Top Websites Expert Travelers Love

These are the most reliable, invaluable websites that I've used throughout my many travels. And find out why I never book through AirBnB 😉 Travel like an expert!

1. Quick, complete overview

   Type in country or major city at TheWorldTravelIndex.com and get the low-down in a glance. In their FAQs they reveal what factors they rely on: • Prices of overnight stays: Booking databases / price search engines

   • Car rental prices: Car rental provider databases

   • Gas station prices: Local and Regional price databases

   • Attractions: Geographical location radius search / AI-assisted analysis of the most- mentioned attractions across the whole internet

   • Security: World Bank / AI-Assisted analysis incl. Reddit / Quora

   Infrastructure: Geographical location radius search / World Bank

   
   

   .... and The World Travel Index relies quite a lot on the following awesome website and one that I've used when moving abroad...

   
   

   

   Cool comparisons are highlighted by the red arrows.

2. Absolutely awesome cost comparison between your home city and your destination city Most people use Numbeo when they're considering moving to another city. The site compares the cost of various goods, services and entertainment between two cities of your choosing. Just type the city where you live and where you want to go, your currency and it will come up with a list of specific items. This is how you budget for your travel! Example: if you live in Miami and want to travel to Manila in the Philippines. Numbeo can tell you that Manila is 51% cheaper than Miami. It can also tell you that a mobile phone plan in Manila is about $27, so you can decide if you want to get a temporary SIM card while you're in Manila.
   

   

   
   

3. Transporation to get you... almost anywhere! Let's say your flight gets into Madrid, but you really only want to spend two days there and then move on to Granada, Spain. How do you get to Granada? GoogleMaps is usually great, but it doesn't always give you the local rideshare options, for instance, whereas Rome to Rio does! More options is always great.

   
   
   
   

   

4. Rideshare from city to city in Europe! And speaking of rideshares, have you heard of Bla Bla Car? These drivers are just normal every day folk that often travel from one city to the other in Europe. So they offer space in their car. Genius! Think of it like an Uber rideshare app for long distances. Like many apps nowadays, most drivers go through a verification process.
   

   
   

   

5. Best weather radar by far Skip all of the ads and stupid pop-ups from other cloud coverage apps and just go to Zoom Earth. It gives you satellite images of clouds with a very short delay. Keep track of the rain and any hurricanes that might be brewing anywhere on Earth!
   

   

6. Coolest, most complete flight search engine We all know about GoogleFlights, but did you know just how much information it can give you!? When you start daydreaming, head to GoogleFlights "Explore" feature at the top left. Enter a city and scroll down. There you'll see when peak and off-seasons are, which can help you plan. Also, we all love that GoogleFlights highlights the cheapest flights of the month right in their calendar, so you don't have to keep etering dates and trying to hit a target in the dark, like other websites.
   

   
   

   

   
   

7. MUCH BETTER than AirBnB And we all know Booking, as well, but this is why I prefer Booking over any other app I've used so far, especially AirBnB and VRBO.

6 (six) hosts cancel on me through AirBnB and VRBO 0 (zero) hosts cancelled on Booking

I know what you're going to say. Everyone asks: why didn't I complain? I did. AirBnB and VRBO customer support said they couldn't do anything. Three of the cancellations were in Paris a year and a half before the Olympics, so it was completely unrelated. The other cancellations were in Seville, Atlanta and a small town in southwest Ireland. Compare that to when I chatted with the Booking customer support and asked if the owners can cancel for any reason. Booking's customer support answer was "No. Only you are allowed to cancel." And again. I've booked through Booking consistently since then and have had zero cancellations. The other apps, like Agora have also been disappointing because they don't include all of the costs, there are always surprises at the location, etc. Booking all the way, baby!

Note, this blog post has been updated. Originally Thatch was in the number one spot, because you got gold nuggets from locals. You could find someone with similar interests and see what they say about whatever city you envisioned traveling to. As someone who could offer insider, expat-style tips, I loved their paywalled maps that I could curate and offer my own notes on. But Thatch, like many others, has been replaced and is working with another platform that just doesn't rise to the occasion. So those 7 are my go-to. I'm really excited to hear about travel apps and your experience so, do leave a comment!