My Travel Kit

Planning and booking

• Flight search

  Skyscanner

  My first stop for flights. Search "everywhere" from your airport and sort by price to find somewhere you'd never have thought of.

  Search flights

• Flight and hotel comparison

  Kayak

  A second opinion on prices, with handy price alerts and a fare calendar for flexible dates.

  Compare prices

• Flight map and price tracking

  Google Flights

  The Explore map shows what it costs to fly everywhere from your airport on your dates. Turn on price tracking and it emails you when fares drop.

  Explore the map

• Cheap flight alerts from the UK

  Jack's Flight Club

  Sign up, pick your airports and they email you mistake fares and flash sales. The free list is plenty to start with.

  Get flight alerts

• Hostels

  Hostelworld

  The biggest choice of hostels, with honest reviews from other travellers. Great for solo trips, and most have private rooms too.

  Find a hostel

• Hotels and apartments

  Booking.com

  Most of my stays, from city apartments to safari lodges. Free cancellation on most rooms makes it easy to book early.

  Find a stay

• Small-group adventure trips

  Much Better Adventures

  Hiking, climbing, kayaking and wildlife trips in small groups, run by local experts, from a weekend in the Dolomites to Kilimanjaro. A great way to do the big stuff without organising it all yourself.

  Find an adventure

• Flights, including clever connections

  Kiwi.com

  Mixes airlines that don't normally sell connections together, which can make long-haul and multi-stop trips much cheaper. Check the transfer times before you book.

  Search Kiwi.com

• Tours and activities in Asia

  KKday

  Day trips, rail passes and attraction tickets across Asia, often cheaper than the big global sites there.

  Browse Asia trips

• Tours, tickets and day trips

  GetYourGuide

  Skip-the-line tickets and small-group day trips, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before on most of them.

  Browse tours

Staying connected

• eSIM data

  Airalo

  Buy a data plan on your phone before you land and switch it on at the airport. No hunting for a SIM shop, no roaming bill.

  Use my code at checkout for money off your first eSIM. DAN9406

  Get an eSIM

• eSIM data

  Saily

  From the makers of NordVPN, with simple data plans for most countries and a handy top-up in the app. Worth comparing with Airalo for longer trips.

  Compare Saily plans

• VPN

  ExpressVPN

  I've used ExpressVPN for years. It keeps you safe on hotel and airport wifi, and lets you watch your usual TV from home while you're away.

  Get ExpressVPN

Getting around

• How to get from A to B

  Rome2Rio

  Type in any two places and it shows every way of getting between them, by plane, train, bus, ferry or car, with rough prices and times.

  Plan a route

• Train travel guides

  The Man in Seat 61

  The bible for train travel anywhere in the world, from Eurostar connections to sleeper trains across Asia.

  Read the guides

• UK and European trains and coaches

  Trainline

  Split tickets in the UK and simple booking across Europe, all in one app.

  Search trains

• Trains, buses and flights in Europe

  Omio

  Compares trains, coaches and flights side by side, so you can see whether the train really is quicker.

  Compare journeys

• Buses, trains and ferries in Asia

  12Go

  Books the transport that's hard to sort from home, from Thai sleeper trains to island ferries in Indonesia.

  Search Asia transport

• Ferries

  Ferryhopper

  Every ferry route in Greece, Croatia, Italy and beyond, in one search.

  Find a ferry

• Car hire

  Auto Europe

  Compares rental companies worldwide, with clear prices that include the basics. Buying the full cover in advance is usually far cheaper than at the desk.

  Compare car hire

Money and insurance

• Multi-currency card and money transfers

  Wise

  Hold and spend dozens of currencies at the real exchange rate, with no foreign transaction fees and cheap ATM withdrawals.

  Get a Wise card

• Adventure travel insurance

  World Nomads

  Covers the adventurous stuff many policies exclude, like trekking at altitude, scuba diving and skydiving. Check the activity level you need.

  Get a quote

• Rolling travel medical insurance

  SafetyWing

  Pay monthly and cancel when you get home, which suits long trips and open-ended travel.

  See plans

Travel for (almost) free

Accommodation is usually the biggest cost of a trip. Swap it for looking after someone's home and pets, or a few hours of work a day, and a long trip suddenly costs a lot less. These are the trusted sites, with reviews and verified members on both sides.

• House and pet sitting worldwide

  TrustedHousesitters

  The biggest house-sitting site. Look after someone's pets while they're away and stay in their home for free, from a London flat to a farmhouse in France. You pay an annual membership, then every sit is free.

