This is a page of helpful resources with quick links relating to travel, such as flight websites, insurance companies, photography apps, as well as cashback and points sites.
I have no affiliations and am not paid by any of these sites. These are all my own opinions and resources I genuinely use.
The order of resources is roughly as you might need them when planning and booking trips. Feel free to jump ahead if you’re looking for something specific.
I hope you find these travel resources useful.
Inspiration Resources
- Instagram (IG) is my favourite site to get inspiration for travelling. The pictures are plentiful and beautiful!
- I’ve added over 300 places to my “want to go” list just through scrolling Instagram.
- You’ll be able to search specific IG accounts or by hashtags, such as #tropicaldestination – this will show all pictures where that tag has been used. Tags with some great images include: #travelphotography, #waterfalls, #wowplacestogo, #discovertheworld and #holidayphotos.
- Some IG posts will not specify the location – it’s been suggested tagging the exact location has lead to too many tourists visiting a site.
- Pinterest is a great source of information. It’s especially good for searching top things to do, clothing/packing lists, as well as the best locations to visit at your destination.
- A great function is being able to create different ‘boards’ which you can pin different articles to read at a later date. You can create a general travel board or more specific ones.
- I used to spend my morning commute searching for articles and pinning them to read on my way home.
- Facebook has a lot of groups you can join related to travel.
- I’m signed up to several groups and follow many others. I’ve seen some great pictures people have posted that have been added to my list of places I want to visit.
- One of the additional benefits of Facebook is you can see people’s comments and several of the groups allow you to post questions. This can help you find information about various places and different people’s views and experiences.
Google Maps
- Google Maps is where I visit, once I have some inspiration.
- There’s tons of useful information in addition to the location, such as opening hours, reviews by others who have been there, peak activity times and website information.
- I use the pin options to highlight places I want to go and places I’ve visited. Using the green “want to go” flags ensures I can see how close places are to each other. This helps when looking at where to stay or how far it would be to travel there.
- Once I’ve visited somewhere, I turn the green flag to a yellow “starred” place, or for accommodation a blue “travel” pin. Any favourite places are the red heart pins. The heart in the picture below of Australia is the Great Ocean Road Wildlife Park in Victoria – the dingoes there are super friendly!
Points/Cashback Resources
I’m still quite new to collecting points but I am learning more and starting to accumulate a pot of points, and hope to use them for upgrades when we’re able to start flying around the world again.
All of these sites are free to join and will give you something back for money you’ll be spending anyway – win win in my books.
British Airways Executive Club
- British Airways Executive Club is a points reward programme by airline British Airways.
- The points are called Avios and you can collect them on purchases, including on your everyday spending by clicking through the shopping portal/app.
- There are various partners including oneworld® airlines, hotel stays, car hire and other shopping partners.
- Points can be used to pay or part-pay for flights, upgrades (i.e. from economy to premium economy) or for purchases.
- You’ll need to sign up for an account to collect and spend the points you earn.
Virgin Red
- Virgin Atlantic have their own reward points programme known as Virgin Red, launched in early 2021.
- The app and website give you access to various Virgin family rewards (i.e. Virgin Wines, Virgin Experiences, etc) and other well-known brands like Asos, Samsung, Made and TK Maxx, to only name a few.
- You’ll have the option to redeem your points with many partner organisations as well – such as using 200 points for a Gregg’s sausage roll!
- An account with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club will be needed if you want to use your points for flights and upgrades.
- The Flying Club is Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer programme whereas Virgin Red is Virgin’s group wide rewards club.
- Want to know more? This page gives you details of how to earn Virgin points and this one covers how you can spend points.
Quidco
- Quidco is a cashback service; you go to the Quidco app or website first and search for a retailer to see if there are any offers. If you find an offer, click on the link to take you through to the retailer’s site – this will ensure your visit is tracked.
- Once you’ve made a purchase you’ll earn cashback which will be paid into your Quidco account. The cashback is offered either as a % (i.e. 1.5% back of the total amount spent) or as a flat amount.
- The site has over 4500 varying offers from brands such as Argos, eBay, Wilko and B&Q. Categories include Food and Groceries, Clothing, Home and DIY, Electronics and Travel, as well as many more.
- Cashback will be available anywhere between a few days to a few months following your purchase. You can choose to have the cashback paid directly into your bank or PayPal account. Alternatively you can choose to withdraw it in the form of a gift voucher for partners like Argos, Just Eat, Waitrose etc. If you opt for the gift voucher you will receive a “top-up’ bonus of up to 15% of your available balance.
