Your top 5 travel resources (planning, finding, booking, reviews, etc.) are...

[brett]

We use booking.com, agoda.com etc all the time. But we do not always book through them.

Prior to booking we often refer to the hotel/B&B website, or send them an email. More often than not we get something extra by booking direct. Things like breakfast, perhaps one way taxi from the airport, a better room, a better cancellation policy, or perhaps no deposit required. Does not happen all the time but frequently enough for us to double check with the property and with the same property on another booking site.


We have also had excellent customer service from Booking.com. We had a hotel in Panama drag their feet on a cancellation refund. Contacted Booking.com and had the money refunded by the hotel within the week. I am convinced that this not would have happened if we had not involved them in the issue.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

It's tough to pick 5 because it's so trip dependent and I prefer to cross reference info/reviews from multiple sites.


Flight Research and Booking
Kayak for research. (favourite)
Hopper for research
Google Flights for research
YVRDeals.com for flight deals out of Vancouver (favourite)

We'll usually book on the site as suggested by Kayak or YVRDeals. Ideally, we'll book off the airline's website.

Hotel Research and Booking
Trip Advisor for research with a grain of salt. (favourite)
Booking.com
Agoda.com mainly for booking in Asia
Expedia. Wasn't much of a fan but getting some deals of late
Priceline mainly for booking in Canada and the US but with some luck in Europe and Asia.
Cross-Pollinate for hotels in Europe.
Hotwire mainly for booking in Canada and the US
VRBO for vacation rentals
TravelZoo. Occasionally has some interesting deals.
AirBnB

We'll also check the hotel's website to see if they can offer a better deal or more perks.

Car Rental
Costco
Priceline

Cruises
Cruise Critic for research and discussion forum.

We'll usually book our cruises via our TA instead of the cruise line because our TA can offer us some additional perks.

Rail
Man in Seat 61 for research

Restaurants
Chowhound for research
Yelp to check reviews
TripAdvisor to check reviews

Apart from googling best abc restaurant in xyz city and coming across restaurant reviews in blogs, we'll typically seek out restaurants featured in Food Travel shows various like Anthony Bourdain series (No Reservations, The Layover, Parts Unknown, etc)

Destination and Miscellaneous Research
Frommers for itinerary ideas, major attractions, and restaurant ideas
WikiTravel for destination info: how to get into town, how to get around town, restaurant ideas, attractions, neighbourhoods, etc
Flyertalk to post questions on travel forums (favourite)
Travel Fish for SE Asia
Rick Steves for Europe
Blogs I come across for restaurant and attraction suggestions.
Local Newspaper's annual "Best Of" lists
Worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets for outlet type info
Prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com for prepaid data sim card options by country. (favourite)

Miscellaneous Apps
TripIt to track my major itinerary info
Flight Tracker to track my flights
Google Translate
Google Maps/Waze not only for navigation but Maps has a lot of additional info like biz hours, ratings, etc.
XE Currency
Swam to track where I've been
Foursquare for restaurant tips
SeatGuru

 

[Ronstar]

TripAdvisor - things to do, hotels
Yelp - restaurants
Booking.com - hotels
Mapmyrun - find running routes
alltrails.com - find hiking trails

 

[FUEGO]

FYI, Ebates has 15% cash back on cruises today for Travelocity. So you can shop for the best deal, maybe get some free comped stuff and on board credit at Travelocity and then get 15% more off.

 

[CaliKid]

FYI, Ebates has 15% cash back on cruises today for Travelocity. So you can shop for the best deal, maybe get some free comped stuff and on board credit at Travelocity and then get 15% more off.

Good call! I too use Ebates. I have 3 main ones I check: Mr. Rebates, Ebates and Mainstreet shares. Through all through you can get cash back on Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, etc... PLUS travelocity, expedia and others. It's really a relatively easy way to get some money back. Yes it's an extra step in the travel shopping process but can save you a lot of money.

 

[brett]

We have used maninseat61 several times. It is an excellent resource with good links.

 

[braumeister]

The only cars with automatic transmissions were SUVs renting for $1,400 for 3 days!

Automatics are more expensive, and frequently scarce, in most places outside the US.

 

[brett]

We very much prefer a standard transmission in many parts of Europe. So glad that I learned on a standard and drove one for many years.

 

[Meadbh]

We very much prefer a standard transmission in many parts of Europe. So glad that I learned on a standard and drove one for many years.

+1
I learned to drive with manual transmission. When I rent a car in my country of origin it is manual, left hand drive, and usually diesel. And there is no need for A/C.

 

[explanade]

Ones I use most:

1. Evernote
2. Booking.com
3. Google Flights/ITA Matrix/Kayak/Yapta
4. Tripadvisor - only rely on reviews when there are at least few dozen reviews, cross-check against booking.com and other sites.
5. Kayak My Trips/Tripit - to build itineraries.

 

[audreyh1]

This is a great thread. It deserves a sticky.

I was just thinking that!!!

 

[audreyh1]

We very much prefer a standard transmission in many parts of Europe. So glad that I learned on a standard and drove one for many years.

