Travel

Resources

Start Here

Resources to plan your trip

Planning a trip and drowning in booking sites? I know the feeling.

After seven years of living in Argentina, a move across the Atlantic, and more flights, long-distance buses, and questionable hostel bunk beds than I care to count, I’ve slowly settled on a handful of booking sites and tools that I keep coming back to.

This page is that handful. It’s not a list of every travel website on the internet; it’s the ones I actually open when I’m planning my own trips.

I’ve organised everything the way an actual trip unfolds: what you need before you go, and what you’ll want once you’re on the go.

I hope you’ll find inspiration and useful information on Becci Abroad! If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out and let’s connect!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that at no additional cost to you, Becci Abroad will earn a commission if you purchase through one of those links. This helps to pay the bills and the maintenance of the site.

Before you Go

Travel Resources for Planning

Every trip I’ve ever taken has started the same way: at home, with far too many browser tabs open. If that sounds familiar, here are some of the resources and tools I use to turn all that dreaming into actual bookings!

Where to Book Cheap Flights?

Flights are usually the biggest single expense of a trip, so this is where I spend the most time comparing before I book – and it is also the first thing I actually book for a trip!

Here are some of my favorite resources for finding affordable flight tickets:

Kiwi (flights)

Kiwi is my go-to for finding and booking flight tickets!

Both the website and the mobile app works flawless, and can be used for booking both long-distance flights and just domestic flights within Spain!

The prices of the flight tickets at Kiwi are great, and I love that the app stores your bookings in a separate easy-to-access tab available from the home screen.

Find your next flight at Kiwi

Momondo

Momondo used to be my number one for flight tickets (then Kiwi took over that place), but I still eventually use Momondo for finding good deals on flight tickets.

I love Momondo’s colour-coded price calendar, which makes it easy to spot when a route is cheap to book!

Fun fact: Momondo was founded in Copenhagen, so recommending it comes naturally to a Dane!

Search for Flights With Momondo

Expedia

Expedia is great if you want everything in one place, from flights, hotels, and packages.

Sometimes booking everything together at Expedia can unlock discounts you won’t get booking separately.

However, my travelling style is less and less about booking everything at once and more about figuring out as I go, so I somehow always revert to Kiwi for my flight tickets.

Book Flights at Expedia

Skyscanner

Skyscanner is a great alternative for finding flight tickets if your travel dates are flexible.

Skyscanner allows you to search for the “whole month” and will then show you which day is the cheapest day to fly.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can literally search “Everywhere” and let the prices decide your next destination.

Search for flights at Skyscanner

Where to Book Hotels & Accommodation?

After years of everything from hostel bunk beds to whole apartments, these are the booking sites I keep coming back to.

Booking.com

Let’s be honest: Booking.com is where most of my accommodation searches start.

Booking.com has a great selection of hotels, hostels, and private hosts renting out their flats. Recently, I found a great aparthostel for my trip to Malaga through Booking.com.

Book your Accommodation at Booking.com

Agoda

Agoda is worth a cross-check before you book elsewhere, because Agoda sometimes lists the same room at a lower price.

Agoda is strongest in Asia, but I’ve found good deals in Europe too, including the hotel for my upcoming trip to Warsaw.

Check out accommodation at Agoda

Hotels.com

Hotels.com is another popular platform for booking hotels and accommodation for your trips.

Their rewards programme is the main draw: book enough nights, and you earn free ones. If you travel often, it adds up.

Check out Hotels.com

Vrbo

Vrbo is great for family trips or travelling as a group where you want to rent a whole house or apartment.

Booking accommodation through Vrbo often beats booking two or three hotel rooms, both on price and on actually getting to spend time together.

Try Vrbo for Accommodation

Airbnb

Airbnb is still my go-to app for longer stays than a few nights (for example when moving abroad), where you need an apartment with a kitchen and a washing machine rather than a hotel room.

Airbnb is still largely built on private hosts offering accommodation, and many hosts offer discounts on monthly stays.

Book Accommodation at Airbnb

Language learning

If I could give you just one piece of pre-trip advice, it would be this: learn a little of the language before you land.

Even a handful of phrases changes how people meet you!

