My All Time Favorite Travel Resources
Discover all the best travel resources from travel apps to gear to podcasts, books and more!
Travel Apps & Websites
Booking Hostels
Booking Flights
- Google Flights (destination: “anywhere”)
- Skyscanner (destination: “explore everywhere”)
Work Exchanges
- Worldpackers (short term volunteer work exchages)
- WWOOF (Worldwide Work on Organic Farms)
- Aupairworld (to find au pair jobs)
- Trusted Housesitters (to find house sitting gigs)
Navigation
- MAPSME (the best offline map)
- Google Maps (to pin locations)
- Rome To Rio (see all options for traveling from place to place)
- 12Go Asia (see all options for traveling in Asia)
- Grab and Gojek (Southeast Asia)
Gear
- Osprey Aura 65 Backpack (my favorite large backpack)
- Baboon to the Moon Go Bag Mini (best for weekend trips)
- Tevas Hiking Sandals (I hike, swim, and go out in these)
- Cotopaxi Small Accessory Pouch (favorite toiletry bag)
- Filtered Water Bottle (for visiting places without drinkable tap water)
- Reusable Period Cup (limited access to tampons in some countries)
- Travel Padlocks (to lock valuables in hostels)
Solo Travel Safety Tools
- Smart Traveler Enrollment Program STEP (register foreign travel with the nearest U.S. embassy for important updates on the area/in case of an emergency)
- Birdie Alarm (pocket sized alarm I carry at all times)
Travel Podcasts
- The Zero to Travel Podcast (with Jason Moore)
- Extra Pack of Peanuts Travel Podcast (with Travis and Heather Sherry)
- Flight of Fancy (which is no longer recording, but the old episodes are great)
Travel Books
Nonfiction
- Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
- What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed
- Ten Years a Nomad by Matt Kepnes (of Nomadic Matt)
- Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
- The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews
Fiction
- The Cemetery of Forgotten Books Series (4 books- start with Shadow of the Wind) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Neapolitan Novels (4 novels- start with My Brilliant Friend) by Elena Ferrante
- The Alchemist by Paulo Caehlo
- The Beach by Alex Garland
- The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
- The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Dissappeared by Jonas Jonasson