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Travel Credit Card

• Chase Sapphire Preferred: I’ll admit it, I’m not a points and miles expert, not even close. But this credit card alone has been saving me so much money from my travels. Chase points also transfer to a ton of partners, including Star Alliance airlines, Emirates, and Marriott hotels.

What I Use to Book Accommodation

• Booking.com: This is my go-to booking platform for accommodations. I love the flexible cancellation policy they have. Just don’t accidentally book the non-refundable options!
• Agoda: My mom prefers this to Booking.com, although I don’t use it as often. The user experience doesn’t feel as good to me, but they sometimes offer better deals than Booking. It depends on where you are, so always check both!
• Fairbnb: Instead of letting foreign moguls of Airbnb mess up local housing markets, these guys charge a commission that goes back to the local community. It’s only available in Europe for now.

What I Use to Find Flights

• Google Flights: Sorry for being so basic. But when I’m just looking for random flights, I start on Google and end up on it for hours. I also love their price tracking function.
• Expedia: When I’m feeling less basic, though, I use Expedia! Not sure how it works, but I always find the best deals for domestic flights on Expedia. So, if you’re flying domestic, Expedia first. Rental car prices are also solid on here.

My Favorite Travel Insurances

• Heymondo: If you’re worried about medical emergencies or hospital time abroad, Heymondo is your best bet, with coverage up to ten million dollars. Amazing user experience on the app, too!
• Safety Wing: Safety Wing wins over Heymondo when it comes to personal liability and home country coverage. If medical bills are not your concern, go with this one. (This is also the best option for digital nomads!)
• AirHelp: These guys have one job, and that’s to help you get your money back on flight cancellations and delays. They get a percentage, of course, but you don’t have to deal with any of the drama. So, pick your poison.

Activities & Tour Companies I’ve Tried and Love

Don’t tell anyone, but this is my favorite section. While every traveler and their mom posts reels on IG about how they love looking up flights when they’re too free, I love looking up activities and experiences! Below are the ones I keep getting back on.

• GetYourGuide: “When in doubt, go find a tour on GetYourGuide” is my motto. Love the activities available, love the user experience, and the booking process.
• Viator: When I’m not too lazy, I’ll browse Viator alongside GetYourGuide. I don’t feel the user experience as much, but they sometimes have more unique tours than GYG. I find that to be the case in South Korea more than anything.
• Klook: I use Klook more for local data package deals (if available) and transportation cards, but they also have walking tour options, and they tend to be quite cheap.
• Tiqets: The name is clear. You need tickets for concerts, temple access, palace access, or temple access plus walking tours? They have it at the market price.
• EatWith: I think of this like an activity on GYG, but they’re specifically meals that you’ll have with local hosts in their homes. Isn’t that amazing?! Both parties are vetted for safety, of course.
• Ataw: I’ve only gone on one tour to Peru with Diogo and Lisa, but I’m counting the days to go back for other tours. They do adventure tours in Latin America with deep cultural activities.

Ground Transportation & Pick-Up Services

• Welcome Pickups: If I’m arriving somewhere super late and I don’t trust the local taxis, I use this service to book my ride from the airport in advance. It’s pricier than hailing a local airport taxi, but we’re women. You get the idea. Comfort over cheap sometimes!
• 12Go: This is a lifesaver for domestic land travel across Southeast Asia, where it’s notoriously harder to navigate the system. Disclaimer, you’ll pay a fee booking through 12Go, so the price will be lower if you book direct. But as a Thai person, I’m telling you, trying to book trains and buses direct is a nightmare. The difference is worth it.
• Busbud: I booked my inter-city buses here when I was in Brazil and loved it. They’re like 12Go, but available in Europe and the Americas.
• Omio: I used Omio to book buses and trains for the first time in Italy, and it feels pretty much like Busbud. Depends on preferences, I guess. I like them both.
• Grab: If you’re in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, or Singapore, this super app is your ride-or-die. Not Uber.
• Expedia: Need to rent a car somewhere? Expedia always gives me ridiculously low rates for compact cars. Of course, there’s still insurance, but it can get worse.

My Go-To’s for Phone & Internet Connectivity

• Airalo: I hate having to blast a text to my friends telling them “This is my number in [country],” so I install an eSIM with Airalo when I travel. This lets me get local data on my own number. Their support team is also amazing, when you finally get through the AI bot.
• NordVPN: You’d think VPN is only a problem for digital nomads, but not really. When browsing on foreign Wi-Fi networks, sketchy folks can hack anyone’s information easily. This saves you from that.

My Favorite Blogging Resources

No, you’re not crazy for wanting to start a blog if the hours you spend traveling exceeds the hours you’re happy at work. And no, it’s not a moronic dream that you should give up on. Where would I be if I had given up on it?!

Below are the few top resources you’ll need to get started on that side hustle to freedom. There are more, of course. But more means overwhelm if you’re just starting out, so let’s keep the list small for now.

Blogging Course

• Profitable Part-Time Blogger: Taught by Nina Clapperton of She Knows SEO, I honestly wouldn’t be here without all the knowledge I got from this signature program.

Hosting & Site Setup

• SiteGround (Hosting): When it comes to things that matter, I willingly pay more for comfort. SiteGround and their 24-hour support chat have saved me on so many occasions! Both my site and domain name are with them.
• 17th Avenue (Themes): Don’t you think my site’s pretty? (😅) I bought the theme I’m using from 17th Avenue years and years ago, and their support team is still so ready to help me after all these years!

Affiliate Platforms

• Stay22: Think of these guys as an aggregator who keeps all the affiliate programs you want to join in one place, because that’s kind of what they are. I use them less nowadays, but they’re really good at helping newer bloggers convert like crazy.
• TravelPayouts: This is the better, more advanced affiliate aggregator platform you’ll want to use once you get a hang of blogging and income analytics. They offer a crazy range of brands and products, too!

Email Service

• Kit: Hands-down the best email service I’ve tried so far. Because trust me, I’ve tried a few of them. Kit’s user experience speaks to me the most, and their automation is easy to use as well.

SEO & Keyword Research

• Keysearch (Keyword Research): Blogging without doing keyword research is like going into a race blind. Keysearch helps you see which keywords you should be targeting, like which ones are too competitive, which ones get zero search, etc.
• RankMath: This is a plugin that tracks your keywords and do automatic redirections for any links you update, plus a bunch of other behind-the-scene tech SEO heavy-lifting so you can focus on writing.