Travel Resources

As experienced travelers and expats, Eric and I strongly value reliable top travel resources. Traveling to over 15 countries in both America and Europe, 17 US states, and over 15 islands, taught us about the best airlines, best accommodation and car rentals and more!

On this page, you’ll find a list of our top travel resources that make it easier to travel around the world to romantic destinations. Traveling and/or moving abroad can be quite overwhelming so your mind should be at ease with those.

Note that we use or have used and loved every resource that we recommend on this page. Actually, we also tried others but weren’t convinced so we didn’t include them.

***Some of the links in this post are affiliate links meaning we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This does not change the fact that we only recommend products, stays, activities and attractions we are satisfied with and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Find the best accommodations

Booking – This is a platform we use to rent 90% of our accommodations when traveling. We love Booking for several reasons including the efficient search filters and the Booking reward system that gives us discounts on several properties. The reward system is available to anyone so it’s definitely something you should consider when choosing an accommodation booking platform.

Vrbo – This is vacation accommodation rental platform that was founded in 1995 and therefore is a bit more established than Airbnb. Vrbo focuses on renting full accommodations which we prefer as we rarely rent shared spaces (like a shared room in a house) unless that’s our only option. Vrbo is known to generally carry less cleaning fees than its competitors. One thing we like about Vrbo is that it displays the full stay price right away as opposed to having to wait a few steps later to see additional fees and discounts.

Hotels.com – The platform allows you to book hotels anywhere in the world. It gifts you with a free night after every 10 nights you book through it through their reward stamp system.

Expedia – We use Expedia for a range of services like cars and activities (see below sections) but also for accommodation. By joining the Expedia Rewards Program, you benefit from discounts on stays in a similar way as the Booking rewards system which is really cool and can help you travel for cheaper!

Home exchange – This is a home exchange platform which is quite beneficial if you have a space to rent yourself. The basic concept is that you’ll exchange your house with someone else’s either at the same dates or at different dates (and then you can meet). You can also use guest points to rent someone’s house if that someone isn’t interested in staying at your home in the near future. Our family has been using this platform for months and have been very happy with their exchanges. We highly recommend joining if you have your own space to rent out!

Airbnb –Do we even have to introduce this platform? Airbnb is a vacation rental platform that lets you rent a range of different styles from a shared room to a full house. We sometimes use Airbnb and have always been satisfied with it. One of our Airbnbs cancelled last minute once and we were able to get sorted with their customer service very quickly. It’s a good alternative to staying in a hotel.

How to find the best activities and visits

GetYourGuide – GetYourGuide is one of our favourite platforms to book activities in cities and countries we either live in or travel to. The platform offers a large number of activities everywhere you go and is very user-friendly. Prices are also quite good and the platform often has ongoing discounts. We also like to use GYG to find new ideas of things to do or when looking for romantic date ideas that aren’t Netflix and chill!

Viator – Viator is another platform where you can find cool activities to book. It’s an equivalent to GetYourGuide and is just as popular. Depending on the country, some activities may be on just one of the two sites so we recommend checking both to have the best offer.

Expedia – Expedia is quite the one stop shop as you can book stays, cars and activities! If you don’t find an activity you like on Viator or Get Your Guide, Expedia is a great place to look!

How to send money abroad

One thing we know for sure is that transferring money when moving abroad or traveling can be a huge headache! Speaking from our experience of living in 5 different countries, banks tend to put thresholds on the amounts you can transfer which can be an issue when trying to pay for visas, first month rent, deposit, new furniture all in a couple of weeks. Regular banks also often charge outrageous fees so using these platforms is one of our top tips to travel on a budget. Below you’ll find our favourite apps and platforms to easily transfer money in the same or different currency.

