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A.nna
anna // singaporean. my dream is to some day live in a countryside and have a lot of dogs. reach me on
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Saturday, November 22, 2014
5 Globetrotter's Must-Knows I've decided to share a few website and apps which I found absolutely useful (in my opinion) and you guys might just find them as handy as there are for me for your upcoming trips!
P.S If you've any other recommendations that I've not listed, feel free to drop me an email to share with me! :)
1. TripAdvisor
Info: TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travellers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools.
Whenever we decided to travel, the first thing we wonder would be where to go, what to do and what and where to eat the best local food. After some basic research and narrowing down the places you wish to go, or things you would like to do, TripAdvisor it! TripAdvisor is filled with people like myself, who shares our experiences about certain activities or company and even hotels!
For instance, I was thinking of taking up a tour with Manlai Budget Tour Group during my days in Mongolia and the first thing I did was to find out if the tour was going to be worth my money and time. Hence, I TripAdvisor it, and thank God I did. This was ranked one of the first few in the search engine, I'm pretty sure many are pissed with the service Manlai provided. (Read more here.) I understand that some travellers can be more petty than others, ending up leaving a more exaggerated bad review, but if in general, 9 out of 10 complains about XXX Company, maybe you should reconsider your options with them.
Info: ArrivalGuides is the world’s leading network for destination information, distributing high quality and up to date content and unique city break guides. More than 50 million travellers use our information annually to be inspired, plan their trip, to enjoy and get the most out of their vacation at the location.
ArrivalGuides is available on both iPhone and Android phones! It's one of my latest findings, and I must say it's the best thing ever. Nope, you do not have to pay for the app. If you actually visit their website, you can find out almost everything about your next dream destination - things to do, where to eat, where to stay (this is the part where I personally find is how they promote their ads for hotels and flights but no harm taking a look right). You can download the guide in PDF and get it printed if you're not planning to have any gadget with you during your trip.
Alternatively, you can download the app, which works even offline. Arrival Guides not only help you better understand your next destination, you can simply just browse through to kill time to find out about other cities and countries. It's the perfect app, you can read it on the plane, basically anywhere.
3. AirBnB
Info: Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodation around the world — online or from a mobile phone.Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 190+ countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetise their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.
Gradually I find that I've been staying in bed and breakfast more than hotels. I personally prefer living like a local than being treated as an expat. AirBnB covers a lot of places in the world, and it works great for me for a few reasons:
Discount Code: Ateng57 ($68 off your next booking) 4. Agoda
Info: Agoda is one of the fastest-growing online hotel platforms worldwide, listing hundreds of thousands of hotels and providing services in 38 different languages.
Basically Agoda is a hotel booking website. The prices listed are cheaper than hotel itself, but you get the room type you book, no less than the penny you paid for. First and foremost, I must make it clear than Agoda's may not be cheaper than Booking, Roomkey or Asiarooms. But the only reason why I always book with Agoda is because they are the only platform with rewards' system. You get points for booking and points for reviewing after your stay. The points are credited into your account almost a month after you depart BUT the I've accumulated quite a bit of points since all my bookings, I've saved almost USD70 for my last few trips.
Upon check out, you get to exchange your points for credits to off-set your total bill. After some comparison, sometimes Agoda may be a few dollar more expensive than the other platforms, but for each 12,500 points, you will get a USD25 off. That works out better than other platforms, for sure! (It's easy to reach 12,500 points, you get 2000 to 3000 points depending on how much you've paid for the hotel. And for every review, you get 500 points.)
Lastly, most room deals come with free cancellation. You'll realized that only those heavily discounted deals come with no-cancellation policy. AND, the best part about managing your budget for your trip? Agoda offers the Book Now, Pay Later feature which the amount will only be charged to your credit card 3 days prior to your booking date. Any cancellation done earlier will incur a USD15 charge only.
5. Numbeo
Info: Numbeo.com was launched in April 2009. The research and available data at Numbeo.com are not influenced by any governmental organization.
You need to get on the site to understand the info. Numbeo provides cost of living, property prices, crime rate, health care, pollution, traffic and quality of life for all big cities. I've been using Numbeo to find out the cost of living in the country I'm traveling to. It helps me budget how much I'd need to spend on transportation, an average meal and groceries (if I'm staying in AirBnB, I get to cook).
It's pretty accurate I must say. It's always good to budget your expenses and not overpay for goods and/or services.
Labels: agoda, airbnb, arrival guides, arrivalguides, numbeo, recommendations, reviews, roomkey, singapore, tips, travel, travel blog, travels, tripadvisor |
xx
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