I know lately around these parts have been posting a lot about travel and honestly I can not seem to stop, I absolutely love it and thought what better way than to share my love with my readers I mean I share everything else so why not this. I have spoken about it on here and The Myrabev Life how 2014 as a whole sucked for me, I also shared how I decided that 2015 no matter what would be different and one of those decisions was traveling. I did some traveling Last year I went to Munich, Germany with my family and to Zambia alone (my first solo trip ever). I realised that this is the type for me to do what I always wanted to do but couldn’t due to financial constraints and that is traveling so this year I will share (already started in April) more travel posts than any other year. When I traveled to Zambia last year alone, I was both terrified and exhilarated. This was something had never done before but was happy to overcome my fears and live in the moment and boy am I glad I did because since then I have made 2 more solo trips but this time to lands have never been to and didn’t speak the language. Anyway, in my quest to continue traveling to as many places as possible this year I think I have narrowed it down to the best travel sites (this is my opinion).
Skyscanner//Kayak//Icelolly//Expedia
- Skyscanner – I mentioned this in my post a few days ago but I absolutely love this travel site, I have found more deals in one place than I care to mention. When I made the decision to go visit my friend in south Korea I was so overwhelmed with things to do and one thing I did not want to worry about was my booking of flights so having already been introduced to skyscanner many months before I knew where to go. First thing you notice is how easy this site is to navigate, how many airline options you get and the fact that its free no hidden charges or fees. I love that I can search for any flight/destination and there is always an answer and if not direct flights they have connection options, how cool is that? You can search for flights, hotels and car hires in whatever currency you want. It truly is one of the best sites I have come across,
- Kayak – I will be frank and say I have not used this site as much as I have used skyscanner but I have used it enough to state that it is a good site and works just as good as skyscanner. What I noticed about this site is it detects your location and determines your country’s currency, I sit in the UK but work off US servers so everything thinks I am in the states even when am not so it detected where the server was and assumed that’s where I was. I decided to search for flights to Vilnius for the time am thinking of traveling and compared to skyscanner results and the conversion is roughly the same. The desktop view of the website is very clean and clutter free which I like, you can book flights, hotels, car hire and/or flights with hotel deals <– so cool. I have not fully booked with them before so not sure if they charge when redirecting you to the airline of your choice.
Ice lolly – The first thing I noticed about this site is how busy and colourful it was, because I knew what I wanted to check (A trip to Spain anyone?) I jumped right into it. I found it easy to book, not bad on navigation and the site really has so many deals but I think they have limited destinations compared to Skyscanner and Kayak. I couldn’t find any flights for popular towns in Lithuania but then again Lithuania is not exactly on the top destinations list, the popular destinations are there but not so popular are not.
- Expedia – I will start by saying I love the phone version of the expedia website because the desktop view is just too busy for me, there are just so many things going on. I love that they have plenty of deals but like Ice lolly do not have most ‘non-popular’ destinations. I love with them you can book anything from city breaks to beach getaways or just a flight which I think is one of the main attractions of this site. Another to note is that not all flights and deals booked via this site are ATOL covered obviously you want a flight that is covered so always be on the look out even from the sites above.
I am sure there are many other travel booking websites out there but for me these are some that I check before I check the airline themselves. Searching for a deal shouldn’t take you all day or cost you an arm and a leg, it should be easy and it should be fun.
Do you have any holiday plans or traveling anywhere soon?
Rosey says
I am always interested in learning about new travel sites. I think this is a great list!
Regan says
Thanks! I pinned this since there were two that I hadn’t heard of and I’m working on planning a family vacation in a few months so this is perfect.
Angie says
I’ve never heard of Skyscanner. Does it work in the U.S. too? I really need to get better about searching for deals. I pretty much go to Expedia and that’s it. Pretty lazy!
Stephanie Pass says
These look like some great apps! I love using apps for travel. It’s always how I find the best deals.
Louise says
Ooh, we’re hoping to go abroad next year so I’m bookmarking this page for future reference as I have no idea where to start!!
Louise x
lifewithmunchers says
Holidays sites are quite busy…always trying to grab attention on every page. I quite like expedia, although it can throw up some funny flight options.
rosemary palmer says
Always looking for the best deals in travel, even if it’s just a quick weekend away. Love the ideas.
Lisa - Leelee Loves says
These are brilliant, we’re considering a budget trip away so this is going to come in handy! Thanks x
Jacob Fu says
Oh wow! I haven’t used a lot of those sites. We’ll definitely have to bookmark them for future trips.
Felicita Moncada says
I have never heard of SkyScanner before but I just checked some flights and they have great deals! I love that I can search everything at once.
Lisa says
What a great review on the different travel sites. Very helpful. I have not heard of skyscanner but I can see how it would be very helpful.
April @ Everyday Fitness and Nutrition says
I usually use Expedia when I plan trips. I don’t travel all that often so I generally stick with the site that I trust.
Emma | TheMiniMesAndMe says
I tend to always stick with Thomson as I like quick and simple package holidays. I’ve heard good things about Expedia and Ice Lolly however x
The Hopeless Wanderer says
Skyscanner is my favorite app to use when booking a last minute trip to somewhere random!
tammileetips says
These are great sites!! I love to travel and saving money while we do so makes it possible to go to more places!
Amanda says
Wow, these look like such great resources for travelers. I’m totally inspired by your solo trips, especially to places where you didn’t even speak the language. Safe travels!
ali says
I’ve used sky scanner before but never heard of the others. I will have to check them out for booking my next trip. Thanks for the great tips
Eimear says
I’ve used Skyscanner and Expedia before and both were great, Expedia got me out of a difficult one when I landed in nyc once to find the hotel id booked had closed down!
Angela Weight says
I’ve never heard of sky scanner, but I’ll be bookmarking it for future use, definitely. Thanks!
Izabela says
The only website I heard about earlier was Sky Scanner. Thanks for sharing.
Wendy says
I haven’t had the chance to travel in a while. I haven’t used any of these sites. Thanks for giving me the info. Now I will know which to use when I plan my vacation this winter.
Sue Lau says
I haven’t used any of these travel booking sites. Having your opinion on them will certainly be helpful.
LizZ H. says
These sound like some great sites! i’ve never heard of them before.
joanna smith says
I can hand on heart say that i have never been abroad in my 30 years of life. So pleased that there are apps like this that will help… if i eventually go near an airport!
Rena McDaniel says
I love to travel and I use Kayak and Expedia all the time, but I had never heard of the others. I would love to take a solo trip one day just don’t tell my hubby that one. I think it would be so exciting to just get in the car and take off to wherever I wanted.
Heather says
I haven’t used any of these, but hope to hit the sky soon and visit some friends. Now I know which ones to download.
Mary Edwards says
I travel a ton but haven’t heard of some of these. I will definitely be checking them all out now to find the best prices!
Rachel @ Parenthood Highs and Lows says
The only one of these I’ve ever used is Expedia – we used it too book a weekend away in Paris about 8 years ago which is the last time we went abroad!
Lisa - Four Walls, Rainy Days says
Big fan of sky scanner here, the deals you can find are so much better than the individual sites seem to show, it does all the hard work for you! Going to bookmark the rest of these for future reference!
Blogging Mummy says
I havent used any of these sites before as we always tend to book a deal with someone like Thomas Cook or Thomson. Sky Scanner looks great though and so does Ice Lolly. See adverts for ice lolly a lot. x
Sian says
I love skyscanner, use it everytime when i go away! Make sure to delete your cookies too can affect the price!