Revolut – When moving to London, Revolut has been a life saver! Our bank in Ireland really isn’t the most in line with the modern times (no offence but yeah) so transferring large amounts of money over to a different currency was going to involve a lot of paperwork, time and sweat! Instead, we opted for Revolut, opened accounts in 3 minutes and started transferring money. You can exchange your money in a different currency directly on your app at market rate without extra fees (in contrary to banks). Revolut also allows you to hold a wallet for each currency which is practical if, like us, you travel between the EU and a third country for example. You can choose to use a physical debit card or a digital one as well. The best part is that your money is held in banks and therefore legally protected by Bank schemes! This was our best discovery of 2022/2023!

Wise – Wise, similarly to Paypal, is an online platform and app you can use to send and receive money. You can either use your current debit or credit card, a bank account or another wise account to send and receive money. Wise is very user-friendly, and quite reliable!

Paypal – Paypal is pretty similar to wise and is a great help when trying to send over money in different countries or to transfer money over to a new bank account in a different country. Our experience with it has always been positive so we can only recommend it.

Car rental

Discover Cars – This platforms allows you to compare car rentals and find the cheapest or most suitable option for your needs. It also comes with an insurance options and is quite user-friendly. We recommend using this platform as it gives you options of lesser known rental car companies that are usually cheaper. For example, when traveling to Greece, we usually rent a car with a local company as opposed to a famous brand like Avis. It’s usually cheaper and they also have more cars available.

FreeNow – This is a free app you can download on your phone that allows you to book taxi and Ubers and sometimes even e-bikes! You can either call a cab right now or book it for a later time, for example to ensure you’re on time at the airport. We’ve used FreeNow for years and it is one of our favourite travel resources! You can use our code wgl9d790r to get £10.00 off your next ride!

BlaBlaCar – This is a carpool platform where you can ride with other people either as a passenger or as the driver. If you’re driving an empty car, this is a great way to make some money to cover gas and sometimes much more! If you’re a passenger, BlaBlaCar is often cheaper than train! The platform also offers bus rides at low prices throughout Europe!

Zipcar – This platform is an alternative to car rental that allows people to share their car. You can rent a car by the hour or day which is great for weekend getaways. We used a similar system in Dublin and absolutely loved it! Everything is done through the app and with a lockbox. It’s very user-friendly. You can join by using our link and get 15 pounds of driving credit.

Expedia – We regularly use Expedia to rent cars abroad and have always been satisfied with them. Prices can sometimes be a bit high though so we always check other options before booking.

Ferry & other transportation

Ferryscanner – Ferryscanner is the top resource to have to book cheap ferries especially when visiting Greece. We’ve booked ferries in Greece several times and never had an issue. If you’re visiting Santorini, check out our Santorini Ferry Port Guide so you can survive the chaos the port is!

Bird – When we visited Lisbon, we rented e-bikes and on top of being fast, easy and practical, they were super fun to ride! We used the company Bird. When in a city, just look up on the app where the Bird e-bikes are and you’ll just need to scan the bike with your phone to rent it out. The ride was under €5 for about 30 minutes! You can use our code OFTHPU to get a free ride.

VPN travel resources

NordVPN – If you travel a lot and also work or want to have access to certain websites or TV channels, you definitely need a VPN. Nord VPN is one that we have used before and loved it. It’s easy to use and quite intuitive. NordVPN also often has offers where you can try one month for free so definitely check that out if you’re not sure a VPN is what you need.

Flights travel resources

Skyscanner – We use Skyscanner for all of our trips to compare flights. It’s an easy platform to navigate and quite useful to find the best itineraries or set up multi-destination itineraries. You can also use Skyscanner to find the cheapest trip of the month or the cheapest month to travel to a specific destination. If you’re flexible, these features are quite helpful to save money!

Google Flights – We sometimes use this platform to compare flights as well.

Ryanair – As we currently live in Europe, we use Ryanair quite a lot to get around. Ryanair is great for traveling around Europe as flights are generally very cheap. We recommend only bringing a carry on to keep everything low budget but we have traveled with hold luggage several times and never had an issue including with fragile items!