🌍 Travel Resources for Budget, Solo & Queer Travelers
Your ultimate guide to the tools I personally use while traveling full-time.
These are platforms I trust, have used for over a year, and truly recommend for anyone traveling on a budget, volunteering, or backpacking long-term.
🏨 Accommodation & Volunteering Tools
✨ Hostelworld
My go-to site for booking hostels around the world.
Great filters, honest reviews, and perfect for solo female + queer travelers.
🔗 https://www.hostelworld.com
✨ Worldpackers
I’ve been volunteering full-time through Worldpackers for a year now.
It’s the reason I travel for almost free, meet amazing people, and stay in beautiful places.
🔗 https://www.worldpackers.com
✈️ Cheap Flights & Transport
✨ Skyscanner
My favorite tool to find the cheapest flights anywhere in the world.
Perfect for flexible travelers — just type “Everywhere” and let the magic happen.
🔗 https://www.skyscanner.com
✨ Google Flights
Google Flights is my secret weapon for comparing dates, tracking price drops, and finding the best time to fly.
Super clean, super fast, and great for long-term travelers.
🔗 https://www.google.com/flights
✨ FlixBus
I’ve taken FlixBus across Europe and Mexico — it’s cheap, safe, and perfect for backpackers on a budget.
Great for crossing borders and avoiding expensive flights.
🔗 https://www.flixbus.com
✨ BlaBlaCar
A rideshare platform that makes travel affordable and social.
I’ve used it many times — it’s safe, cheap, and amazing for meeting locals.
Perfect for solo travelers who want to save money and ride with verified drivers.
🔗 https://www.blablacar.com
🧳 Travel Insurance
✨ SafetyWing
This is the travel insurance I personally use while backpacking full-time.
It’s affordable, flexible, and designed specifically for long-term travelers, digital nomads, and people who don’t have a fixed return date (like me 😅).
I love that:
- you can buy it even after you’ve already started traveling
- it renews automatically every month
- it covers 180+ countries
- it’s perfect for budget travelers + solo female travelers
💳 Banking & Travel Money
✨ Revolut
Revolut is my main travel card and honestly a lifesaver when traveling through multiple countries.
It lets me avoid crazy ATM fees, manage multiple currencies, send money instantly, and keep my budget under control.
Why I use it:
- low or zero ATM fees (depending on the plan)
- great exchange rates
- instant notifications + spending analytics
- super easy to freeze/unfreeze the card
- perfect for long-term backpackers
🗺️ Route Planning & Transportation
✨ Rome2Rio
Rome2Rio is my go-to app whenever I need to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B anywhere in the world.
It shows you all possible ways to travel — buses, flights, ferries, trains, rideshares — with estimated prices and timing.
Why I love it:
- perfect for planning cross-country or long travel days
- great for budget travelers who want to compare the cheapest routes
- super easy to use while on the road
- works in almost every country I’ve traveled to