Resources
The following are resources that we personally use on our own travels. They include sites for travel, language learning, work exchange, trip insurance and more. Utilizing these websites and companies’ services can assist in planning for long-term travel as well as help a traveler integrate into local cultures, stay safe, learn a language, acquire new skills, and of course, make new friends around the globe.
Hospitality Exchanges:
Couchsurfing: An excellent resource for meeting up with and staying with locals all over the world. Works great for shorter stays. The best part about it is that you meet locals and see the city/country through their eyes, rather than being holed up in a hotel or hostel.
Work Exchanges:
HelpX: Volunteer around the world for room and board. This options works very well for more long-term stays, really allowing you to get to know a place much better. You can also find some really interesting and fun opportunities all over the world.
Workaway: This site is just like HelpX, with lots of volunteer opportunities. Read an article we wrote about volunteering here.
Communication:
Line2: Our preferred VOIP phone calling application. This app can be used to add a second line (in addition to what your cell service provider already offers you) to your smart phone. Or, how we use it, to add a local, U.S. number to your phone to use while traveling. For under $10 per month we have a local (Austin) phone number, over 10,000 “free” in-country (U.S.) minutes and very inexpensive calls to other countries (most around 8 cents per minute). All this while traveling and without any expensive cell phone contracts.
Transportation:
Skyscanner.net: A great airfare site for flexible travelers. You can do general searches by whole countries and within entire months to find the best fares from A to B. By doing a simple search you can clearly see the difference in price for the same flight from one day or week to the next and choose which works best for your schedule.
Carpooling.co.uk:Similar to couchsurfing in that you get to meet locals, carsharing is an interesting and affordable way to travel, especially in Europe. On one occasion, the two of us chose a 30€ carshare experience from Brussels to Amsterdam (in which we met a super interesting French-Malian dude) over a 150€ train ride. Like anything else, check out each drivers reviews carefully.
Blablacar.com: Another great car-sharing option for Europe. This one is more social by nature, allowing you to set how chatty you want the ride to be.
Lodging:
Airbnb.com: For short and long-term, locally owned lodging airbnb.com rocks. From entire beach-front homes and penthouse apartments to per-the-room rentals, the site creates a fabulous alternative to staying in a hotel. (Ensure you’re “allowed” to be staying there, as we learned the hard way from an owner’s perspective when our tenant was sub-letting our condo by the night.)
Travel Insurance:
World Nomads Travel Insurance: You definitely want to have travel insurance that covers your health and your belongings for any long-term travel. We recommend the “Explorer” level to ensure coverage on all standard and adventure sports and activities.
