Travel Resources

Here is our list of resources for long-term travel around the world with kids.

Also see my travel guide: 10 Steps to Traveling the World and Packing Lists.

Note: Some items may include affiliate links, which means we get a small commission if you buy them from here. We only recommend products or services we’ve used and loved!

Travel Insurance

World Nomads – This is our global travel insurance of choice, also recommended by Lonely Planet and highly respected. Not only can they replace a stolen camera, but they also cover your on-the-road illnesses, injuries, and emergencies (check details of coverage). We had med-evac insurance with them, which I highly recommend if you’re traveling anywhere in which there isn’t a decent, reputable hospital or clinic. When our son got a weird skin infection on his face, World Nomads painlessly covered the bill. The founders are traveling, global nomads themselves; they get it!

Lodging

We mostly use these services to book our stays.

AirBnB.com – We use this service almost exclusively for most of our stays, especially those over a week long, to secure mostly apartments, houses, or condos, but occasionally also homestays or family hostels. We often end up becoming friends with our hosts, too!

Hotels.com – A popular site for booking hotel rooms with a good selection of options.

Booking.com – Another good site for booking hotels. They tend to be more budget conscious than Hotels.com.

Navigation Apps

CityMaps2Go – This map app has saved our butts many times. It does not require a data plan or Wifi, except to download the regional map you need. Once the map is downloaded, it works off of GPS to show where you are and where you’re going. Street names are in both the local language and English. We’ve used it to show taxi drivers where we want to go and to be sure we’re heading in the right direction. There is now also a Pro version.

Finding Flights

Skyscanner – This is our favorite way to search for the cheapest flights to any destination.

Ground Transportation

Grab (Asia) – This service proved very helpful in Southeast Asia, especially for getting a cab at locations where you can’t flag one down, or during times, such as rush hour, when it’s harder to find a cab who wants to go by meter. In the app, you enter your pickup and drop off locations, and then you get a price and a list of cars and taxis that are close by (similar to Uber). This app also includes food delivery service and other options.

Uber (for private cars) – Most are familiar with this service. This app lets you hire a personal driver and car. It works in a similar way to Grab, above, except that those responding are personal drivers (generally), not taxis.

Seat61.com – This site will blow you away with the breadth and depth of useful, detailed information it has on catching a train just about anywhere in the world. It’s also well-maintained and updated.

Admin Apps

VirtualPostMail – This is what you do with your mail while you’re traveling long-term. Also see my blog post on this.

Skype – Free or cheap phone calls (and video conferences) via the Internet.

Zoom – Free video call connections over the Internet for up to 40 minutes at a time. You can include multiple people in different locations.

SpeedSmart – Wifi on the road can be shaky. This app is great for finding out where in a room, or in the hotel, the Wifi is best, and how fast it really is.

Travel Guides

Everyone has their preferences. These are ours.

Lonely Planet – We use the electronic versions of their guide books, which are interactive. Their city guides also offer offline GPS navigation.

WikiTravel – A good starting point for researching points of interest in a place.

Travel Communities

TravelFish – Great, detailed advice and guidance for travel in Asia. Travel forums are included.

Vagabond Family – If you’re a nomadic, long-term traveling family, or want to be, this is a great community to connect to.

Electronics

It’s a personal choice what electronics you bring. It’s useful to have at least one device on which to research and plan trips via the Internet, use Skype or FaceTime for cheap or free phone calls when you have Wifi, dump all those travel photos, and place electronic books.

Note: If you’re a homeschooler, you can take advantage of Apple’s education discount when purchasing electronics with them.

Lightweight Laptop – Our choice is a Macbook Air. In addition to satisfying the needs listed above, we also use our computers for homeschooling, work, and admin tasks.

Smartphone, unlocked – Our choice is an iPhone. Not only is an iPhone useful for running the apps listed earlier, but in each country, we get a SIM card so that we can have a local phone number to make travel arrangements, and also for Pierre and I to speak to each other when separated. We also take advantage of its FaceTime feature to conduct free video conferences with all family and friends who also have Apple devices.

Notes: 1) Your iPhone needs to be unlocked in order to swap out SIM cards. Contact Apple support on how to do this if needed. 2) You may need to wait until your contract expires, break it (as we did), or not have one in the first place.

Tablet or iPad – Our choice is an iPad. Useful for reading books, watching movies, playing games, or having the kids do their homeschooling.

Adapter – We love this universal travel adapter. It works in almost every country! And it includes USB plugins.

Cables and chargers that go with the above equipment. Don’t forget these! We find it’s also helpful to have a short extension cord with lots of outlets on the other end to plug into.

Flash USB drive. Useful if you need to print anything out at the local Internet cafe.

Cameras

Digital cameras – You can take some great photos with your smart phone. If you want to get deeper into photography while traveling, consider a higher end digital camera.

GoPro – For on-the-go videos and underwater filming, we got ourselves a GoPro, and loved it. Consider your editing time. We put ours on our helmets when we rode 5 hours from Hue to Hoi An in Vietnam with the kids, but didn’t want to edit all that! It worked best for our scuba and snorkeling excursions.

Underwater Camera for snorkeling, scuba, and water play – This is a newer version of the camera we took with us and loved. It’s great for taking photos on scuba and snorkeling trips, as it works at depths up to 82 feet.

Underwater Camera for surface play – If you’re just looking for a waterproof camera for pool and snorkeling, up to 10 feet, this will work! It has Zoom features too.