PLAN YOUR TRIP

Plan your trip with these tried, tested and much loved travel resources!

I’ve been traveling the world for over 10 years and I’m well aware that as amazing as trips are, planning for them can be incredibly overwhelming. Luckily, through a lot of trial and error I’ve been able to pick up a few travel planning tips and tricks along the way. From how to find the best accommodation deals, the cheapest flights, travel insurance you can count on to what gear to pack. The goal is to share these with you so that your next trip can be one to remember for all the right reasons.

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QUICK LINKS

Skyscanner for getting the best deals on flights.

Booking.com for booking hotel accommodation.

Hostelworld for budget travelers or for anyone looking to meet travel companions while backpacking (hostels are the most social accommodation option).

GetYourGuide for the best tours and fun activities to do once you’ve arrived.

IVisa helps us know if we need a visa, how long it will take to process and how much it will cost. Applying for your visa online also saves you having to queue for hours at an embassy.

World Nomads for travel insurance we can actually count on. You can read our many epic travel fails to fully understand why you need this!

Lonely Planet is the godfather/holy grail of travel guides, check out their latest editions on Amazon.

BOOK FLIGHTS

When it’s time to plan your trip the first thing to do is nail down your flights, everything else can then be worked in around these flight dates. Sometimes for myself entire trips are based on where I can fly to on a discount.

For the best flight deals, I do browse about to just see what’s available but I usually always end up booking on Skyscanner and I use their app to set up flight alerts too.

Here’s 3 tips to get the cheapest flight deals;

1. Use your browser’s incognito mode to avoid fare hikes based on your search history. Booking sites know your search history, what other sites have quoted you and even what you’re likely to pay so sneak on incognito to get a real deal.
2. I find that purchasing flights on a Tuesday is the way to go because this is when fares are listed with the lowest prices.
3. Also to save money, book your flight to leave on a Tuesday instead of expensive Fridays, and return mid-week instead of on a Sunday.

CHOOSE ACCOMMODATION

When you’ve got your flights booked, you need to figure out where you’re going to stay. Whether you’re a backpacker, flash-packer or a luxe vacationer, how much you enjoy your trip depends a lot on the accommodation you choose.

A lot of the time when I was traveling on a budget in places like Southeast Asia I would wait until I’d arrived and then just turn up at a hostel and negotiate a cheap room deal directly at the reception.

These days, this doesn’t work so well. Hostels have become pretty hip lately and staying in one often requires the same booking etiquette as staying in a hotel, albeit still at a much lower price. So save yourself the pain of being turned away from your already fully-booked hostel of choice by booking in advance on a site like Hostel World. This is the go-to hostel booking resource.

Staying in hostels makes travel much more affordable and is also a great way to meet new travel buddies but when I’m in need of a place with a little more privacy than a hostel or dorm room, I go on Booking.com (incognito of course) to snap up a hotel deal.

GET YOUR VISA

VISA TIP

Save yourself the trek to your nearest Embassy! Applying for your visa online is usually always the quickest and most stress-free option. Use these free online visa checker and calculator tools so you know if a visa is required (which depends on the country you're from) and if so, how long it will take to process your visa.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

Flights and accommodation booked? Check. Next its time to sort out your travel insurance. This is something that a lot of people overlook and I was one of those people for years! Then a streak of bad luck happened; a motorbike accident, lost luggage etc and I figured it was actually cheaper to get the insurance than to not.

I recommend the guys at World Nomads because they're reliable and they cover adventure travel activities. From paragliding to gorilla trekking to shark cage diving, World Nomads aren't scared and neither should you be, if you’re insured. So if you’re planning a trip or are about to take on one of our Top 100 Travel Adventures get a free quote from World Nomads before you go.

PICK A PLACE

If you’re looking for inspiration on where to go, how much it will cost and the top things to do once there then check out our Destination Guides. Our female travel guides are written by women for women on over 60 countries around the world. Go explore…

AFRICA

ASIA

CARIBBEAN

EUROPE

MIDDLE EAST

NORTH AMERICA

CENTRAL AMERICA

SOUTH AMERICA

OCEANIA

HOP TO

AFRICA: Kenya - Morocco - South Africa

ASIA: Bhutan - Cambodia - China - India - Indonesia - Japan - Laos - Malaysia - Maldives - Mongolia - Myanmar - Nepal - Philippines - Singapore - South Korea - Sri Lanka - Thailand - Vietnam

CARIBBEAN: Cuba - Puerto Rico - Dominican Republic

EUROPE: Austria - Belgium - Croatia - Czech Republic - Denmark - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Italy - Netherlands - Portugal - San Marino - Spain - Switzerland - Turkey - United Kingdom

MIDDLE EAST: Egypt - Saudi Arabia - United Arab Emirates

NORTH AMERICA: Canada - Mexico - United States

CENTRAL AMERICA: Belize - Costa Rica - Guatemala - Nicaragua - Panama

SOUTH AMERICA: Bolivia - Brazil - Chile - Colombia - Ecuador - Peru

OCEANIA: Australia - Fiji - New Zealand

PICK AN ADVENTURE

Plan your trip around one of our top travel adventures. Check out the ridiculously over-ambitious Jetset Bunny Bucket List and join our mission to experience not only the top 100 travel adventures in the world but also the top 25 travel adventures in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.

TRAVEL GEAR

The travel gear you bring with you could have a major impact on your overall enjoyment of your trip. A backpack that gives you backache will make you miserable. Boots that give you blisters: Ditto. You get the picture. Most people start out with a backpack that’s way too big and end up downsizing drastically when they realize just how little they really need. And as you need less, you can spend that left over cash on better quality items that will last longer. To make choosing your travel gear easier we’ve selected what we consider to be the best travel gear options available for women today and stuffed them into this Travel Gear Guide. We also narrowed it down with these packing lists;