I’ve experienced it firsthand in both Cuba, Argentina, and Spain, where speaking Spanish opened doors (and conversations) that would otherwise have stayed politely closed.

Italki

If there’s one thing that changed my experience of living abroad more than anything else, it was learning Spanish!

italki connects you with one-on-one tutors for video lessons, and it’s the tool I recommend to anyone heading to Argentina, Spain, or anywhere in Latin America.

You can even pick a tutor from the specific country you’re travelling to. Choosing a tutor with the accent from the country you are travelling to actually matters more than you’d think, because trust me, the Spanish I learned in Buenos Aires raised a few eyebrows when I moved to Spain!

Book a Language Class with italki

Preply

Alongside italki, Preply is the other big platform for finding one-on-one language tutors online.

The filters make it easy to narrow down by price and country, so you can find a Spanish tutor from Argentina or Spain specifically.

The lessons run on a weekly subscription, which honestly helps with the discipline part of language learning.

Personally, I haven’t tried Preply because I stopped taking Spanish lessons years ago, but I know language-learning friends who are happy with the platform.

Try language learning at Preply

How to Manage Money on the Road?

Nobody loves talking about bank fees! And nobody loves discovering them on their statement after the trip either.

Seven years in Argentina taught me more about handling money abroad than I ever planned to learn! Here are the tools that came out of that education, and that I still use today whenever I travel!

Wise

Wise is the multi-currency app and bank account I have been using for the longest… I think we’ve been speaking since 2019 (!?), and I’m still a huge fan of Wise!

With Wise, you get a multi-currency account with a card that converts at the real exchange rate based on the rate you see on Google (and not some insane “tourist rate” at an exchange office).

You can also transfer between accounts in different countries with Wise, and it was shoulda game-charger when we were saving up to move from Argentina to Spain and once we arrived in Spain!

Open a Wise account

Revolut

Revolut works brilliantly as a travel card: load it from your normal account, spend in the local currency, and keep track of every expense in the app.

I haven’t been using Revolut for as long a time as I have used Wise, and I mostly use Revolut for investments.

As a travel card, you should keep in mind that the free plan has monthly limits on fee-free currency exchange, and weekend exchanges carry a small markup, so try to do your bigger conversions on a weekday.

Get a Revolut account here

Western Union

Western Union is a more traditional currency exchange solution when travelling abroad, and these exchange rates might not always be as beneficial as the exchange rates in Wise and Revolut.

However, Western Union is very useful for countries where you need to have cash on you, such as, for example, in Latin America.

For years, sending money to yourself through Western Union and picking it up in pesos was the way for travellers to get a fair exchange rate in Argentina (and I speak from long, personal experience!). Argentina’s currency rules change faster than almost anywhere on earth, and today Western Union isn’t always the best option.

I still think Western Union deserves a spot on the list because it might come as an unexpected useful travel resource for you!

Exchange Money with Western Union

How to Get Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance is the least exciting thing you’ll ever book, and if all goes well, it’s money you’ll never see again.

But travel insurance also the only thing on this page that can save your entire trip (or considerably more) when something genuinely goes wrong.

I tried that the hard way when I got sick in Colombia and needed to take antibiotics for a week – and my travel insurance paid for everything: the hospital, the medicine, and the private hotel room!

HeyMondo

HeyMondo is my pick for classic holiday trips (a city break, a few weeks in Argentina, etc.).

The HeyMondo app gives you 24/7 medical chat, and in most cases they pay the hospital directly instead of leaving you to pay upfront and chase a reimbursement afterwards.

HeyMondo offers single-trip, annual, and long-stay policies depending on how much you travel.

I’ll admit the Barcelona-founded company gets a small hometown bonus from someone living in Spain.

I used HeyMondo for my recent trip to Poland, and luckily didn’t have to use it!

Get your HeyMondo Travel Insurance

SafetyWing

SafetyWing answers a question traditional insurers handle badly: what if you don’t know when you’re coming home?

SafetyWing works like a subscription: coverage renews every four weeks until you cancel, follows you across countries, and, crucially, can be bought after you’ve already left home.

SafetyWing offers two types of insurance: Essential & Complete

The Essential is thought of as a travel medical insurance covering treatment for unexpected issues, while the Complete Nomad insurance covers both routine medical care and emergencies.

