As regular travellers from European city breaks to Asia, Australasia, Central and North America there are some simple but reoccurring practical travel tips that we find useful when either planning a trip or using whilst on an adventure.
In no particular order…
Skyscanner
This is our go-to flight search website with a user-friendly interface and multiple filter options. We use it for all our planning and booking and we love the ‘search everywhere’ option for flights when you’re looking for destination ideas. Skyscanner gives you multiple airport options, dates, times, airport and airline choices and you can book your flights through the links provided either directly through the airline or there can be discounted options with online travel agents. Skyscanner also allows you to search hotels and car rental and, set up an email alert for flight options if you haven’t quite made a decision yet.
Booking.com / AirBnB
With a plethora of accommodation search engines available it can be daunting trying to find and decide on where to book. We use booking.com and AirBnb for the majority of all our accommodation bookings with a few simple reasons as to why. With booking.com it has all the standard options such as star ratings, review ratings, facilities etc to filter but it also has an ‘all deals’ option. This shows accommodation with discounts applied and some of them can be substantial and can really help in narrow down your choices and make a savings. For big city breaks leaving the accommodation booking as late as possible can bring some really good savings options.
We always also search AirBnb when looking at accommodation as it gives you
apartment, villa/or house options rather than mainly just hotels. Having a place that feels more comfortable and like a home with usually more space than a hotel room, a lounge, kitchen, laundry facilities, parking etc and you can often have more choices and variations available rather than just a standard hotel. The great option with AirBnb are the reviews, reading these really help in narrowing down whether the property and location is right for you but of course it is the opinion of others and we consider the profile of a reviewer if they are well travelled.
Facebook groups
Don’t cringe…hear me out! There are Facebook groups for nearly every destination, and they can be useful for determining places to visit, getting around queries, prices of attractions, off the beaten track tips and advice etc. Look for groups with lots of members however we wary and be patient… it can take a lot to filter through comments and identify common themes that may suit you and like all social media platforms it’s full of people’s opinions not necessarily advice! But they are a helpful tool to planning your adventure and there is (thankfully) a search option to narrow down responses!
Get Your Guide
Not sure what to do when you get to your destination or
need some help narrowing down options and booking? Get Your Guide is fantastic for searching for trips, excursions, adventure activities as well as providing dates, costs and availability. You can either then go to the provider website to book or book direct through Get Your Guide with often very good discounted prices. Use the reviews sections to read through what people have said about a particular excursion or trip you’re interested in, they really help with determining if it’s the right one for you.
Holafly
Whether you are at home or abroad having access to the internet on your phone or device is one thing you cannot do without! Holafly provides unlimited data plans for nearly every country in the world and with clear price plans and an easy to download functions Holafly is always our preferred option. We know there are cheaper plans out there but being able to set it up before you travel and then just activating it when you get to your destination and not have to worry about it again is great piece of mind. We have never had any connectivity issues and with it being unlimited you also don’t need to worry about hot spotting with others and running out of data! Check out more details on our post: How to – have unlimited data on your phone overseas.
Insurance
Boring we know but this is one thing that is never an issue until it really is! When
looking for travel insurance always check the fine print and definitely declare any known/pre existing medical conditions and if you’re going to be doing some specific adventure activities like skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, bungy jumping, skydiving – make sure they’re not listed within the exclusions section. Check what the policy will cover and what it won’t, and don’t hide anything! The cheaper travel insurance options always seem like the ‘ahh it’ll be fine’ options but it’s best not to risk it. Cheaper insurance cover can also mean more restrictions and may be less likely to help or pay out when needed. Travel insurance aggregate sites and search engines such as moneysupermarket.com and comparethemarket.com are great to use, register all your details once and you can reuse for renewals and updates as well as get discount deals and other non-insurance related benefits.
Passport / Driver Licence pics
Take photos of yours and your families or friends’ passports and drivers’ licences you are travelling with so they are on hand whenever you might need them. Rather than carrying them around with you all the time the photos can be used as proof of identity and if you did happen to lose your passport it helps speed up the process if you need one replaced or a temporary travel visa issues whilst overseas.
Google maps
A trusted source of information not just for roads and routes but also for public transport giving directions and options, time schedules, platform numbers and in some cases, prices. When you’re travelling down the coast of Costa Rica or are visiting Japan you’ll find Google maps a life saver, the only challenge you’ll have in Tokyo is finding your way through the maze of Shinjuku station platforms used by over 3 million people per day!
Download the Google maps App which you can also use offline even if you don’t have internet connectivity.
Revolut
With no charges or fees for purchases and an easy to use App to transfer money from your own account into, Revolut is our preferred payment tool when travelling overseas. You can download the Revolut app and electronic card to your phone wallet as well as order a physical card.
Revolut has very competitive currency exchange rates, no fee options for ATM cash withdrawals and depending on how often you travel different plans that give you different added benefits.
Kids can have a Revolut account linked to your own so you can monitor spend and add monies when needed. This is a great way to give kids their independence whilst on holiday while still keeping an eye on their spending! Check out our post on How to – pay no fees on currency exchange.
Google translate
Yes others are available but we use the Google Translate App a lot when we tr
avel to foreign speaking countries. It is a great and easy way to translate signs and menus, You can even have conversations in real time in a two-way conversation which is fantastic to be able to communicate with locals.
Simply using the phones camera it can instantly translate text and for conversations you press the microphone. If you download language packs it will allow you to use it if you are offline. Translations are not always perfect but for simple conversations and as a simple aid it is excellent.
For Apple users go to the App Store on your phone and for Android users go to the Google Play Store. The App is free to download with optional packs to purchase.
There are dozens more hints and tips we can provide to help plan your journey and make your adventure a little bit easier so if there’s anything you’d like to know about don’t hesitate to send us a message 🙂