Tools that help plan your trip

When planning a trip use of online tools is a must these days. Below I will enumerate links to online tools that I use most often, grouped by the category they are in. If you click on the link provided here and further on buy services they provide, I get some commission (Affiliate) while you pay the same price as if you opened the page from another link. Please do use links and help me finance my travels.

General – here you can find flight tickets, hotels, car rental … easy spot

• Trip.com – used on flights and hotels, best prices, extra coins you can use, great services
• Omio – big provider, many options
• Kiwi – used it once
• Expedia – didn’t use it yet

Flight – finding a flight for your next destination is usually the first step in planning

• Skyscanner – the most popular and probably best place to search for flights
• AviaSales – booked a few flights at the lower prices I could find
• PrioriyPass – lounge reservation at airports
• WayAway – search for cheap tickets, haven’t used it yet

Accommodation – next, you will need to find a place to sleep

• Booking – the biggest name in the game, this is the first place to start looking for a room
• Agoda – a few times I found cheaper rooms here
• LockTrip – used a few times
• Hotellook – used it twice for rooms that had extra discounts
• Hostelworld – it was the biggest name for hostels, but as Booking.com now offers hostels as well, they are not that good

Car rental – when you settle in, you would like to move around, driving yourself gives you flexibility

• DiscoverCars – I got the best service from them
• Rentalcars – the biggest name in car rentals, used it a few times, no problems
• GetRentacar – option I didn’t use
• AutoEurope – option I didn’t use
• Localrent – option I didn’t use
• Economybookings.com – option I didn’t use
• QEEQ – option I didn’t use

Transportation – or you choose public transport for more convenience

• Flixbus – bus transport
• Busbud – bus transport
• Kiwitaxi – taxi
• GetTransfer – transfer from airports and similar
• Welcome pickups – transfer from airports and similar
• intui.trtavel – transfer from airports and similar
• Trainline – train transport
• RailEurope – train transport
• SeaRadar – charter yachts
• BikesBooking.com – bikes

Attractions – when you are at a new location, you want to explore what they offer, so buy tickets and tour online, and don’t wait in lines

• GetYourGuide – a wide range of attractions they cover
• Klook – also similar to the previous one
• Viator – big name but not the best service
• Ticketmaster – ticket for big concerts, used it twice, ok
• TicketNetwork – tickets for big concerts
• WeGoTrip – didn’t use it yet

eSIM – at destination, you don’t need to buy a physical SIM card, a bit more expensive but easier to use

• Yesim – used it most of the time as it was cheaper
• Airalo – most popular, I tried it, it works
• Drimsim – you buy eSIM and pay for the data you use, no packages

Insurance – in case something happens on the road

• World Nomads – the biggest name for travel insurance
• EKTA – option I didn’t use

Other – miscellaneous things connected with traveling

• AirHelp – helps you get compensation for delayed flights
• Compensair – help you get compensation for delayed flights
• Radical storage – you can find a storage place for your luggage on the go, very useful

Affiliate – how it works

I will try to explain how it works. For example, Booking.com sells rooms for a hotel, and they get a commission for it. But if you go to their page through my link, they see it as I brought them a customer and give me a share of the commission they get. In the table below, you can see an example.

Parties involved	Without my link	With my link
You as customer	100 $	100 $
Booking.com	20$ (20% commission)	16 $ (commission minus my cut)
Me	0 $ (I am not involved)	4 $ (20% commission from Booking)
Hotel	80 $	80 $

For you and the hotel, there is no difference just in the second case, Booking gives me a share of their income. It is not a big amount, I would need to “sell” 1250 $ worth of rooms to get a commission of 50$ (that is the minimum amount they pay out). With flight is even less and would need 5000 $ sold tickets before getting any money out of it. But I am not greedy, slowly it will accumulate. I otherwise use TravelPayouts, which provides a system with all of providers in one place, and I don’t work individually with them. If you have a blog or Instagram account with some traffic, you can try to monetize it.