MY GO TO TRAVEL SITES
- Admin
- Sep 20, 2017
- 4 min read
I am obsessed with traveling. There is not one day that passes that I do not think about when and where my next vacation will be. My family, friends, and boyfriend think that I am persistently crazy, but I love it. If worrying about my next adventure is what keeps me up at night, then I consider myself lucky. This obsessive compulsive need for travel and adventure leads me to conducting a lot of research and planning trips that I have no idea when I will take. I, like most people, have real life constraints that stop me from living on the go--wahhhh. But, that does not stop me from maximizing my time and having a handful of well thought out itineraries on call. Below is a list of my favorite sites to use when planning a vacation whether I know exactly where I want to go or not. And, of course, they offer awesome deals!
1. Skyscanner.com
Skyscanner is a great site to search for flights. You can choose a specific destination or an entire country. My favorite feature is that you can choose to travel "Everywhere" if you cannot decide where you want to go. Then, the site generates all possible destinations on your selected dates and orders them by price. Another neat feature is that you can select "cheapest month" rather than choosing a certain date. If you are flexible with your time, this is a great way to find the cheapest flight.
2. Kiwi.com
Kiwi offers the same features as Skyscanner. However, Kiwi has an extra feature that is very valuable for finding the best bang for your buck. Here, rather than choosing specific travel dates, you can choose a range of dates. You can also select different airports that you want to fly to and from. For example, I can select to fly from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Orlando to La Guardia, JFK or Newark from December 5-8 until Dec 12-16. Then, Kiwi will generate several searches to find the best deal.
3. Momondo.com
Momondo offers the same features as Skyscanner, but adds extra special features. It is one of my favorite sites to use when I am not sure of where I want to visit. If you click on "Trip Finder," you can search for destinations depending characteristic. There are filters for destinations that are known for "family, romantic, shopping, cities, beaches, nature, nightlife, and skiing." You can further narrow your search by popularity, flight price, specific dates, month, and budget. So, if you want to go somewhere with your significant other for your anniversary in January, for example, you should select January and "romantic." Similarly, if you want to go on a bachelor party in June, you should select June and "nightlife."
4. Expedia.com
Expedia is great for hotels or bundle deals. A bundle deal is a special price offered when you purchase flight and hotel together. I have been using Expedia for many years and have received good benefits from the points that I have accumulated. Points turn into cash discounts. Sometimes your points are doubled and you can save even more. Expedia has discounted deals even if you do not have points. Sometime they offer daily deals, one night free at certain hotels or significant discounts if you purchase through their app. However, I would not recommend using Expedia for solely purchasing flights. You are very likely to find much cheaper flights on Skyscanner, Momondo or Kiwi. Only purchase flights on Expedia if you are getting a bundle with hotel. I have seen offers for a free flight when you purchase flight and hotel together (bundle deal). Nevertheless, feel free to use Expedia to solely purchase accomodation. I usually use Expedia to purchase hotels alone. For my trip to Cape Town, South Africa, I used Skyscanner for the flight and Expedia for the hotel. I find the hotel reviews on Expedia to be very accurate and helpful. A quick pointer, when searching for a hotel, NEVER forget to make sure that the hotel has air conditioning. Some hotels in cities that have cold winters do not have air conditioning-- GASPPPP!!!!
5. Viator.com
Viator is like Expedia, but for travel tours. Viator sells local tours for several cities around the world. I like to use Viator to book tours because Viator screens tour companies only selects reliable ones. I also use Viator to discover fun, adventurous activities to do in a selected city. I usually discover activities and tours that I would not have thought of but for looking at on site. This is a great way to plan your itinerary. I can honestly say that I have used Viator for every single trip that I have taken whether it was to purchase a tour or to get ideas.
6. Utrip.com
Utrip is like a personal concierge. Just tell the site your destination, dates, budget, and how much you care about certain categories such as museums, dinning, history, entertainment, nature, sports, etc. Then, watch the site create a personalized day-today itinerary. Your personalized itinerary will even include where to stay and where to eat. This site is a great tool for first time visitors or travelers that become overwhelmed with the planning process. For me, making my own itinerary is fun and informative. I always use this site for recommendations on things to do and see. I also love using the site to determine what sights and attractions are in close proximity to each other. Because the site creates a day-to-day itinerary, it groups attractions that are near each other on the same day or on consecutive days. Therefore, it does the dirty work for me and I don't have to spend hours google-mapping everything. On the down side, Utrip only offers this service for some destinations, usually more popular destinations and big cities.
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