Travel tools

The speaker discusses various tools and strategies for planning travel. They consider factors such as cost, layovers, transit visas, transfers, and proximity to accommodation. The speaker recommends using Rome2Rio for finding the best way to get to a destination, Google Flights for airline options, WorldwideRoutes for airline and route information, TheManInSeat61 for train travel, and Flixbus for bus travel. They also mention the possibility of using third-party agents for booking flights in certain situations. The speaker encourages listeners to share any additional resources they may know of. One of the questions I get asked pretty much every day is, what tools and strategies do you use to figure out, you know, how to get to your next destination? And that is a major thing, especially for me, since I'm always traveling from one place to the next. So here are some of the things that I consider. First of all, I look at some general things. Of course, cost. How expensive is it going to be for me to get there using the different types of transportation? Another one is layovers. Now, when I'm looking at particularly flights, at layovers, I would never, ever book a flight that has a layover of less than two hours. An hour, absolutely not, because the first flight just has to be slightly delayed and you're going to miss that connection. So I always want a layover of at least two hours. And actually, sometimes the long layovers can be a good thing. For instance, I have a flight coming up soon that has a layover in Dubai for 20 hours. And I thought, well, I don't know how much time I want to spend in Dubai, but, you know, a day there would be great. So I actually took that flight because I'll have this day that I can spend there and then just fly on from there. So look at layovers for different reasons. Another thing to consider is country layovers with transit visas. If you're flying from one country to another and you're transiting through another country, some countries will charge you a transit visa. When I flew through India several years ago, I had to pay a $75 transit visa and I did not leave the secure part of that airport at all. But I still had to have a transit visa. So when you're looking at layovers, also consider if you're going through different countries, double check about whether you need a transit visa in addition. And transfers and things for buses and trains is also a consideration. If I'm going somewhere on a train, that's great. But if I have to take three or four different trains to get there, then it's not so great. So those are all things that I kind of look at at a general level. And, of course, the extra costs because you know there are always going to be some hidden costs. We know what airlines do. We know how they nickel and dime us. But sometimes trains or not trains so much but sometimes buses will charge you to put your luggage in the hold. And just different things like that. And also once you get to your destination, how far are you going to be from the accommodation because you may need a taxi or a bus or a shuttle to get there. So those are some overall things that I take a look at first. Now, if I'm trying to decide how I'm going to get someplace, what's the best way to get there, the first resource I use is Rome2Rio.com. R-O-M-E number two, R-I-O dot com. And it's on the handout that you can download. Rome2Rio is great because I can say I want to go from this place to that place. And it will list all the different options including train, including flight, including ferry, including bus and private car. And it will give you links to those resources. So that's a great place to start to help you determine what's the best way to get there. So I start with Rome2Rio. Now, if I've decided I'm going to fly, then the next resource that I use is Google Flights. Google Flights is terrific because you don't buy your flight through them, but you find out what airlines are going to that destination. And that's important because they're not always listed everywhere. So I can take a look at Google Flights and go, oh, I didn't realize there was a local airline that flew in that area. And so I start with that. And another resource I use before I narrow things down is called WorldWideRoutes.com. And what that will do for you is, again, you put in the place that you're starting from. So say I'm in Athens, Greece, and I want to fly off to somewhere else. So in WorldWide Routes, I'll put in Athens, Greece. What it will do for me is it will show every airline that flies in and out of that airport. And it will show me the routes that those airlines fly to. So it's extremely helpful as an overall beginning resource so that you can start to kind of narrow things down. So Google Flights, WorldWide Routes, those are great ones for if I'm going to fly. If I decide, I went to Rome2Rio and I found out that actually a train is the best way to go, then I go to a website called TheManInSeat61. The URL is just seat61.com. This is a website that is extremely helpful for train travel all over the world. And it's always updated. It's continually updated. So I start with TheManInSeat61 if I'm going to use train to get where I'm going. If I decide I'm going to go by bus, then one of the first resources I look at is Flixbus. F-L-I-X-B-U-S.com. They're a very large company that works in many different countries. And they also are a very good company in that the buses are great. They're big, comfortable coaches. They're reliable. And you can book your tickets online. So Flixbus is a really great start if you're going to go by bus. So one of the things that I hear discussed a lot is whether or not to use third-party agents if you're booking flights. Oftentimes I hear, oh, you should use a third-party agent to see what flights are out there, but then always go to the airline to actually book it. I agree with that sometimes, but there are times when I actually do not agree with that. Sometimes you can get cheaper routes and you can get much better support if you get stranded, and that's really where a third-party agent has saved me. I was on my way from Singapore to a connection in India, and halfway through the flight, in the middle of the night, the plane had to turn around and fly back to Singapore. So at 2.30 in the morning, I was able to call this third-party agent and say, I don't know what to do. I'm sure I'm going to miss that connection. By the time I got to India at 6 o'clock the next morning, that company had emailed me options for other things that they could set me up with. So in that sense, sometimes, you know, if it looks like it's going to be kind of a challenging flight, I might prefer to go through a third-party agent. So I don't always believe that you should definitely only go through the airlines. So these are some of my favorite resources that I typically use when I set up my travel, and hopefully they've been helpful to you. Hopefully I've given you some new ones that you haven't heard of. If you know of others, you know, let me know, and I'll add them to this. And also make sure that you go ahead and download the outline for this so that you've got it for a reference. Happy travels.