Flight search
- Google Flights — Fast, clean UI. Shows legroom, wifi, power details. Leave the destination blank to browse prices from your airport.
- Skyscanner — Strong multi-flight routing. Good "Inspire" feature for flexible destination searches.
- Kiwi.com — Best for complex multi-city routing and the Nomad tool for multi-destination trips.
- PanFlights — Fast, with CO2 sorting and good stopover search.
- FlightConnections.com — Routes database. Useful for finding flights not on mainstream aggregators.
- Kayak Explore — Leave destination blank to browse prices from your airport.
- Azair.eu — Good for cheap flights within Europe and parts of Asia.
- Direct airline websites — Always check. Google doesn't always show the best price.
- Budget airline websites — Search "[country] + airlines" to find carriers not on major aggregators. Albania Air and Alba Wings are examples that don't appear on Google Flights.
Flight deals & alerts
- Dollar Flight Club — Instant alerts for deals from your home airport. Business/first class deals section. Code DFCbusiness50 for 50% off Premium+.
- World Traveler Club — Premium business class deals. Free tier available.
- FareDrop — Up to 80% off alerts. Free tier with customisable alerts.
- Manyflights — Email alerts for deals from selected airports.
- Secret Flying — Error fares and special offers.
- Fly4Free — Error fares and heavily discounted flights worldwide.
- Flynous — Error fares, especially from European hubs.
- Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights) — Popular deal alert service.
- Skiplagged — Hidden city fares. Also useful for finding longer layovers.
- Hopper — Predictive pricing and deal alerts on mobile.
Award travel
- AwardFares — Real-time award availability for 90+ airlines. Flight alerts and seat maps.
- AwardWallet — Tracks frequent flyer miles, rewards, and points across programs. Expiry alerts.
Getting around
- Rome2Rio — Better than Google Maps for transport planning. Shows every possible option in one search.
- Welcome Pickups — Pre-book airport transfers with English-speaking drivers. Fixed pricing, flight monitoring, 342+ destinations.
- InDrive — Ride-hailing with no surge pricing. Available in 650+ cities across 47 countries.
- Discover Cars — Car rental comparison with no hidden fees and proper full-coverage insurance. I've used them, good experience.
- LocalRent — Better car rental deals in Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Thailand.
Accommodation
- Checkout Reviews — Aggregates real Airbnb and vacation rental reviews. Paste a listing link to check for issues before you book.
- Trip.com — Best option for booking in Asia. Most reliable for hotels in China in English.
Money & admin
- Wise — Multi-currency account, lower fees than banks. Local bank details in multiple countries, spend with a debit card.
- OnwardTicket — Temporary onward flight tickets to meet immigration requirements. Small fee.
- AirHelp — Handles delay, cancellation, and overbooking claims. Up to $700 compensation without dealing with airlines yourself.
Luggage
- Stasher & LuggageHero — Day luggage storage worldwide, fully insured.
- SendMyBag — Ship luggage ahead. Skips baggage fees and airport stress.
Useful terminology
- Hacker fares — Cheaper one-way flights, or the hidden city strategy.
- Open jaw — Fly into one city, out of another.
- Split tickets — Book separate legs on different airlines for cheaper routes.
- Stopover vs layover — A stopover is intentional and longer; a layover is a short connection.
- Incognito mode — Worth trying during flight research to avoid price tracking.
- Hidden city ticketing — Book a flight with a stopover in your target city and get off there. Saves money but prevents checked luggage and risks airlines voiding your miles.
- Timing — 1–2 months out is generally optimal. Set price alerts on Google Flights.
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