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Nothing is more disappointing than clicking on a post with a title that goes something like “The REAL SECRET to Success is …” – only to open it and learn that “the secret to success is that there is no secret at all!” What a bummer ! Well I feel like a loser, I think to myself as I realize that I just fell victim to complete and utter headline fraud !
In this post I intend to share with you all the applications I use to book my travels. The secret is doing research in the right places. Hopefully you’ll find use to some app’s that you might’ve not heard of before. I do a lot of research before booking the perfect flight and I take multiple things into account: flight time, price, layover location (do I want a layover at all?), airline, etc. It doesn’t take a lot of time but it certainly takes a number of resources. I rely on the apps below every single time. Sometimes one has better flights than the others, or the same flight may be cheaper on one of the apps because of a promo they’re running. Seriously – this is not headline fraud.
Jetradar
Why I love it:
Jetradar is interactive, easy, and has some of the best deals I’ve ever seen. In addition to lists like the one below that show the cheapest flights out of your origin – Jetradar also has an interactive map of the world with the cheapest flights available from point A to point B.
Hotel Tonight
Why I love it:
Hotel Tonight is by far one of my favorite apps because it literally has the best hotel deals on the market, period. The idea behind the app is that hotels give away empty rooms at discounted rates last minute. You can only book only as far as a week in advance which makes it great for last minute trips. If you’re downloading for the first time feel free to use my promo code for $25 off your booking: EKARAFIN – of course, you don’t have to but I’d really appreciate it if you helped sponsor my next hotel stay ?
Skyscanner
Why I love it:
I rave about Skyscanner time and time again because it searches a ton of websites to seek out the lowest prices. Skyscanner also gives you the option of taking multiple airlines on your outbound/inbound flights. And the best thing about them is that you can put “everywhere” as the destination and it will show you the cheapest places you can travel to on your given dates!
Skiplagged
Why I love it:
On it’s featured page, Skiplagged shows how much cheaper it is to travel to certain locations in the near future. It might cost you 30% less to go to LA in two weeks – this is particularly convenient when you might not have a place in mind. In addition, they do offer cheap prices on flights as well.
Flights Online
Why I love it:
Likely the best flight for last minute deals – there are over 700 airlines that have last minute deals and this app finds them ALL.
Student Universe
Why I love it:
Ok so if you are between the age of 18 and about 26 you can most likely qualify to book flights with this website and it is absolutely amazing. Although I am no longer in college, I put a later graduation date and gained access to all their goodies. Flights that were sold out or no longer available on sites like Skyscanner and Expedia were available here ! It may be because they are able to hold certain flight deals and whatever it is … it works!
Student Universe Coupons
Why I love it:
If you’re still not convinced with Student Universe – here as an app that offers constant coupons on various bookings made through Student Universe. Yes, they do work.
Mobile Pass
Why I love it:
Three words: get it now. Mobile Pass is one of the new government roll outs of technologically advanced gigs. Basically this is a free “Global Entry” pass. In multiple airports you can use this app without having to go through a typical border patrol. Download the app and fill out your information – 4 hours prior to landing you answer a questionnaire and the app will provide you with a QR code. Once you are at your destination airport, you can walk through with the limited number of “Global Entry” passengers, skip virtually the entire line of regular folks, scan your QR code, and go home!
Elona, thanks for sharing. I look forward to exploring the possibilities.
Awesome – good luck !
Elona,
I am an oncology nurse (have been for 5 years) and becoming a nurse practitioner. Your story resonated with me. I recently got introduced to you through the article on Binsider. Being a wanderluster and wanting to travel the world , I love what you’re doing. I felt like I travelled all over more before I started graduate school two years ago and since then I am usually too busy o make excuses. Your outlook gives me inspiration. Have you travelled to any of these destinations by yourself? I have always travelled with at least one friend or sometimes with family, seeing that so many of my friends have conflicting schedules I was thinking of starting to go on the weekends myself kind of like you do but need some encouragement to brave going by myself to certain places 🙂 Just started following you on insta, beautiful pics. Hope to connect with you soon.
Hi Sadia ! Nice to e-meet you 🙂 I am so glad that I can inspire a little bit. I actually travel alone more often than not because many of my friends cant make the time or allocate the budget – cant let that stop me. I don’t think that that should be a reason for you not to travel, there is so much to see and so little time. Go out and do it. If not now then when ?