There’s nothing better in life than planning a well-deserved vacation and booking your own holiday online. Whether you’re trying to find a last-minute ticket to the nearest tropical island or you’re looking for cheap accommodation when you get there, it can be hard knowing where to purchase flights and make bookings. The internet is like an ever expanding universe when it comes to finding great travel deals. But how do you find the right sights with the best deals? That’s where we come in! Our travel obsessed staff have put together a list of great travel websites to help you get to where you want to go on a shoestring.
FLIGHTS
Flightfox https://flightfox.com/
Flightfox is the only global marketplace of the world’s best flight experts who are obsessed with customer service. The best thing about this site is that the experts don’t earn commissions on your flights, so getting you the best deal is their main goal. Joining costs a small fee but it’s totally worth it.
FlyinAway http://www.flyinaway.com/
Flyin Away is a new site that puts pricing directly into the hands of YOU: the traveller and other travellers interested in the same flight. That’s right sugar, this is a competition! You have outbid the other scumbags, er, travellers to get the best deal. So get your game-face on and start ballin’.
Hipmunk https://www.hipmunk.com/
One of the best designed travel sites, Hipmunk can help you optimise your flight for layovers, length and, most importantly, price! And it’s not just about flight deals now that they have an extensive hotel search page as well.
Google Flights https://www.google.com/flights/
Oh Google, is there anything you can’t do?! Welcome to Google’s own flight search, a site perfect when looking for domestic flights in the great U S of A. Drag and drop your route to another location to see the price changes with a nifty map navigator. Keep your eyes on the bar graph view too, to see how fare change over any given time.
Yapta http://www.yapta.com/
The worst thing about booking your own travel is once you’ve bought your flights and then you see that they’ve gone on sale! Argh! But with Yapta, those days of endless frustration are gone. Yapta is like your mom, and she ain’t messing around. Depending on the airline’s policy, Yapta helps you get back some of the cash you blew.
Kayak http://www.kayak.com
If you don’t already know kayak then you must be some kind of hermit/hobbit hybrid who lives in a cave. This site is geared to finding you the cheapest airfares possible searching over 150 airlines and travel agencies that include Travelocity and Orbitz and some of the other big league travel mammoths. Kayak is like a one-stop-shop for cheap travel.
Last Minute http://lastminute.com
Disorganised? A little bit distracted? Just plain lazy? Last Minute is the perfect site for you. This dude shows you all the last minute airfares, hotel rooms and even attractions in an easy-peasy database. Often the cheapest flights are found on Last Minute, so as long as you can pack fast and tidy up loose ends quicker than you can say “Hawaii”, this might be your favourite site in this bunch! Happy shopping!
ACCOMMODATION
Couch Surfing https://www.couchsurfing.org/
If you’re not too fancy for your own good then catching a night’s sleep in somebody’s couch and saving hundreds of dollars on accommodation costs might be your deal! CouchSurfing is a world-wide community of amazing hosts who offer adventurous travellers a free roof over their heads to help them see the world on a budget. Just sign up and away you go!
Home Exchange https://www.homeexchange.com/
Oh snap! You’re planning on travelling for more than a week or two? Then how about a house swap?! This site offers a huge listing of homes all over the world. You just list your own house, find a house where you’d like to stay and contact the owner to see if they’re up for swapsies!
Hotwire http://www.hotwire.com/
Hotwire offers some of the best travel deals available, both flights and accommodation, and also includes sweet planning tools and tips to ensure that you have the smoothest trip ever.
HOT TIPS
TripAdvisor http://tripadvisor.com
Trip Advisor is the ultimate site for serious vacation planners. You can book flights, hotels, and get tickets for shows and fun parks here, but the best part is that there’s a huge amount of reviews and trips from real travellers, and not computer cyborgs. Check out the destination guides too, as they’re cheaper than Lonely Planet.
Travel Blogs
If I had a dollar for every travel blog out there on the world wide web, I’d be taking cash baths daily, but how on earth does one find the jackpot when there’s so many to choose from. Check out this sweet site:
http://fathomaway.com/slideshow/fathom-2014-best-travel-blogs-and-websites/
This is where you’ll find the 24 of the best travel blogs that can help inspire you with their far-out destinations (Antarctica anyone?! No?..) and just some excellent writing.
And there you have it, some of the best sites online to help you plan your trip on a budget. Of course, there are even cheaper ways to travel, especially if you’re just looking to travel in New Zealand, Australia and America. With Travelcar we hook you up with a free car. Sign up today!