  Find a house sit

• House sitting, strong in France and Europe

  Nomador

  Smaller than TrustedHousesitters but with a free starter plan, so you can apply for a few sits before paying anything.

  Browse sits

• House sitting in the UK

  HouseSitters UK

  UK-only and long established. Handy for exploring the UK on a budget.

  Browse UK sits

• Home swapping

  HomeExchange

  Got a home of your own? Swap it with someone in another country, at the same time or using points, and both of you stay for free.

  Swap your home

• Volunteer in exchange for a bed

  Worldpackers

  Help out in hostels, eco projects and NGOs for a few hours a day in return for free accommodation, and often meals. Every host is reviewed and they have a support team if anything goes wrong.

  Find a volunteer stay

• Work exchange with families, farms and hostels

  Workaway

  The biggest work exchange site, with tens of thousands of hosts. Teach English, build, garden or help in a guesthouse in exchange for food and a room.

  Browse Workaway hosts

• Work exchange, the original

  HelpX

  Similar to Workaway and cheaper to join, with lots of farm, ranch and B&B hosts in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

  Browse HelpX hosts

• Volunteer on organic farms

  WWOOF

  Live and work on an organic farm in return for food and a bed. Each country has its own WWOOF membership.

  Find a farm

Bags and packing

• My go-to bag for every trip

  Osprey Farpoint 40 / Fairview 40

  I travel hand luggage only everywhere, unless it's an overland trip, and this is the bag that makes it work. It opens like a suitcase, fits in the overhead locker, has a laptop sleeve and proper hip-belt straps for walking from the station to the hostel. The Fairview is the women's version.

  See it on Amazon:

  • Men'sFarpoint 40
  • Women'sFairview 40

• Main bag for overland trips

  The North Face Base Camp Duffel

  Tough, waterproof and big enough for six months of kit, with backpack straps for the odd walk. I took mine on 22 weeks of overlanding through Africa.

  Pick a size on Amazon:

  • XS31L
  • S50L
  • M71L
  • L95L
  • XL132L
  • XXL150L

• Backpacks and daypacks

  Osprey travel packs

  I carried an Osprey Nebula as my daypack across Africa. Comfortable for hours, takes a laptop, and Osprey's guarantee covers them for life.

  See Osprey bags

• Compression packing cubes

  Eagle Creek compression cubes

  The best thing I packed. One cube per type of kit turns a duffel into a chest of drawers, and the compression zip saves about a third of the space.

  Shop packing cubes

• Colour-coded dry bags

  Lightweight dry bags

  Keeps cables, clothes and paperwork dry and dust-free, and the colours mean you know what's in each one without unpacking.

  Shop dry bags

Sleeping and camping

• Camp bed

  Folding camp bed

  Gets you off the ground, away from rocks and creepy crawlies. The most comfortable upgrade for months of camping.

  Shop camp beds

• Sleeping bag liner

  Sea to Summit silk liner

  For hot nights when a sleeping bag is too much, and it keeps your bag clean. Packs to the size of a fist.

  Shop silk liners

• Head torch

  Rechargeable head torch

  You'll use it every single night at camp. Get a rechargeable one so you're not hunting for batteries.

  Shop head torches

• Filter water bottle

  Water-to-Go filter bottle

  Filters tap and stream water as you drink, which saves money and a lot of plastic bottles on a long trip.

  Shop filter bottles

Tech and power

• Power bank

  Rugged solar power bank

  Power is scarce on the road. Leave it on the dashboard and it tops up while you travel.

  Shop power banks

• Plug adapter with USB ports

  Universal travel adapter

  Works in almost every country, and the USB ports mean one socket charges four things.

  Shop adapters

• Action camera

  GoPro and floating grip

  Waterproof, tiny and tough. Add a floating hand grip and a head strap and it goes everywhere.

  Shop GoPro

Health and toiletries

• Mosquito repellent

  50% DEET insect repellent

  Essential anywhere with malaria. Use it alongside the tablets your travel clinic recommends.

  Shop repellent

• First aid kit

  Compact first aid kit

  A small kit you top up with plasters, painkillers and rehydration sachets covers most of what goes wrong on the road.

  Shop first aid kits

• Quick-dry towel

  Microfibre travel towel

  Packs to nothing and dries in an hour, even in a tent.

  Shop travel towels