- You have the option to upgrade to a premium account for around £1 per month, with slightly higher cashback bonuses.
- Cashback sites are a useful way to get money back for items you would buy anyway. I’ve been a member since March 2017, and have received over £500 in cashback from money I would have spent anyway just by going through the Quidco app.
- If you’re new to cashback collection, make sure you check out the Tips and Tricks page which will help you navigate the cashback world.
Nectar
- Nectar is a loyalty points programme which is free to join.
- Points are earned through a variety of companies, for example Sainsbury’s, Argos, eBay, Viking and some Esso stations.
- Downloading the app will give you easy access to check any points offers, which you save to the card and will trigger if you meet the terms and conditions.
- One option for using your points is to transfer them over to eBay vouchers.
- Alternatively, Nectar points can be converted into Avios, which will help boost your balance and bring you closer to those travel upgrades.
- One thing to note is that if you do not collect or spend any points within a year your account will be closed.
- There’s a lot of information on the Nectar FAQ page on how to maximise points collection.
Some of these sites partner with the same companies to offer points or cashback. It can take a little bit of extra time to check them all, however the benefits you might get can be incredibly rewarding!
A very general earning rate is 1 point per £1 spent – but this does vary significantly depending on the programme and any offers. Working out a return rate is harder but as a minimum you should get 0.5-1 pence per 1 Avios point. It doesn’t sound a lot but when this is earned on what you would normally be spending, it all adds up.
Make sure you keep an eye out for promotions which can help boost your points quickly. For example, you might receive 3 points per £1 on Hotels.com with Virgin Red, but 6 points per £1 on Hotels.com with British Airways Executive Club.
AWTT Tip: The points rates change frequently, and there are often promotional bonuses, so if you have the time, it’s always good to check each site you’re signed up with before you make a purchase.
Credit Cards
- Another resource for accumulating points is with points earning credit cards. The most popular ones are offered by American Express (AmEx) and Virgin Atlantic.
- There are often sign up bonuses – but you need to be able to pay off the balance in full each month, otherwise the interest will overshadow the points collected.
- Credit cards usually link with existing programmes – for example American Express has Membership Rewards points which can be converted to Avios.
- If you combine credit card spend through the different sites above, the points offered by the shopping portals will be in addition to any credit card points you receive for using the card.
If you want to learn more about points and credit cards, I can recommend the two main resources I used (and still use) which are:
Package Holiday Resources
With the uncertainty of when holidays will return to normal due to the pandemic, a package holiday can be a good idea. Package holidays include your flights and accommodation, and you can usually add on transport and insurance. These packages could offer additional security instead of risking individual bookings.
On the Beach
- I’ve used On the Beach twice now. One booking was for a trip to Tunisia in June 2020, which ended up being cancelled due to coronavirus. The second time was for a trip in September 2020 – during Covid-19 but when a few countries had opened their borders.
- Their website is really easy to use. A great option is to search anywhere and then choose filters to find the type of holiday you’re looking for.
- Filters include board basis, budget, ratings and flights (great if you want to avoid certain airlines). You can also filter by destination and accommodation facilities, like WiFi or being close to the beach.
- You’ll also be able to search for specific types of holidays such as beach holidays, couples holidays, adult only, all inclusive, plus several others.
- When my Tunisia trip was cancelled there were no issues with getting the full refund on the balance I had paid. It took less than three weeks to be back in my account.
- For the September trip everything went really smoothly in terms of the booking and holiday itself. The downside was the 5 star hotel we booked wasn’t a true 5 star. My recommendation would therefore be to also look up the hotel on Google Maps and see if there are any user reviews. I forgot to do this before I booked, as I was so excited to finally be planning a holiday in 2020! A lot of people commented about the rating so I would have been aware, and could have chosen somewhere different. Lesson learned to always check the reviews before booking.
Airline Package Holidays
- Most airlines will also offer their own package holiday deals.
- You’ll often get better points rates (if you’re collecting points via credit cards) by booking directly with the airline. Sometimes there will also be better protection, such as cancellation or change options.
- Don’t forget to check points/cashback sites for extra bonuses when booking!
Flight Resources
Google Flights
- One of the popular flight finder sites is Google Flights. You fill in your departure point, destination and choose your travelling dates. As you open the date range, you’ll see the whole month, which will show you the cheapest flights. This is useful if you are flexible on the dates you can travel.
- You can also bring up a date grid to show dates either side of when you want to travel and a price graph to see further ahead for the cheapest flights – these dates will be in green.
