Monday 12 October 2015

Great websites for travellers

Travel Discount Sites

1. Travelzoo
Travelzoo is a discount website that searches most of the other sites to present users with the best deals. You can select your home location and the website will notify you each week of the top 20 deals in your area. These can include anything from 75% off local shows (i.e. Cirque du Soleil tickets for $15) to discounted flights and vacations (i.e. 7 nights accommodation in Ireland including flights for $800).

Andrew and I have used this website extensively to find travel deals everywhere we are traveling and it has saved us a tonne of money (that we of course later use for other travels!).

2. WWOOF
WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) allows travelers of any age to trade work on farms for their meals and accommodations. This is considered to be volunteer work in most countries and (usually) does not require a work visa to participate in (please check the requirements of each country before you go!).

WWOOFing allows people to learn organic principles, live with a local host, and truly experience daily life in the country they have chosen to travel around. Stays are generally 1-2 weeks in duration, but if the host and you get along and there is enough work, stays of 2+ months aren't unheard of!

There is no maximum or minimum age to WWOOF: some hosts allow families with children to visit. For upper age 'limit', as long as you are still mobile and able to contribute, most hosts would welcome you!

3.  VacationsToGo
VacationsToGo is generally more useful for those who wish to do cruises or group travel. They offer several great discounts on cruises to an assortment of locations worldwide.

Entertainment on the Go

1. Humble Bundle
Humble Bundle offers weekly bundles, book bundles, mobile bundles, weekly bundles, and monthly bundles. As the name suggests, they 'bundle' groups of games or books together. Each bundle is valid for a certain period of time (i.e. the weekly bundle is new each week) and then they release a new bundle.

You pay what you want for the basic set of items in each bundle, pay more than the average donated amount for a select set of items, and sometimes pay more than a dollar amount for a special set of items. For example, the book bundle might have 7 ebooks available for any price. If you pay more than the average of $9 (or whatever it is for that particular bundle), you unlock an additional 5 books.

My husband and I have used these bundles to get sets of 15 mobile games or ebooks for $10, which is a great deal! Every penny counts when you're travelling! They sometimes also have audiobook bundles, which are great for road trips.

2. BookBub
Book bub browses through Kobo, Amazon, and other ebook sites, looking for books that have been marked down for a special promotion. Sometimes there are some very popular books marked down to help promote the next book in the series, or the first book in a new set to entice readers in. There are also a number of great books to be had for $1-3.

If you are a reader (and if you travel, I hope you don't mind ebooks or your suitcase is going to be VERY heavy), then this is an excellent website to save a bundle and have hours of free entertainment on the road!

3. Audible
Audible is an excellent source for audiobooks. They offer over 180,000 titles, a free book every month if you pay for their membership (which is fairly inexpensive), and 30% off all other books in their selection if you listen to more than one book a month. They sometimes also have incredible deals where audibooks will be $5 each, or free promotions for certain holidays.

Andrew and I find audiobooks are great for long road trips. Staring at trees for hours on end gets boring for the driver, listening to music can get monotonous after eight hours, and conversation can sometimes get annoying if you can't think of something new to say after the seventh hour stuck in a car together. They are also great for relaxing on the plane, or if you are somewhere that it gets dark early and you don't have power for lights (i.e. living in a campervan!). Especially if you look for one that is a full-cast adaptation, it is a lot like listening to the old radio plays.

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