My first car was manual transmission. Drove it for 6 years or more. But that was 30 years ago and I was quite glad to get rid of a clutch.

Now I remember I did drive one for a short while in England in 1991. In fact - it might have been the clutch delay that saved our lives when we didn't cross the highway. We were looking the wrong way!!!

I can't quite imaging driving a standard transmission minivan, but that's what they use in Europe!!!

I think my brain still remembers what to do..... kind of like riding a bicycle.

 

[YoungSaver]

WikiTravel
Trip Advisor
agoda.com
google.com

 

[audreyh1]

I've been busy booking hotels in Europe recently, and I've noticed that TripAdvisor has gotten into the hotel booking business directly, by partnering with several hotel chains. As a consequence, the link to the hotel's website is often missing, and I have to google it. TripAdvisor is still providing quotes from other major booking sites.

Kind of wonder where TripAdvisor is going with all this monetization and how impartial they will be in the future.......

 

[Sunny]

...that TripAdvisor has gotten into the hotel booking business directly, by partnering with several hotel chains. ...

Yeah, I too didn't like they started doing this. Edmund back in the day was great research for cars but they seem to have commercialized, Amazon's reviews of products seemed to be by real people a few years ago and now so many seem to be planted, and I used to trust TripAdvisor a lot...but now I am more wary because of this.

I understand the need to monetize your site or product, but that tends to put a damper on useful, informative reviews.

 

[gerntz]

The Euro rental car up charges for automatics is just to stick (PI) it to Americans since they know we don't hardly drive standards. You'd think they'd try to be consumer friendly, but no. They also have it their heads that standards are more fuel efficient, but pretty bogus with the multi-gear transmissions of today.

 

[Nemo2]

T. They also have it their heads that standards are more fuel efficient, but pretty bogus with the multi-gear transmissions of today.

Aren't standards also cheaper to buy/repair/maintain?

 

[Meadbh]

The Euro rental car up charges for automatics is just to stick (PI) it to Americans since they know we don't hardly drive standards. You'd think they'd try to be consumer friendly, but no. They also have it their heads that standards are more fuel efficient, but pretty bogus with the multi-gear transmissions of today.

Automatic transmission vehicles are less common and more expensive to buy and operate in Europe than they are in the US. In recent years, manual diesel vehicles have become very popular in Europe because of the lower cost of diesel. They are my default choice.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

2 websites I like for traveling within Europe: ryanair.com and booking.com

Sent from my HUAWEI GRA-L09 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[Bamaman]

Thanks guys for all the information on travel websites. If I was planning a trip (and I'm through traveling for now), I'd be up all night trying to save a buck--literally.

The biggest enjoyment on a trip is often in the planning. I call it traveling in my mind. And I love traveling for half the price that many people spend. It all comes from the resources available on the internet.

 

[medelste]

Flights:

Google Flights - super-fast and super-powerful, especially if you have flexible travel dates like we do (tip: use its Save feature to save one-way flights you like and track their price changes over time, be patient, they will fall!)

Twitter - I follow and get notifications on my phone when @airfarewatchdog, @secretflying, and @fly4freecom tweet out flight deals. I snagged $80 r/t flights to Nashville and $70 r/t flights to Dallas this way.

Accomodations:

TripAdvisor - the bible

JetSetter - private great deals on upscale hotels that make them approachable

Hotwire/Priceline along with BetterBidding.com - often great deals and a free adrenaline rush during the reveal!

Airbnb and VRBO - when you are looking to live like the Romans (and when hotels are all booked up because of an event in a city)

 

[audreyh1]

I recently started using the saved flights feature of Google Flights. It's interesting seeing the price history on selected flights.

 

[2017ish]

...

The biggest enjoyment on a trip is often in the planning. I call it traveling in my mind. ...

This is DW to a "T." While the planning is not actually her biggest enjoyment, she truly enjoys both it and the anticipation of the trip.

Me, I am happy just jumping in the car and seeing where I end up. (but, while working, this is not an optimal approach.)

Will be interesting to see how these respective attributes meld in retirement!

 

[audreyh1]

I spend a huge amount of time planning our trips. But I don't particularly enjoy it, and sometimes it's downright aggravating. I mean, it is very interesting, and sometimes exciting, but getting the details squared away can get very, very tedious.

But the payoff is when we things go smoothly on our trip and we have a great time.

Of course I could just sign up for a couple of tours or cruises and then only have to deal with airfare and transfer to the tour/cruise, which is the easy part. But we seem to enjoy the experience more when we're off on our own and can do things at our own pace, and we can change our schedule around at the last minute.

BTW - for a Europe tour I seem to spend just as many full days working on the trip planning as we do on the actual trip! (unless we're returning to some place a second time)

 

[brett]

Our choice of vehicle in many parts of Europe would always be a standard transmission. Saves me constantly riding the brakes in some countries. Fortunately I have no problems driving one.

I do not think that the European agencies are sticking it to anyone by charging more for a standard. In Europe, standard transmissions are the most common. Rental agencies buy for this market. I have no doubt that their inventory costs are higher with automatic transmission vehicles.