After years of travelling and living on the road, I now have a huge collection of websites, travel gear and other resources I use when I’m travelling or planning my travels.
I have tried out many websites and companies and I’m always on the lookout for new, innovative ways to save money or make my travel cheaper, easier and safer.
So I’m sharing with you the best websites for finding cheap flights, cheap (or free) accommodation, booking travel insurance and the best travel and outdoor gear, that I use most often or have personally reviewed.
Find Cheap Flights
Skyscanner
The Godfather of flight searching. Skyscanner has brilliant features including the ‘Search Flights to Anywhere’ and the option to search the whole month for your ultimate cheapest leaving date.
Kayak
I use Kayak to get a comparison with Skyscanner and it sometimes produces results that Skyscanner doesn’t.
Expedia
An excellent resource to find cheap flights or accommodation particularly if you’re leaving from the UK or Europe.
Find Cheap Accommodation Worldwide
Booking.com
Booking.com is the world’s leading online accommodation travel agency. Customers get access to over 28 million accommodation listings, including 6.6 million homes, apartments and other unique places to stay across the globe.
It also offers a wide range of services, such as flights, car rentals, attractions and airport taxis. Join their Genius programme and you’ll get rewarded with discounts, freebies and exclusive perks.
I love Booking.com and I probably use this one the most for booking accommodation if I’m not using Airbnb.
Hostelworld
Hostelworld is the biggest platform for finding and booking cheap hostel accommodation. Although the focus is on hostels, you can also book apartments, hotels, bed and breakfasts, and more.
On Hostelworld, you can also read more than 13.7 million reviews across over 180 countries, so you can find out which hostels you vibe with, (and which ones to avoid).
Plus, 80% of their customers are backpackers and travellers and these are the people who write reviews, so you can make an informed choice. You can also find city guides, sightseeing information, entertainment recommendations and more.
Trivago
Trivago, is the world’s leading hotel search and price comparison platform. It compares prices from hundreds of different accommodation sites, so you can find the best deals. whether you’re looking for a luxury resort or a budget-friendly hostel.
Wotif
Wotif is an Australian-founded website that now offers customers the chance to book accommodation in over 60 countries. Wotif is known for its great hotel offers, as well as its popular “Mates Rates” deals for Wotif account holders, email subscribers and Asia Web Direct customers.
Although I recommend Wotif for booking cheap accommodation, you can also book flights, car hire, and much more. Wotif is now one of the most popular sites for booking accommodation in Australia and New Zealand.
Airbnb
In case you haven’t heard of it, Airbnb is an online platform that connects people who want to rent out their homes with those looking for accommodation in specific areas.
It creates a sense of trust between guests and hosts by allowing them to review each other and establishing a rating system. Payment is done through the Airbnb website, making transactions secure.
Airbnb offers whole vacation homes, private rooms, or shared spaces in over 81,000 cities around the world.
Travelzoo
This one is for the UK-based peeps or digital nomads who frequently visit the UK.
Travelzoo is a travel brand that sends its email subscribers unbeatable deals on travel packages. It does this by partnering with over 5,000 top travel suppliers to provide exclusive offers to customers. Travelzoo searches the internet for the best deals and emails them all to you in one email.
You’ll find package holidays at discounted prices, seasonal city breaks, country retreats, spa breaks and more. With Travelzoo, subscribers can get access to irresistible deals that they can’t find anywhere else at unbeatable prices. I’ve been a subscriber for years and have bought many deals from them.
Trains, Buses and Getting Around
National Rail
One of the UK’s biggest rail networks. Get a Railcard and save a 1/3 on fares.
Interrail
1 rail pass, 30 European countries, endless opportunities.
National Express
Travel across the UK by coach in comfort with AC, power outlets and hundreds of pick-up points.
Greyhound Buses
A network of buses you can use around the world. I used them to travel around Australia and they have a great range of passes you can use to go all around the ‘land down under’.
Intercity Buses
New Zealand’s largest network of buses to get around New Zealand. These guys even run in the off seasons and have great night bus options. You can also get great passes to use for travel anywhere and are based on hours of travel, not km.
Interislander Ferries
The iconic Kiwi ferry, the Interislander is the oldest of the two ferry companies crossing the Cook Strait. and arguably has the best facilities.
Travel Insurance
World Nomads Travel Insurance
World Nomads is quite possibly the best travel insurance for backpackers or travellers. You can buy travel insurance or renew your existing one from any country or wherever you are in the world – and you can do it all online. I couldn’t recommend this company more.
Holiday Extras Travel Insurance
Holiday Extras travel insurance is great for those shorter trips or if you have a slightly smaller budget. Be aware though, that it’s nowhere near as comprehensive as World Nomads insurance and it won’t completely cover you for adventure activities.
House Sitting
TrustedHousesitters
I use this website most of the time to find my accommodation in the form of housesits around the world. Easy and user-friendly website, you can message homeowners directly and once you’ve joined, you can get new house-sits emailed to you directly every day, so you don’t miss out on one.
