Champagne on Arrival
Travel Luxe for Less

Travel Resources

Planning a trip away for business or pleasure can be a tedious process. No matter how much you love travel, the admin side of it can still be a pain. Below are my tried and tested travel resources that I completely recommend and stand by, with the aim of it making the planning process that little bit easier for you.

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Plane flying into the sunset

Flights

  • Skyscanner I find the best resource for comparing flight prices in an easy and transparent way.
  • I am a British Airways fan through and through as it allows me to collect points and save a significant amount on my travel. I book all of my long haul flights with them, but tend to use the low cost carriers for hopping around Europe.
  • Jack’s Flight Club is great for finding the absolute best deals on the market, although you generally need to be flexible on travel location and/or dates.

Accommodation

  • For choosing beautiful boutique hotels that never disappoint, Mr & Mrs Smith does an amazing job. If I do not have time to properly research a hotel or am booking a last minute trip, I totally trust their recommended and curated lists of hotels and villas they have on their site. They also have a low price guarantee; they will price match and give you a £50 voucher towards your next stay if you find the same deal for less.
  • For booking hotels, I use Booking.com, Agoda or Hotels.com. I don’t find any of these websites give me all the information I need when researching hotels to stay in; I have very high standards when it comes to choosing my accommodation so do require more information and research before selecting somewhere. There is no curation of their accommodation selections like there is on Mr & Mrs Smith, so I won’t take a gamble with them unless I know exactly what it is I want to book.
  • Airbnb are generally who I use for my villa bookings (not too much of a shock there!). I find their pictures and descriptions representative of the place when you see it in person and we have had some really lovely hosts and stayed at some unique properties. You do need to do your research though, again, it is not curated.
Best Beaches in Knysna South Africa
Coney Glen Beach in Knysna South Africa

Getting Around

  • For a professional chauffeur service around the world, I highly recommend Blacklane. Surprisingly affordable and extremely flexible for the service they deliver (particularly for airport transfers), they are great for business travellers or a bit of luxury when travelling around.
  • An alternative is Hoppa, a transfer comparison site who provide a variety of options based on your requirements. Top Tip: sign up to their newsletter for 5% off your next booking.
  • For hiring cars, Rentalcars.com is my go to as it compares prices across lots of different car rental companies. I find prices can be so variant from one country to the next with the same company, so I have never been loyal to just one.

Tours & Exploring

  • I use Get Your Guide for off the shelf tours and experiences around the world, particularly on city breaks. They do it really well and I have never been disappointed with anything I have booked through them. Their prices are competitive with a wide range of options to suit everyone.
  • For tours longer than a couple of hours I tend to prefer private over group. Then, my preference is to use local companies through personal recommendation. See my posts in regards to the particular company I have used for individual destinations, or shoot me an email and I will do my best to help.
Bollard Bay Beach in Knysna South Africa
Noetzie Beach in Knysna South Africa

Travel Luxe for Less

  • To enjoy your airport experience when travelling economy, there is nothing better than getting airport lounge access. I have a standard Priority Pass membership that I can’t recommend highly enough, giving you lounge access for £20 per person. Bearing in mind this includes free wifi, food (which is often better than the food I find in British Airways business class lounge) and drink (including alcohol) as a minimum, I think it’s incredibly good value.
  • For other tips on how to make your airport experience as enjoyable as possible, read my post on Airport Fast Track Services for a Luxury Travel Experience.

Luxury Travel Research

  • Condé Nast Traveller magazine is my guilty pleasure for reading with a glass of wine on a Sunday afternoon and is responsible for inspiring a lot of my destination and hotel choices! You can get the magazine subscription or just check out their website, which is a treasure trove of luxury inspiration, tips, trends and advice.
  • I am a bit obsessed with Lonely Planet Guidebooks and there are very few (I’m actually struggling to think of any) destinations I have travelled to without one. They have everything you would ever need to know about a country laid out in an organised fashion without being overwhelming. I find reading one in the weeks coming up to a trip gets me really excited about my upcoming travels! They are more useful for practical tips and background and history on a country rather than luxury recommendations though.
Coney Glen Beach in Knysna South Africa

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