birddog

The Web and Travelling

More than half of UK internet users are booking their holidays online, according to research from the GetSafeOnline. In the past year I have done a fair bit of travelling, and while there are a million websites ready to offer all the information you could possibly need when planning a trip, there are only a few I would always recommend.

I use www.skyscanner.net for the cheapest flights. Searching for the best flight is often the most time consuming part of booking a holiday, but using www.skyscanner.net, it doesn’t take long at all, as it quickly brings up every flight to the chosen destination and arranges it from the cheapest to the most expensive. The website scans over 650,000 flight routes and can tell you everything you need to know about a flight to pretty much anywhere in the world.

As well as buying online, the internet streamlines the whole process of flight booking, from checking-in online, checking weather conditions and delay information, as well as printing out luggage labels and boarding passes. Your friends and family can even stay up to date on the progress of your flight using live flight tracking websites!

For accommodation, www.hostelbookers.com will find the best-rated options by price and location. Luxury hotels are unlikely to be found here, but for up-to-date availability, honest and reliable recommendations and useful location information, choosing the right place to stay for your trip through www.hostelbookers.com will be quick and painless.

Using the web to find accommodation is a lot better than buying a travel book, as a book goes out of date as soon as it goes to print. This website, on the other hand, is updated regularly with new hostels, recent reviews on good or terrible experiences written by people who have actually stayed in the accommodation, and ‘live’ price and room information.

When I’m planning things to do, I would always use Trip Advisor as the top website for ideas on the best activities in the city or location I’m visiting. Hit www.tripadvisor.com, or www.tripadvisor.co.uk for European trips: they’re well known travel websites, but for a reason. It boasts 35 million user reviews, with the number of users logging in increasing 50% last year.

Trip Advisor gives reviews, activity prices and contact details and location maps/directions. There is also a travel discussion forum that is a very handy tool to use if you have specific questions or want to know more detailed information, with hundreds of users contributing personal opinions and reviews rating everything from weather and beaches to local amenities and the locals themselves.

You can even use Trip Advisor to plan your whole trip if you like, as you can compare and book flights and accommodation as well.

In fact, the web makes travelling so easy now that you can go away every weekend!

Alexandra Maher
Account Executive
Birddog