If your travels look more like a lifestyle than a holiday, this is the one to look at.

Get your Safety Wing insurance

Where to Get a Cheap Travel eSIM?

You know that slightly lost feeling of landing in a new country with no data, hunting for airport WIFI to let everyone know you’ve arrived?

Those days are over. With an eSIM, you buy a data plan before you leave home, and your phone simply connects when you land. No SIM-card kiosk queues, and your home number stays active for the messages you actually need.

Orbit Mobile eSIM

Always check if your phone provider at home offers phone and data service in the country you’re travelling to! If not, get a travel eSIM before you travel abroad!

I normally use Orbit Mobile, an affordable travel eSIM that covers most countries worldwide.

Get 20% off with the discount code BECCI20!

Get Orbit Mobile Travel eSIM

When On the GO

Travel Resources During Your Trip

Bags packed, flights booked! Now for the part where the trip actually happens. These are the tools that live on my phone once I’m on the road.

How to Get Around When Traveling?

Getting around is where my two home countries could not be more different: Argentina taught me to think in overnight buses and enormous distances, while Spain has turned me into a proper train person.

Here’s what I use, depending on where the road goes.

Where to Book Long-distance Buses & Trains?

If you’re planning a trip to Latin America, you should know that the most used mode of transportation across the continent is long-distance buses. And some of them, like in Argentina, are genuinely comfortable (we’re talking fully reclining seats).

However, if you’re travelling to Spain, the high-speed trains will become your new best friend for getting around quickly among cities.

No matter where you are travelling, booking ahead online saves you both money and hassle. Here are the apps and websites I normally use for getting around over long distances:

Busbud

Busbud is one of my favorite apps for booking the best-priced bus and train tickets.

Busbud lets you compare ticket prices for long-distance buses online and in English across Latin America and Europe, with international cards (which isn’t always a given on local booking sites, especially in Latin America!).

Book transportation with Busbud

Trainline

Trainline is my go-to app for buying train tickets in Spain!

For Europe, and especially here in Spain, trains are usually my answer for getting around.

Trainline gathers the different operators in one search, and booking ahead can genuinely halve the price of a high-speed ticket.

Book trains with Trainline

Omio

Omio answers the question every traveller in Europe eventually asks: should I take the train, the bus, or just fly?

Omio compares all three side by side for the same route, shows you the real total travel times, and keeps your tickets in one app.

Especially handy in Spain, where the bus is sometimes half the price of the train, and occasionally faster than you’d expect.

Book with Omio

Where to Book Car Rental for Your Trip?

I’m not a huge car person myself (I much prefer Spain’s high-speed trains!) but some places simply reward having your own wheels — wine roads, national parks, and all the small towns the buses skip.

Just know when not to rent one too: in cities like Buenos Aires, Madrid, or Barcelona, a car is more burden than freedom!

Discover Cars

Discover Cars compares the big rental companies so you can spot the fair deals (and the too-good-to-be-true ones).

Try Discover Cars

Booking.com Car Rental

Car hire through the same Booking.com interface you already know: compare the big international brands and local suppliers in one search, with free cancellation on most bookings.

If you’re already managing your accommodation there, having the car in the same account keeps things wonderfully simple.

Try Booking.com Car Rentals

Where to Book Airport Transfers & Ride-hailing?

There’s a special kind of vulnerability to arriving in a new country jet-lagged, luggage in hand, with your brain operating at half speed. A pre-booked transfer solves the arrival; for everything after that, these are the ride apps on my phone.

Welcome Pickups

Welcome Pickups lets you book a driver in advance at a fixed price, and they track your flight and wait for you with a sign.

After a long-haul flight, the last thing I want is to negotiate a taxi in a language my jet-lagged brain has temporarily deleted.

Try Welcome Pickups

GetTransfer

GetTransfer is similar to Welcome Pickups and traditional taxis but a little bit different: The platform collects your request and offers drivers to bid on your ride.

GetTransfer is great if your budget matters more than picking the exact car, as the bidding can work out cheaper than a traditional taxi.

