After 6 years traveling full-time, we have been to more than 55 countries. With accumulated miles, comes a little knowledge. And, with it, the desire to share it with you – so that you can also make the most of your trips!
Feel free to browse our list of recommended Travel Resources. It includes the gear we use, our tech stuff, and the sites & apps we love.
Book Accommodation:
Airbnb: one of our favorite websites to book accommodation around the world. If you’d like something more personal than a hotel room, browse the rooms and homes available for short term rental on Airbnb. Use our referral code and get USD25 off your first booking!
Hotels.com: this is the main website we use to book hotel rooms. With the Hotels.com Rewards Program you get 1 free night for every 10 nights booked. It pays off and that free night always feels SO GOOD!
Booking.com: apart from Hotels.com, we sometimes end up using Booking.com as it features some hotels the other website doesn’t, particularly on the more budget friendly category (B&Bs, hostels, etc.)
HostelBookers: straight to the point website to book hostels and budget accommodation all around the world.
Read about our killer method to save up to 20% on hotels, ALWAYS!
Book Flights:
Matrix Airfare Search: hands down, our favorite site to search for flights. Nothing out there right now can compete – period!
Hipmunk: after comparing prices on the website above, we hop onto Hipmunk to double check everything. On Hipmunk we click the option we’d like to book and get redirected to whatever site we choose to finally make the booking.
FlyerTalk: this is not a booking website, but instead a place where you can meet other frequent flyers and learn TONS of useful tips with them. Flight deals, last minute specials and tricks on how to upgrade your flight experience.
To understand how to use the above websites in order to score the best flight deals, read our tips for booking flights here!
Looking for a free way to track your travel expenses on the go? We think Toshl might be what you need!
Read our article Dith Your Travel Guidebook Now: Here Are Some Free Alternatives for more recommended travel planning resources!
We would never recommend you gear that we haven’t actually tried or actively use during our travels. This is not an extensive list of everything we use on the road, but instead, a list of our “must-haves” which we’d endorse any day!
Osprey Meridian Backpacks
We’re proud owners of 2 Osprey Meridian Backpacks. We’ve been traveling with them since 2011 and couldn’t be happier. This stuff is 4×4! Whether you’re into urban travel or more rustic adventures, these backpacks are bound to suit your travel style. You can roll them on the floor or carry them on your back, as they are hybrids. They also come with a detachable day pack to carry your day essentials during your trips.
We keep our backpacks as light as possible. Apart from regular clothes and shoes, some of our travel essentials include Zensah compressions socks and a Trtl Pillow for flights (a heavenly combination to rest while up high!), a luggage scale to make sure we don’t over do it and a Sawyer Mini Filter to have sustainable drinking water on the go.
Tech Stuff:
We work as digital nomads, from any corner of the world. As such, our laptops are essentially our offices. This is the stuff we use to work on the go, and which we carry around nicely packed inside an Havana 41 camera backpack by Vanguard.
MacBook Air 11″: our laptops double as work tool and entertainment station. Yes, ’cause traveling doesn’t mean missing the latest episode of Game of Thrones! We’re fans of the MacBook Air, because it is powerful enough to work, process photos and even edit our travel videos, yet it is ultra light and easy to carry around.
Sony HXRMC50U: Zara’s third eye. Backpack ME and our travel videos wouldn’t be the same without this compact, yet pro quality video camera.
GoPro: our latest GoPro is the HD Hero 4 Silver Edition. Ultra light, water-proof, incredible image quality and, finally, with a view finder! We use this gadget to photograph and also capture images for several of our travel videos, specially when the environment is wet, you need to be hands free (the GoPro comes with mounts so that you can place it on a bike, car, surfboard, etc. while you do your thing) or, very commonly, when you want to film somewhere and you want to keep a low profile.
Nikon D90: Ashray’s pick! Nikon quality but with the ability of using lenses without motors.
iPhone 4S : we all know how good the iPhone cameras tend to be. Ideal to Instagram on the go!
LG Google Nexus 5: slightly inferior than the iPhone when it comes to photography, but way better for anything work or documents related.
iPad Mini: a portable entertainment station. Perfect to watch movies during flights (we use an audio splitter so that we can both listen through head-phones), browse the news and read digital magazines.
Kindle Paper White: the portable answer for those who like to read yet want to keep on traveling light (much better than reading on an iPad). If you’re planning to get one of these, check our trick to get much cheaper Kindle books!
Nintendo 3DS: just because you travel the world, it doesn’t mean you have to stop playing videogames!
Other smaller gadgets that complete our tech gear include a universal power adapter to stay plugged in everywhere, Bose noise cancelling head-phones (not just to listen to music, but also ideal to catch some sleep during flights), a couple of hard drives to store media and work related files, as well as a wireless speaker to listen to music as loud as it’s meant to be, no matter where!
Thanks for the resources. Adioso.com is also a very good flight comparison site – allows trying out different options. Very visual.
Thanks for the suggestion, Indra!
We had actually ever heard of Adioso before.
Hi Zara,
You have suggested great travel resources. I have found many times Cheap Flights on Cheapfaremart.com.
I will recommend you can also include this one in your Article.
Thanks
Paul
Thanks for these great tips, guys, I would also recommend the website skyscanner.com as it has helped me find some great deals a couple of times :)
Hi Eva,
Thanks for recommending Skyscanner. We have used it quite a lot in the past, actually… but have found that, now-a-days, the sites we mention here work best to compare flights. Give them a try sometime too! :)
Hi
You had missed http://couchsurfing.com
Shd try….
We have never used Couchsurfing to spend the night at someone’s place. But we can vouch for this platform as a way to get to know about local events and meet up people.. so, yeah, a good one to keep in mind indeed! :)
Hey guys!
Have been following you both for quite some time now! So recently I found a way to get myself from India to US by a difference of almost 300$! Had my feet skittering around for joy, and thought I must share this with you :)
So, to compactize the research I did, first I went to : http://www.secretflying.com/central-south-asia-deals/
There I noticed a deal by Qatar Airways from Colombo, Sri Lanka to JFK, New York for 500$ (return). Next I checked flights from Delhi to Colombo ~ 300$ (return). Voila! Delhi to JFK for 800$, whereas the reasonable flights from Delhi to JFK are going for about 1050-1100$ right now. By the way for Indian travelers, momondo.com is way better than yatra.com, irrespective of the yatra eCash deals they keep running.
That looks awesome! I do use secretflying sometimes because I went there through flyertalk a few times in the past. The most important thing though is to be flexible about dates, itinerary, etc. That’s where most people can’t get the best deals on flights. Thanks for posting this here, I’m sure it’ll help some people :)
Thanks for this informative post. Very helpful.
Are you managing without Airbnb? I agree with your article. I discovered the bad the customer service while dealing with a dishonest host and horrible apartment. I’ve looked at Airbnb alternatives, but I still feel too burned to rent private apartments. One was full of black mold, two, like the one you described, shook from construction noise. Airbnb suppressed my review. In Playa del Carmen, two women traveling died of severe burns due to a gas leak in a vacation apartment. There are no safety standards, and Airbnb does nothing to protect guests. I’ve been using Booking.com. At least there are honest review and there is some regulation of businesses. Better than taking chances with random people renting apartments. Take care everyone. My research turned up preventable injuries and deaths. Your points about illegal rentals are excellent. Thanks for your thoughtful articles.
Aww! nice resources of travel are present in your blog. I m so happily after see your blog.