- If you click the ‘Explore’ option you’ll be able to enter your travel dates and set a price limit for the flights. The map will then update to show locations you can travel to within that budget.
- With this being a Google run service there are additional functions on the Flights page, including suggestions for “things to do” at your chosen location, hotel options and holiday rentals.
Skyscanner
- Skyscanner is a useful site to give you an overview of flights for a specific date range or month, with filters such as showing direct flights only, departure or arrival times, or nearby airports.
- If you type in “Everywhere” in the destination Skyscanner will show you a list of worldwide flight options, starting with the cheapest. This is useful if you don’t mind or don’t know where you want to travel.
- You can also search for hotels and car hire through this site.
- Sometimes the cheapest options will be booking through a third party provider, so you’ll need to check whether there are any restrictions or limitations (including the possibility of smaller companies going bust) compared to booking directly with an airline.
Jack’s Flight Club
- I use Jack’s Flight Club (JFC) to alert me to flight deals. These alerts can come through via push notifications on the app, or by email when you sign up to alerts. JFC has two levels of subscriptions.
- The standard free service where alerts are usually sent out once or twice a week.
- There’s also a Premium subscription, costing £29 per year currently. The Premium Subscription will alert you to the deals much more frequently, as well as offer perks such as discounts off other travel related products.
- You can set your preferred airports, which is helpful if you’re not close to the airports in London. There’s also the option to be notified of flights departing from Europe or America.
- JFC seeks out all deals, and their helpful notifications advise how long flight offers are likely to last. They will also explain the best way to book the flights.
AWTT Tip: It can be worth checking both Google Flights and Skyscanner to see whether either of them shows different options for the flights you want to take. Additionally, individual airline websites (such as British Airways or Virgin Atlantic) can sometimes be the best option, especially if you have loyalty accounts with them (see Points Resources section).
Accommodation Resources
Booking.com
- Booking.com tends to be the first resource I check for accommodation as I find they have a lot of availability. Their website and app are both very easy to use.
- You can filter your results according to a variety of preferences including free cancellation, your budget, star rating, property type as well as facilities available.
- All properties can be viewed on a map, in case you want to find something in a particular location, or near a certain attraction.
- There are helpful reviews by people who have stayed in the accommodation, and you’ll get information such as check in and check out times, if WiFi is available free of charge (and whether this is everywhere or just in public areas). It will also outline any specific policies the accommodation has.
- Booking.com has a loyalty scheme called ‘Genius’ with two levels. I’m a Genius Level 2 member, which gives me a few discount perks. To achieve Genius status you need to complete a minimum number of bookings/nights. Any Genius discounts will automatically be applied when you’re logged in and searching for properties.
Hotels.com
- I also look at Hotels.com before deciding which accommodation to book.
- The account I use is set up in my partner’s name, as this is the site he prefers for business trips. Making bookings with the same account means we can collect Reward Nights faster.
- Reward Nights are a perk of Hotels.com where you collect 1 reward stamp per night stayed. For every 10 stamps collected, you receive a reward night, which amounts to the average price paid for the 10 nights. This is a great perk and reward for loyally using the site for your accommodation bookings.
- It is worth signing up with Hotels.com as they show ‘secret prices’ which are discounts available for some properties. You will only see these prices if you have an account.
- Booking via the Hotels.com app will give you the best rates. And definitely use the app if you have Reward Nights to claim as the website charges £4 for each redemption!
Kaligo
- Kaligo is a global hotel booking platform that can be beneficial if you’re looking to collect extra reward points quickly, as many bookings have a very high points to £1 ratio. For example, a hotel in Milan on a Saturday night in September could cost £129. But you’ll receive 2578 Avios points, which is nearly 20 Avios per £1 spent!
- It won’t cost you to sign up to Kaligo, however payments are usually required at the time of booking, even with free cancellation options. I’ve not had any issues with receiving money back following a cancelled booking, and their customer service is highly rated.
- There’s a good range of options, including a number of boutique properties as well as the more well-known chain hotels.
- This site links to a lot of different partner programmes including British Airways Executive Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
AWTT Tip: Check out different accommodation sites as prices and rewards won’t be the same. You’ll need to choose the best option for you, whether that’s the cheapest price or the most reward points.
Insurance Resources
Nationwide
- My standard insurance policy is provided via the FlexPlus account with Nationwide Building Society. My partner has the account but I’m covered under his policy.
- For £13 per month, the FlexPlus account gives you a variety of other benefits in addition to travel insurance. It includes mobile phone insurance, UK and European breakdown cover and a travel friendly debit card.
- This account can save you quite a bit of money instead of taking out separate policies, but only if you need them all.
