Accommodations
Booking.com is our first choice for searching accommodation. They have over 1 million properties including hotels, apartments, and hostels worldwide. You get free cancellation on most rooms and a best price guarantee!
Airbnb is the main search engine we use when we are looking for home or apartment rentals. Whether you want to stay in a jungle tree house or an affordable Tokyo condo, Airbnb has it all.
The best way to get an authentic cultural experience is by staying with a local. Homestay allows you to rent out spare rooms in local houses in over 160 countries.
We LOVE hostels, and Hostelworld is our go-to website to search for unique hostels all over the world. Despite what many may think, hostels aren’t just for 18 year-old party-goers. We’ve met many cool families and travelers over 70 at hostels.
If you’re looking for guesthouses and hotels in Asia, this should be your primary go-to website. They have a HUGE selections and offer the best rates.
One of our favourite styles of overnight stays is glamping (glamorous camping). With Glamping Hub, you can find safari tents, tiny houses, airstreams, yurts and treehouses to spend the night in.
An incredible platform for those who are budget conscious. Couchsurfing connects travellers with locals around the world to offer a free place to sleep or local tour.
We’ve saved hundreds with this app. When hotels offer up available rooms that keep discounting the closer it gets to midnight, HotelTonight displays them all in one place. This app is great for saving money on last minute travel changes.
Flights
We book almost all of our flights using Skyscanner. Skyscanner compares millions of flights to get you the best deal. You can search by country OR if you’re flexible, select “Everywhere,” to view the cheapest flights available worldwide.
A great site to compare flight prices. Before we purchase any flight, we check Kayak for any discounted rates. Many times, we’ve found the lowest prices on Kayak that we couldn’t find anywhere else.
A great interface for flight and hotel searches and easy ticket purchasing. You can review a timeline of prices and see the cheapest days to fly.
You can save up to 90% off on international flights as a Scott’s Cheap Flights member. If you’re flexible with dates this is the way to book. Premium members access 5x more discounted flight options.
If you’re from Toronto, this should be the first site you check for cheap flights. YYZ is the airport code in Toronto and since that’s our local airport, it’s an amazing tool for us to find unimaginable prices, like $250 roundtrip flights to Costa Rica...yes please!
Before selecting our seats on a flight, we always check out SeatGuru first. The site was created to help travelers choose the best seats and in-flight amenities, no matter what airline you’re flying.
Tour Companies
We’ve now done G Adventure trips in Galapagos, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Japan and Peru. They have amazing tour guides and offer a huge variety of trips all over the globe.
If you’ve ever wanted to travel with us, now you can! We’ve built our dream itineraries and now you can experience them with us as your hosts. Mixing our love of culture, adventure, luxury and unique experiences, each tour has HTG flavour. Make lifelong friends while travelling the world.
Clothing & Gear
One of Kristen’s favourite Canadian travel-friendly clothing brands. Most of the items can be worn multiple ways which makes them perfect for carry-on only.
When we get questions about “where we got that boho looking top or pants from?” Faherty is most likely the answer. We LOVE every single item they sell and our wardrobe reflects the obsession.
Lonely Planet guide books are what we refer to as “the traveler’s bible.” They have been a must-have packing item for most of the places we’ve been. The guidebooks especially came in handy during our year-long backpacking trip around the world. We can’t recommend them enough.
REI is a travelers candy store! Here, you can find the right gear for any trip, whether it’s climbing Kilimanjaro or snorkeling in the Bahamas.
This sustainable and high quality clothing brand offers premium outdoor apparel for those with an active lifestyle. Whether you’re into canoe trips or yoga dips, prAna has something for all types of movement.
Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) is Canada’s largest outdoor gear retailer. This is our go-to place when needing travel essentials. Our backpacks are from MEC, and they’ve been on hundreds of trips without a problem.
Stay Connected
A Global internet provider offering daily, weekly and monthly rates. Works in 135+ countries. Get 10% off with code: hopscotchtheglobe
Our preferred VPN service to increase security of our data online and get around digital firewalls.
Travel Insurance
Whether you’re traveling out of the country for a day or month, you NEED to get travel insurance. World Nomad is the top travel insurance choice for most world travellers. Seriously, don’t overlook it. It’s saved our butts and friends of ours several times.
Camping & RV
We used TruckStop Guide when we drove across Canada and into California, and it saved us a lot of money. It’s a great resource for finding truck stops to spend the night at...for FREE! Some of them even offer showers with towel service and TV/chillax rooms.
While traveling, it's great to have a FREE or inexpensive place to stop for the night. Many casinos not only allow RV overnight parking, they also encourage RV'ers to spend the night with them. They're hoping you'll come in for a meal and gamble a little. Either way, we are all about FREE parking!
The ultimate camping app that lets you find FREE and paid campgrounds, RV parks, truck stops, hotel and Walmart parking lots with or without internet. They have a pretty good map filter so you can search in your area or even while you’re en route.
Boondockers Welcome is like Couchsurfing but for RV and Van Lifers! Locals invite RVers and Van Lifers to spend the night on the property for FREE. You’re probably wondering what’s in it for the host? They just want to make connections, share stories and may be travelers themselves. We are pretty open minded, friendly people aren’t we?! :)
Yet, another resource for FREE RV camping! Except this one is a bit more specific...and super awesome. You can find FREE overnight stays at over 1000 wineries, breweries, farms and museums.
FREE campsites can be hard to find, but this platform makes it easier for you. Freecampsites.net is a community driven website where RVers share FREE campsites they’ve discovered, so that other RVers can also enjoy.
A FREE app created by campers for campers that shares thousands of places to camp, from swanky RV parks to FREE remote destinations, vetted by their team of full-time travelers and reviewed by 275,000 plus Campendium members.
Transportation
We’ve used Uber in many countries. The rates are typically cheaper than hiring a taxi, and we’ve both learned quite a bit about the place we’re visiting from our drivers. Get $2 off each of your first 3 rides with this code: siyaz
This website allows you to find the best and cheapest way to get from point A to point B. Just enter your departure and arrival destinations, and it will give you all the bus, train, plane, or boat routes that can get you there as well as how much they cost.
Blogging Resources
B&H is our go-to website for purchasing all our photography and videography gear. Their selection is massive and customer service is 5 stars!
Music is a huge part of our videos. Easily find the perfect track for your production from world-wide artists.
You know the awesome bi-weekly newsletters you get from us? If you don’t, you’re going to wanna sign up right now. We use ConvertKit to make those, and we believe it’s one of the best marketing platforms for creators to connect with their audience.
Lightroom is a must-have tool for every photographer by helping you to capture and edit stunning images. As soon as we started using Lightroom, our photography jumped to a whole other pro level.
Final Cut Pro is the editing software we’ve been using for the past 14+ years to edit all of our videos.
Other
This app is a plant eaters staple! If you’re looking for the best vegan or vegetarian restaurants in the area you’re roaming, HappyCow will tell you all. It’s Kristen’s most used app on her phone.
Long layovers have never looked so good. Priority Pass gives you access to over lounges around the world that offer buffets, open bars, office spaces, sleeping corners, showers and more! The amount you spend on airport food alone for those who travel a few times a year, makes up for the one time fee of the card. We will never travel without a Priority pass again!
If you’re looking to meet other travelers or travel industry professionals, Travel Massive is a community that offers monthly meetups in over 200 cities around the world.