Here you’ll find two types of tools to make your trips easier and more enjoyable:
Start with the free resources below, then explore the booking tools we use on our own trips.
Choose one (or all!) of the free resources below and we’ll email you instant access.
Use our Google Sheets planner to track flights, hotels, activities, and daily spending for any trip—easy to reuse and customise.
Plan and track all your cruise expenses in one simple sheet—fares, excursions, onboard spending, tips, and more. Easy to reuse for multiple cruises.
Get free access to our private video library on YouTube—cruise guides, destination deep dives, and travel tips with no ads interrupting.
Our travel blog contains affiliate links to products and services we use, love, or have carefully researched (such as hotels, tours, insurance, and travel gear). This means we may earn a small commission if you make a booking or purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you.
These commissions help support the running of this site so we can keep creating free travel guides, tips, and resources. We only recommend places and services that we genuinely believe are a good fit for travellers who value comfort, good locations, and reliable experiences.
All opinions, reviews, and recommendations on this site are our own, based on personal stays, experiences, or detailed research. Affiliate relationships do not influence the star ratings or comments we share about specific properties or destinations.
Please always:
By using this site and choosing to book through these links, you’re helping to support the blog, and we really appreciate it.
If you have any questions about how affiliate links work on this site, you can contact us at: trustytraveltips@gmail.com
CruiseDirect is a specialist cruise booking site that lets you compare sailings from major cruise lines, find discounted fares and last‑minute deals, and book ocean or river cruises with clear pricing and flexible options.
Our Rating
We use Booking to find the cheapest and most affordable accommodation available on the internet, and we would recommend anyone else to use this too
Our Rating
We use Get Your Guide to find the cheapest and best available tours for any destination that we are in.
Our Rating
We use KAYAK to quickly compare flights, hotels, and car rentals across dozens of travel sites, helping us find flexible options and great prices in one easy search.
Our Rating
We use Vrbo to find entire homes and apartments with space to relax, cook, and work, making it easy to book family‑friendly stays and longer trips in destinations around the world.
Our Rating
We use Tripadvisor to read real traveler reviews, compare hotels and experiences, and check ratings so we can quickly narrow down the best places to stay, eat, and visit.
Our Rating
This is a great search engine to find the best car hire deal across all major car hire companies
Our Rating
Tiqets is an easy way to book museum and attraction tickets worldwide, often with mobile‑only entry. We like it for fast, last‑minute bookings and skip‑the‑line access to popular sights.
Our Rating
Klook is a great place to book tours, attraction tickets, transport and local experiences in advance. We use it to find discounted activities and skip‑the‑line tickets that make planning days out in new cities much easier.
Our Rating
Airalo is an easy way to get eSIM data packs so you can stay connected while you travel without hunting for local SIM cards. We like it because you can buy and activate data for dozens of countries or whole regions right from your phone, often at better prices than traditional roaming.
Our Rating
Trip.com is a super handy platform for booking flights, hotels, trains and airport transfers in one place. We like using it to compare prices quickly and find good deals, especially for trips across Asia and Europe.
Our Rating
Hotels.com is a simple way to search and book hotels, apartments and other stays worldwide. We like it for its huge range of properties, clear reviews and rewards program that lets frequent travellers earn free nights..
Our Rating
In our opinion, it’s the best and lowest cost international travel card and a must have when you travel overseas.
Our Rating
Rail Europe is a handy platform for booking trains across Europe in one place, with clear timetables, seat options and pass choices. We like it because it simplifies cross‑border journeys and lets you compare routes and prices without juggling multiple national rail sites.
Our Rating
Google Flights lets you choose a departure airport and view worldwide fares on a map, helping you quickly compare routes, connections, and prices to find the cheapest destinations.
Our Rating
BikesBooking lets you compare and book motorbikes, scooters, bicycles and quads in popular destinations around the world. We like it because you can see prices from multiple local rental companies in one place and reserve your ride in advance, often with free cancellation.
Our Rating
Big Bus offers hop‑on, hop‑off sightseeing tours in major cities worldwide. We like it because the routes cover key landmarks, include audio guides, and give you flexible freedom to explore at your own pace.
Our Rating
VisitorsCoverage is an online travel insurance marketplace that lets you compare plans from multiple insurers. We like it because you can quickly find tailored coverage for medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and more.
Our Rating
DiscoverCars.com is an online car rental comparison platform that helps you quickly find and book the best deals from trusted rental companies worldwide. We like it because it offers transparent pricing, flexible cancellation options, and easy comparisons to suit different travel needs.
Our Rating
Trainline is an online platform for comparing and booking train and coach tickets across Europe. We like it because it brings multiple rail operators together in one place, making it easy to find the best routes, prices, and schedules, all with a simple, user-friendly booking experience.
Our Rating
Surfshark is a VPN service that helps protect your privacy online by encrypting your internet connection and keeping your data secure. We like it because it offers fast speeds, strong security features, unlimited device connections, and easy access to content while travelling or using public Wi-Fi.
Our Rating
Sign up to get access to all our exclusive private videos on YouTube with no ads!
Our score is out of 10 and based on:
Location & convenience – 30%
Room Quality & cleanliness – 30%
Facilities & services – 25%
Dining – 15%
We do not take price (value for money) into our calculations, as rates can differ substantially depending on when you go. If you travel in peak season, then expect to pay the highest rates, but it does not (or should not) change the quality of the hotel. If we give it a rating of 8.0 or higher, we would consider staying again.
TBA – means we have not stayed at this hotel but have booked for a future visit or included in our research as a suggested place to stay
We’ll send you a direct link to our Google Sheets Travel Budget Planner. Easy to use for multiple trips.
We’ll send you a direct link to our Google Sheets Cruise Budget Planner. Easy to use for multiple cruises.
Travel Tips Straight To Your Inbox
Subscribe today and receive all of our latest news and access to our exclusive travel videos for the ultimate travel experience
