a celebration of Humans, Food, & Culture
Travel Tips
Skyscanner
Not sure exactly where you want to go within a country? Want to decide based upon price? Flexible with your dates? This website allows your to search for outgoing and incoming flights into a country. Skyscanner provides you with options based upon various airports in that country (ex. search for flights from NYC to Italy and you will receive results to Rome, Milan, Naples, Venice all in one click). The website will also allow you to be flexible within a month so search away and fly based on destiny! *We have only used this for Europe, Egypt, and USA flying. We will update once we expand our horizons!
DoHop
Need some inspiration about where to travel? By using Dohop you choose a departure city and flexible dates, and Dohop provides you with a list of various destinations with flight prices. *We have used this several times when we didn’t know where we wanted to go. Sometimes we used it simply for the inspiration and then we found cheaper flights on skyscanner.
Rome2Rio
Are you sick of trying to figure out the cheapest way to travel within a country? Should you fly? Should you take public transportation? Train? Carshare? Well Rome2Rio is here to ease your worries. Rome2Rio provides you with all your options in a very user friendly way. Just type in your departure point and your destination and you will be provided with a list of the various ways to travel, how long they take, and the average cost. *We have found the prices on Rome2Rio to be very accurate but you must book outside of the Rome2Rio site with the links that they provide.
RoughGuides
Whenever we visit a new location we try to be brought up to speed about all the sites we will be missing out on as we are working. Roughguides provides very useful, pertinent, and fun knowledge in a very user friendly way.
Triposo
Don’t want to carry books or pay for internet when traveling? The Triposo app is very useful within a country for history, cultural information, and for exploring the sites of a city. By downloading the Triposo documents for your destination, you will have access to the wikipedia guide to that destination but in a more user friendly way. *We have used Triposo as a 101 guide when first coming to a new country using common phrases, the map to guide us in a city, and the information to read about a given tourist site. The food and hotel recommendations are something to be desired but that is only a matter of time.
Airbnb
Want to have a more local experience? Hotel prices too high? Want to see how others live in a given country or connect to strangers? Airbnb is a site where hosts will display their apartments that they are putting up to rent out. There are various filters to meet your needs like wifi, pool, air conditioning and also options to meet your privacy standards; shared living space or private place. The site is expanding exponentially and it is a very great way to not only help the local economy, but meet locals and receive their advice. *We have used airbnb on numerous occasions and many hosts have become part of our website. We wanted to meet locals so we had to search through profiles where it seems the hosts are more open to interacting. Since AirBNB is a business you will find various hosts that operate their airbnb like a business and you might not ever meet them.
Workaway.info
If it weren't for workaway we would not have met some of our closest friends. It has been vital to our success as we connect with locals for traditional, family meals around the world.
What is Workaway.info? An online international database that connects hosts with volunteers. Let's say you are interested in learning about wine production, you search for "wine making" or merely "wine," in the smart search bar and it provides you with a list of hosts who need help with wine making. Even cooler, you can search by region!! The social contract is for the volunteer to work for 25 hours a week in exchange for room and board, what you end up getting is a full cultural immersion and a new perspective on life! Search for your interests worldwide, book a ticket, and take a chance!!
Google Maps
If you are ever lost and need to find your way, use google maps!! It is especially helpful in new countries and, even better, it's for free! The only downside is that you need wireless service in order to use it for directions. If you only have wifi turned "on" in your phone, it will usually allow you to see the maps and your location, but will not provide you with directions.