- An add on option is available for Hazardous Activity cover – things like bungee jumping, zip lining, scuba diving, paragliding etc. For 2019-2020 the upgrade cost was £45 for the year to cover both of us. You’ll also need to check if the insurance will cover you for any pre-existing medical conditions.
- Coronavirus has disrupted the travel industry significantly, and Nationwide will only cover cancellations for medical reasons related to Covid-19. It will not provide cover if there is a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO, previously the FCO) advisory against all or all but essential travel due to Covid-19. Therefore, you may be better off arranging a policy that will cover cancellations under such circumstances.
Insureandgo
- I’ve previously taken out travel insurance from Insureandgo and was very satisfied with their policy.
- You can choose single trip cover or an annual policy, which covers multiple trips in a year. I usually advise if you travel more than twice in a year an annual policy can be more cost effective.
- They also provide specific policies such as cruise cover, backpackers insurance and insurance for those aged 65 and over.
- I used their backpacker policy in 2014 for a 2 month trip for me and my partner. He ended up in a private hospital needing treatment for dengue haemorrhagic fever resulting in a £30,000 bill!! Our policy was £27.15 (for both of us) and we paid a £200 excess. Insureandgo covered the rest of the bill.
AWTT Tip – NEVER travel without insurance! We all hope that trips will go to plan but it’s better to be covered than have a large, unexpected bill.
There are plenty of other travel insurance sites available. Ensure you get a policy that covers a variety of situations.
Many travel sites offering package holidays can include insurance when you book a trip with them. It might be worth considering adding this as part of the package if you don’t already have a separate policy. You should also ensure you take out cover as soon as you book a trip, so the policy is in place if anything happens before the holiday.
Planning and Transportation Resources
Holiday Extras
- Holiday Extras is a well-rounded resource that offers a lot via its website or app, which is why it comes under my ‘planning’ category.
- It’s known for ‘travel extras’ such as airport parking, airport hotels, and airport transfers. Other services offered include fast track security, airport lounges as well as car hire, travel insurance, and travel money.
- Their tagline is “Less hassle. More holiday.” I’ve found this to be the case each time I’ve booked with them.
- I’ve been using Holiday Extras for over 10 years, mainly for airport parking, however I’ve also booked airport lounges, port parking (for cruise travel) and car hire through them over the years.
- In 2020 my bookings were cancelled and re-booked, and then cancelled again. Each time it was very straightforward, and I always choose the refundable option. The money was credited to my account quickly, and is available for any future bookings.
Travel Supermarket
- Travel Supermarket is an online price comparison site. Whilst it mainly compares package holidays, it also looks at different prices for a wide variety of other travel products.
- You can search for car hire, travel insurance, airport transfers and parking, as well as hotels and flights.
- I mostly use Travel Supermarket for car hire comparisons.
Get Transfer
- Get Transfer is a site for booking car transfers and chauffeured car rentals.
- It’s a good, and usually cheaper, alternative to booking taxis, and you can hire by the route or hour.
- The booking process is straightforward. Enter where you want to be collected from and where you want to go to, then click get offers.
- Drivers will offer a price for the trip, and you choose the best offer. Waiting times at an airport (up to 60 minutes) plus fuel and road tolls should be included.
- All divers are carefully vetted, and Get Transfer only works with drivers who have flawless feedback.
- Their services are available worldwide. I’ve used Get Transfer on several of my holidays including in Bali, Mexico and Greece. I was very pleased with the service when I was in Bali, as the driver waited two hours when we were delayed getting through immigration!
- When my Tunisia trip was cancelled in June 2020 I’d already booked and paid for a transfer. I received voucher credit of 110% to my account for a future trip.
Activities Resources
In the first instance, it’s a good idea to check out prices for any activities directly with the main company (for entrance fees, tickets, etc). Doing this should give you an indication if any third-party deals will save you money.
Tripadvisor
- Tripadvisor is a very useful resource for user reviews and opinions, on a wide variety of travel related products.
- My usual searches are for “things to do” or “top attractions” at a destination, as well as for the “best restaurants.” As I’m quite fussy with food, the restaurant search is always for the best pizza places!
- One thing to note is that people experience things differently, so with all user reviews I’d recommend checking both the lowest and middle scoring reviews, as well as the highest ones. This should give you a better overall picture on which to base your decisions.
Viator
- Viator is a booking site (a Tripadvisor company) to find deals for experiences and attractions.
- Availability is usually excellent, and most packages can be booked at the last minute.
