I have traveled to 21 countries and counting… and I have lived abroad for over 3 years in Thailand and Vietnam. There are common online travel resources that I leverage to make traveling and living abroad easier and cheaper.

Please reference this page to aid in your decision on what resources to use and how to use them. I ONLY reference services that I have personally used and have experience with. I hope that you find this page helpful. : )

Travel Inspiration

The world is a big place and learning about where to go and what to see can be overwhelming. There are roughly 196 countries on 7 continents. You often learn about new places from a friend, acquaintance, T.V. program or travel blog.

Lonely Planets book titled, The World  is a great way to get started with learning about new planes to and what they have to offer. I am always fascinated with learning about new places and planning a trip.

Travel Budgeting

When people think of travel, they always envision expensive flights, elaborate hotels, and exotic destinations. But, travel is not limited to the rich and famous. It can be easily enjoyed by the common person with some budget planning and strategizing.

Nomadic Matt, a fellow travel extraordinaire explains different budget hacks and strategies to travel cheaper, longer and smarter. Check out his book, Travel The World on $50 A Day. 

Travel Expense Tracker

One of my most used and favorite iphone apps is [eafl id=5722 name=”Trail Wallet” text=”Trail Wallet”]. It is an app that was designed and engineered by Erin and Simon from Never Ending Voyage.

I use this application everyday to track my expenses and monitor my monthly budget. It can be configured with any currency imaginable and has many helpful features that makes managing your budget easy.

I wrote a post about my expenses in Chiang Mai, Thailand and give further insight about how the app has helped me. Learn more about Trail Wallet.

U.S Tax Planning/Compliance

Paying taxes and being tax compliant is a challenging subject for most people and it becomes even more burdensome living as a U.S. expat. Being able to have a reliable expert to turn to and reference for guidance is incredibly important.

There are many tax laws that become applicable to you and that you can take advantage of once you have been living abroad for an extended time. Stewart at U.S. Tax Services is very knowledgeable and has an array of complimentary services to help you stay tax compliant while living abroad.

Google Flights

This is another free tool by Google to do flight research. It is a great tool because it offers a variety of helpful features to find the best flight. There are several filters that you can apply such as specifying which airline, number of stops, duration, elapsed time and more.

I like to use it because it gives me an overview of what airlines fly between specific destinations and ultimately how I can find the cheapest flight.

You can also view a price graph which shows the cheapest fares over an extended period of time. Check out the video tutorial below for a further in depth review.

Agoda

Agoda is my favorite sites to use when searching for hotels. Their website is easy to use and they are ofter able to negotiate great deals with hotels that can often be cheaper then booking directly with the hotel! Crazy!

There is a review system so you can read what other travelers experiences have been while staying at different hotels or you can leave reviews of places that you stay. While booking through the site you can accrue credits which you can redeem for free nights or reduced prices. You can easily use the search box below or visit the site [eafl id=5725 name=”Agoda” text=”here.”]

Airbnb

There are many great online travel resources that you can leverage to find great deals and enhance your travel experience. Airbnb is a unique site where you can search for homes, condos or rooms that are maintained owned and maintained by individuals.

It has an easy to use website and I used the site successfully and stayed at several great places. If you sign-up for the service here, can can get a bonus $25 that you can use towards your first night!

Travel Insurance

Vietnam Travel

Vietnam is another amazing country as I have lived here for close to a year as of writing this page. When I first arrived to visit, it was challenging to embrace a new culture, language and cultural differences.

But National Geographic’s Vietnam Traveler  helped me with learning the intricacies of this beautiful country and discovering its hidden gems. There are many amazing hidden places and the Vietnam Travel Guide can be a great resource to help you get accustomed to Vietnam.

Thailand Travel

Thailand is an amazing place that I have had the opportunity to live and travel in quite extensively. Learn more about my travels on my Thai Travel page. It is a country rich in culture, food and tradition.

Lonely Planets guide, Thailand was really helpful for me when I first arrived to better understand the country and everything it has to offer. Definitely check it out if you are planning a trip to this amazing country,