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Updated: September 4, 2023

11 Comments

Travel Hacker’s Toolkit

23 recommended resources for digital nomads

If you’re anything like me, you travel a lot.

Here are the best resources I’ve found to make travel less expensive and more rewarding.

Let’s go…

Getting There  |  Accommodation  |  Insurance  |  Finance  |  Miscellaneous

🛫 Getting There

Cheap Flight Checklist

A couple of years ago I invested a few dozen hours into figuring out a process for finding the cheapest flights online. Turned out that quickly checking these 3 websites, in this order, gets you the cheapest flights 95% of the time:

Scott’s Cheap Flights

Sign up for their free emails and they’ll send you regular flight deals and mistake fares. I’ve seen Barcelona to San Francisco round-trip for €285, Newark to Bangkok round-trip for $495, etc.

Cruise Sheet

Best site I’ve found for cheap cruises.

Not uncommon to see a 19-day transatlantic cruise on there for only $33/day. For that price you’re essentially staying at a 4- or 5-star hotel on the ocean with all your meals included, and stopping off at 9 cool spots along the way.

(Just know that internet access on cruise ships is usually crap/expensive so don’t expect to get much work done.)

Cargo Ship Travel

This isn’t a practical option but I have a big article all about it here if you’re curious.

Here’s a video about my experience crossing the Pacific on a cargo ship:

Rome2Rio

If you want to book travel by bus, train or ferry, this is the best one-stop shop online.

RentalCars.com

My go-to site for renting a car. In some countries I’ve been able to rent a car for as little as $7/day. Seriously.

(Pro tip: always choose the full-to-full fuel policy. Works out cheaper for me every time.)

Timeshifter Jet Lag App

I’ve used this multiple times for long-haul flights and it works great. Put in your flight details and it creates a custom plan telling you when to sleep, when to wake up, when to drink coffee, when to stop, when to avoid bright light, etc.

🏠 Accommodation

Airbnb, Booking, Agoda

As with booking flights, I have a “holy trinity” of sites I check for booking accommodation. Check these three and you’ll find a great deal 95% of the time without wasting hours searching.

How To Rent An Expensive Apartment For A Budget Price When Traveling

An article by top travel blogger Wandering Earl outlining an effective approach for renting an expensive apartment for less than the asking price.

Trusted House Sitters

This is the best site I know of for finding house sitting opportunities. One friend used it to stay at a house with a private beach in Mexico for several weeks.

Here’s how it works:

Trusted House Sitters does have a membership fee but you can get 25% off with this link. Find even one housesitting gig and it easily pays for itself.

🛡 Insurance

SafetyWing

My go-to travel insurance provider. See here for a full breakdown of why I use and recommend them over World Nomads.

I’ve also battle-tested SafetyWing and can verify that they come through in the clutch – they covered my $4000 hospital bill for dengue fever in Bali.

🤑 Finance

Credit Card

If you’re in the US, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is amazing.

It can easily save you $1000+ per year with reward points and airport lounge access.

Checking Account

US-only again, but I highly recommend the Schwab Investor Checking account. Free ATM withdrawals everywhere in the world means you can rock up wherever and get local cash from any hole in the wall.

MoneyWiz

I’ve been using this app for years to track all income and expenses. It handles multiple currencies and syncs to the cloud.

A quick video showing how it works:

Wise

Fantastic service for sending and receiving money abroad, with tiny fees compared to old-school options. Use Wise to get paid by foreign clients or to move money between your own accounts in different countries.

🌎 Miscellaneous

VPN

A VPN isn’t just for countries like Iran and China. Even in Thailand you can have trouble accessing certain websites.

  • The free version of Hotspot Shield will let you access most websites as if you’re browsing from the United States.
  • If you need a more robust VPN solution, ExpressVPN is inexpensive, effective, and gives you access to 160 servers in 90+ countries. It’s one of the few VPNs that works with streaming services like Netflix.

Also, a public service announcement from Tom Scott in the below video: many claims made by VPN companies are suspect.

Nomad List

Compare cities across the world, see which is best for living and working remotely.

Amazon Kindle

A must-have if you read and travel, saves you from having to lug several blocks of dead wood around the world.

Backup

There are loads of options out there for keeping your important files backed up.

I pay $20/month for 2TB of storage on Google Drive and it works well.

VisaHQ

A quick check of this site before booking travel can save a lot of trouble. Enter your country of citizenship and where you’re traveling to and it will tell you if you need a visa, how to get one, etc.

Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki

Stay connected with this site that collects information about prepaid (and pay-as-you-go) mobile phone plans all over the world.

Worldpackers

This site lists literally hundreds of places around the world that will give you meals and accommodation in exchange for working a few hours per week. Many of the placements give you the opportunity to practice and sharpen your online skills.

There is a $49 annual membership fee to join Worldpackers.

Use this link and you’ll get a 40% discount.

Stasher

Find reputable hotels and shops where you can securely store your luggage while traveling.

What’s your top travel resource?

Is there anything you use regularly that I didn’t mention above?

Let me know in the comments below.

About The Author
Niall Doherty – Founder and Lead Editor of eBiz Facts Born and raised in Ireland, Niall has been making a living from his laptop since quitting his office job in 2010. He's fond of basketball, once spent 44 months traveling around the world without flying, and has been featured in such publications as The Irish Times and Huffington Post. Read more...

11 thoughts on “Travel Hacker’s Toolkit”

  1. How about using momondo for all the needs such as tickets, hotels, cars etc I found they almost always find the cheapest prices on everything and gathers everything in one place.

    Otherwise amazing article and fantastic blog!

    Reply
  2. Nice tips! I have heard that if you use a VPN, you can save some money. I am planning to get NordVPN, as it’s well reviewed and now you can buy it with 75%. So, I have read, that with a VPN you can buy tickets to a plane or a train cheaper, as prices differ in different countries. I think since I travel a lot, in perspective, it’s will save a lot of money. And also, your traffic will be secured, so no hacks.

    Reply
    • Hey Rick, thanks for the comment.
      I’ve heard the same about different prices showing depending on where you are in the world, so a VPN can help with that. I don’t think it’s a huge difference though in most cases.

      Reply

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