- The majority of activities available include the option to cancel up to 24 hours in advance. Weather dependent activities usually come with options to transfer to a different date, or you can receive a full refund if it has to be cancelled.
Isango
- Isango is a travel experience site with over 5000 experiences. It’s another site I use to check options for activities whilst I’m on holiday.
- A major benefit of Isango is that for many of the activities, you won’t need a printed voucher as you’ll receive a mobile QR or barcode. This can be useful if you book when you are already on holiday.
Photography resources
The next set of resource recommendations are apps you can download for either Android or iPhones.
Free Prints Resource Bundle
Free Prints Photos
- If you want to print your photos after a holiday, the Free Prints Photo app is a great resource.
- There is no cost to sign up for an account and no subscription fees. Payment is by by credit/debit card but they also accept PayPal.
- Every calendar month you can get 45 prints for free (size 6×4) – you just pay postage costs between £1.49-£3.99. Your free prints count will reset on the first of every month.
- Should you need to, you have the option to order more prints during the month for a small additional cost.
Free Prints Photo Tiles
- I love Free Prints Photo Tiles! It’s a great app where you can upload photos and have them turned into an 8×8 inch tile.
- You receive 1 free tile per month, only paying for delivery costs (£5.99). Each additional tile will cost £8. If you order 4 or more tiles, you won’t pay any postage.
- Tiles are around 3/4 inch deep, and there are two print options. The standard tile is durable plastic, which is what I have. Alternatively, for £4 more per tile you can have your picture printed on lightweight tempered glass.
- I started ordering my own holiday pictures during lock down to give me a mood boost while being unable to travel. There’s still over half the wall to fill, but it makes me happy just looking at them.
Free Prints Photobooks
- Another app available through the Free Prints company is for photobooks.
- The offer is similar to their other apps; you can order a free 20-page softback photobook (either 7×5 or 6×6) every month, with a postage charge of £5.99. If you order and pay for more books at the same time, the postage charge won’t increase.
- You’ll have the option to upgrade to have more pages or a hard back cover, and pay a small fee for these additional modifications.
- Each page in the photobook can have up to 6 photos, and you can choose from a variety of layouts.
- Whilst they may not be as versatile as some other photobook companies, Free Prints Photobooks can be a cost effective memento of a trip, either for you or those you travelled with.
Photo Collage Maker
- As I usually take a huge number of photos during any trip, I like to create collages and use the Photo Collage Maker app. Most of my collages combine pictures from each day to post on Facebook with a travel update.
- Photo Collage Maker is really easy to use – just select the pictures you want to combine. The app searches a lot of your files – recent images, camera, google photos, email, Facebook, Instagram, screenshots and WhatsApp folders.
- There are a variety of layouts available depending on the number of pictures you choose. Other customisation options include changing the background colour, changing the shape of the picture, and adding text or emojis.
Other resources
Trip Case
- TripCase is a travel organising app (and website) which stores all of your travel information.
- You send confirmation emails to your account and the app adds them to your trip timeline/itinerary.
- The app also gives you flight notifications, and you can share your trip with friends and family.
- One reason I like this app is that I can look back over my past trips to add details to my Travellerspoint maps (see Other resources below).
- There are similar apps available such as TripIt, Plip Trip Planner, HotsGo, and SaveTrip. I’ve only used TripCase (since 2014) so I can’t recommend any of the others. I wouldn’t choose to try a different app, as I don’t want to lose my past trips, or have them stored across different platforms.
Travellers Point
- Travellerspoint is a travel social network that has accommodation guides and travel blogs.
- However, the best feature which I mostly use it for is the Travel Map function. You can create a map showing everywhere you’ve travelled across the world!
- I have a few scrap books for my travel photos, and have included my Travellerspoint maps since 2015, when I managed to visit 12 countries in 12 months.
- The travel blogs available on this website are also a good place to get inspiration from like-minded people.
Countries Been
- Countries Been is an app that lets you tick off the countries and cities you have visited.
- You colour in the map based on places that a) you’ve been to, b) those you’ve lived in and c) those you want to go to.
- There’s not much else you can do with the app, but I find it useful to know how many more cities and countries I need to travel to. As of 2021, I’ve visited 44 countries, and still have 205 countries I want to see! You can see why I’m Always Wanting To Travel!
- If you prefer something physical, you can also get a scratch map. These are maps of the world where you scratch off the destinations you’ve visited. I do have one, however I still like the app for easier counting.
You’ve come to the end of my list of travel related resources. There are tonnes of resources out there, but these are ones I use regularly and recommend them personally.
I hope these resources help you get the most out of your holidays!