I wrote a post on how to get rent-free accommodation anywhere in the world, just by house-sitting.
TrustedHousesitters is global so you can find a great housesit anywhere in the world and have free accommodation when you’re travelling! Get 12% off when you sign up using my link.
Kiwi House Sitters
This is the site I use mostly when I’m living in New Zealand. Super easy to use, and you can browse house sits all over New Zealand and message homeowners directly.
Aussie House Sitters
This is the site I find house sitting jobs on when I’m living in Australia. A sister site of Kiwi House Sitters, easy to use, and you can browse house sits all over Australia and message homeowners directly.
Travel & Outdoor Gear
Lowe Alpine TFX 55 L Kongur Backpack – This is my current backpack and it’s the best one I’ve had. It’s specifically designed for females and has an adjustable suspension system which allows it to fit different torso types.
It’s comfy and has all the features you want in a backpack – the best feature is the ability to be able to unzip the main compartment from the middle.
Osprey Kestrel 68 L Backpack – My partner has this one and he says it’s amazing. Robust, functional and good quality. Osprey is famous for their high-quality backpacks and how they almost last a lifetime if you look after them.
Osprey Daylite Plus 20 L Daypack – This is my current daypack. I use it as hand luggage when travelling and on day hikes. It has an internal sleeve for a laptop and a hydration pack, plus a headphone port and multiple pockets.
Cotswold.com – Cotswold Outdoor is brilliant. They have stores in the UK but you can also order anything online and have delivered worldwide. The staff are so knowledgeable and fitted us with backpacks plus hiking boots for our New Zealand trip. They’re all outdoor enthusiasts and know their stuff about multiple brands.
I bought my Lowe Alpine 55-litre Backpack and my Osprey 20-litre Daypack from here and they’re both amazing. My boyfriend also bought his Osprey 68 L Backpack from here and he loves it. We also both bought Meindl and Salomon hiking boots from here.
Kathmandu.com – Excellent outdoor gear from this place. I currently have a Kathmandu Soft Shell coat, that’s pictured on a few of my New Zealand Instagram shots. Warm, showerproof, windproof, and it looks good. We also bought our tent and sleeping bags from here. Their customer rewards program is pretty good, giving you store credit when you buy and reach a purchase total amount.
Other Resources or Travel Products
Wise: (Formally Transferwise)
I have written a post on the blog about how to transfer money when you’re overseas and the awesomeness of Wise. It’s a digital revolution for transferring money without a bank.
Get your first transfer free using my link.
iHerb
Fantastic website that will deliver ANYWHERE. I use iHerb when I’m in New Zealand, Australia or SE Asia when everything else is just too expensive for delivery. It’s brilliant for vitamins, fitness supplements, natural remedies, beauty products, herbs & superfoods.
Use my code LLM916 when buying and you’ll get a cool discount.
Travel Gadgets & Tech
Anker PowerCore Power Bank 20,100 mAh – This power bank has been a complete lifesaver during camping days and for times when we were in hostels that didn’t have enough power points free. It’s portable and can charge an iPhone almost 7 times, a Samsung tablet 4 times and it charges my HTC One Mini 8 times.
The Anker power bank recharges itself in 10 hours with a decent wall charger, a bit longer with just a phone charger. This is my absolute favourite travel item – you need this in your life.
(The updated model of this is the Anker PowerCore 26,800 mAh).
Anker PowerCore Power Bank 10,000 mAh – Small, super-slim, lighter and more portable than the PowerCore 20,100 but can still charge an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy 3 times.
Anker PowerCore+ Mini Power Bank mini 3,350 mAh- Must-have for on-the-go smartphone charging in all travel and life scenarios. Teeny weeny, mini design (the size of a mini torch) but enough juice to give one full charge to your smartphone.
Bez Worldwide Travel Adaptor – All-in-one Universal Travel Adaptor with 2 integrated USB charging ports too.
Anker PowerPort Speed 5-port USB Wall Charger – This charger is small enough to carry with you and features Qualcomm quick charge, so you can charge 5 USB-powered devices simultaneously.
Can be used with HTC One, iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Nexus, LG and most other smartphones or tablets.
SanDisk Clip Jam 8GB MP3 player – As I’m not a fan of Apple products, I often look for music alternatives. And this tiny MP3 player is brilliant, I’ve had it for 3 years and it’s still going strong. It has 8 GB storage, an SD card slot for expanded memory space and one single charge that gives you 18 hrs of listening.
It’s a simple interface, user-friendly and has drag-and-drop technology to add music. (I love this feature as I don’t like being forced to use software just to transfer music).
I even bought my boyfriend one who was a solid, old-school CD Walkman guy and he loves it.
Travel Guides & Books
Lonely Planet Travel Guides
Lonely Planet guides are informative, accurate and always full of interesting content. These comprehensive travel guides have helped me out loads of times.
Although I love leafing through an actual travel guidebook, they can be quite heavy. Lonely Planet comes through by offering all their guidebooks as a PDF version ready for you to download to your Kindle or e-reader device.
