Once you’ve put in your search criteria, Skyscanner instantly compares prices from the world’s top hire companies – Sixt, National, Avis, Alamo, Europcar, Enterprise.
You can also arrange airport transfers through Skyscanner.
Accommodation
Booking.com
Booking.com is our go-to resource when we are looking for accommodation. The site is easy to use and offers a range of options, not just hotels. We use the site all the time. If, like me, you’re a member of TopCashback, you’ll also earn every time you make a booking!
E-SIMS
An eSIM is a virtual SIM card that works with the help of a microchip that’s embedded in your device. The technology allows travellers to avoid paying for roaming and searching for mobile operators at each destination. Everything can be purchased and set up online, from anywhere. It really is a necessity for modern travel and is something we use all the time.
Airalo
Our go-to company for eSIMS is Airalo. They offer eSIMS from over 200 countries and regions and have a customer base of more than 1 million people. To activate an eSIM, all you need to do is download the Airalo App, buy the desired mobile plan, and load the eSIM profile onto your device (provided the device supports eSIM technology) it is so simple!
Benefits of using Airalo include:
- Travellers can access the internet from virtually any country on the planet without paying excessive roaming charges
- Travellers don’t need to waste their time looking for a local plastic SIM card. The eSIM can be activated either immediately after installation or upon arrival at the traveller’s destination
- A wide range of eSIMs are available for different countries and regions. You don’t even have to buy a card for a specific country – you can buy a regional eSIM. For example, there are eSIMs available for the entire continent of Europe.
- The support team is available 24 hours a day every day of the year, and is happy to offer prompt assistance via chat on the Airalo website, social media, or email.
More travel resources coming soon – please keep checking back!!
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you click through for more information, or to make a purchase, it may result in a small commission coming my way. Please note that there is no extra cost to you associated with this. Thank you so much for supporting my site.
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