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.
Table of Contents
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.