My favorite travel resources and other stuff

ResourcesTravel
Written By Taylor Brown

Below are the main resources I use for travel. I have no association with the companies or products listed. These are not affiliate links; they are provided for reference.

Favorite Android Apps

Travel

Research & Trip Planning

  • Wikitravel: Where I start with big questions like local customs, transportation, crime, and other important information.

  • U.S. State Department: Get visa, safety, passport, vaccination, and other critical information from the man.

  • Lonely Planet: Many Lonely Planet books are available for free with Amazon Prime. Search “lonely planet” in the Kindle Store and refine by “Prime Reading Eligible” in the left panel.

  • TripAdvisor: Used almost exclusively for restaurants. While not ideal, since most reviews are written by tourists, it’s the most wide-spread resource for finding good restaurants and filtering by price range.

  • Google "Things to do in [city]": Perform this search and click on “[city] travel guide” in the right panel. Click on the “Things to Do” tab at the top to get a plot of the city. Excellent for figuring out good areas to stay.

  • Rome2Rio: Handles long-distance transportation way better than Google Maps.

  • SeatGuru: Research the best and worst seats on a plane.

Flights

If possible, I buy flights through my travel card program. If not, I consider purchasing directly from the airline, since they should have more control over reservations if something goes wrong or needs to change.

  • Skyscanner: For discovering cheap flights from anywhere to everywhere.

  • Hopper: For finding the best dates to fly and monitoring when to buy plane tickets.

  • Google Flights: Another way to search for and track flights. Always good to check multiple sources.

  • Airline Ratings: Provides airline safety ratings. A neurotic indulgence.

For the flight:

  • Pink Noise: Lifesaver for drowning out flight announcements, coughing, crying babies, mobile game beep boops, other distractions. Download on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Music to ensure offline access.

Housing

  • Airbnb: Many hosts offer discounts for long-term stays. Weekly rates apply for 7-27 night reservations and monthly discounts kick in at 28 nights.

  • Hostelworld: Best tool for researching hostels. However, some hostels offer perks like free breakfast or discounts at the bar if you book directly through them.

Language Learning

  • Duolingo: Probably the most well-known language learning app. Popular programs like Spanish are great. Others, like the Korean course, are abysmal. NOTE: I only recommend using the desktop version, without the word bank. Otherwise it's too easy and nothing sinks in.

Technology

  • TunnelBear: Simple, secure VPN that's a joy to use. Essential for secure connections and accessing American versions of sites.

  • 1Password: Password manager with a Watchtower feature that monitors compromised websites, informing when to change vulnerable passwords.

  • The Essential Browser Extension Trio:

Finance

These are the services I use, but they might not be right for everyone.

  • YNAB: Essential for financial planning and sanity.

Photography

Writing

  • Ulysses: Favorite Markdown editor with good organization features.

  • Highland 2: Used occasionally, mostly for smaller documents and when I want to make a lot of notes while developing a script.

  • Scrivener: For large projects that require heavy organization and multiple documents.

  • Final Draft: While far from perfect, it’s still the standard for finished documents. Mostly used in the polishing phase, not development or otherwise.

  • Grammarly: The popular grammar checking tool. Catches details other spellchecks and services don't. Also, it's fun to disagree with.

Productivity

  • TickTick: Intuitive and powerful to-do list app. Even includes a Pomodoro timer.

  • Toggl: For time tracking, when needed.

Education

Taylor Brown

https://taylorcbrown.com
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