Try GetTransfer

Cabify

Cabify is the Spanish-speaking world’s answer to Uber (actually, Cabify was founded here in Madrid), and it’s my go-to app for ride-hailing in Spain.

You get the price upfront before you book, and you can track the driver arriving, the route you’re driving, and payment is done directly within the app.

Back in my Buenos Aires years, Cabify was my standard advice to visitors to avoid flagging down a street taxi and hoping for the best.

Try Cabify

Bolt

Bolt is the one I check for the price comparison, because in many European cities it comes in a bit cheaper than the competition.

Bolt covers most of Spain’s bigger cities, and beyond rides it also rents the electric scooters and bikes you see parked around town, which is handy for short hops when the metro feels like overkill.

I haven’t fully integrated Bolt into my app selection, but my husband uses it a lot.

Try Bolt

Uber

The one that needs no introduction!

Uber is a safe default in destinations where the local apps don’t reach, and it was our workhorse for getting around Miami, for example.

Actually, Uber pulled out of Denmark in 2017 because of the country’s tough taxi laws. It only returned to Copenhagen in January 2025, this time through a partnership with the Danish taxi company DRIVR, which drives only electric cars.

Try Uber

Where to Book Tours, Tickets & Experiences?

I’ll admit I’m mostly an independent traveller, but there are moments when a booked tour or a skip-the-line ticket is simply the smarter choice.

A walking tour on day one to get your bearings, a wine tour where someone else does the driving, or a pre-booked entrance that saves you an hour of queueing in the sun.

Here are some of the travel resources I frequently use for booking yours and activities:

GetYourGuide

GetYourGuide offers a huge selection of tours and activities worldwide, and over the past years it has become my go-to app for tours and activities when travelling.

GetYourGuide offers a flexible cancellation policy where most bookings can be cancelled up to 24 hours before.

Another benefit is that you can buy with an international credit card without any issues!

Book activities with Getyourguide

Civitatis

Civitatis is a tours and experiences platform similar to GetYourGuide but primarily focused on the Spanish-speaking world.

Civitatis doesn’t have as large a selection of tours as GetYourGuide, but you can find some unique ones including plenty of free walking tours where you simply tip your guide.

Civitatis is particularly useful in Cuba where GetYourGuide and Viator don’t operate.

Book experiences with Civitatis

Viator

Viator has the deepest inventory of the big platforms, so it’s my backup check when GetYourGuide or Civitatis come up short.

And sometimes you can find some truly unique tours and experiences only listed at Viator.

Try Viator

Tiqets

Tiqets specialises in skip-the-line entrance tickets for bigger attractions directly on your phone.

Anyone who has seen the queue outside the Sagrada Família in July knows exactly why that matters!

Try Tiqets

TripAdvisor

I mostly use TripAdvisor the way you probably do: to sanity-check a tour, restaurant, or attraction against thousands of recent reviews before committing.

But actually you can book tours directly through TripAdvisor too.

Checkout TripAdvisor

EatWith

Some of my favourite travel memories involve someone else’s dining table. EatWith lets you book meals and food experiences hosted by locals — dinners in private homes, cooking classes, food tours.

Book a Dinner at EatWith

Winedering

Winedering is a newer platform focused on wine and food tours around the world.

You can find some truly unique vineyard and winetasting experiences on Winedering, but the selection is still relatively limited.

Book a Wine tour on Winedering

Let’s start exploring

Where to Next?

Resources sorted? Then all that’s missing is the destination!

Head over to my travel destinations page to explore all my guides, or jump straight into the countries I know best: Argentina and Spain.

And if your trip is starting to feel less like a holiday and more like a life decision, I’ve been there too!

You’ll find everything about moving abroad in my living abroad guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ about Becci Abroad’s Travel Resources

Find answers to commonly asked questions about my travel resources

Yes, that’s the rule for this page. If a platform is listed here, it’s because I’ve used it for my own travels. Where my experience with a tool is limited, I say so in the description rather than pretending otherwise.

No, nothing. The price is exactly the same for you. The platform simply shares a small commission with me for sending you their way, which helps keep Becci Abroad running.

Yes. Every guide on Becci Abroad is based on firsthand experience, either living there or travelling there myself.

When my experience is from a single trip rather than years of living somewhere, I say so in the guide