My favourite travel blogs and websites

As a travel-junkie, obviously I do my own fair share of reading other peoples' blogs and tips for their travels, even when I don't have plans to visit a place it's still brilliant to read them and day-dream about when I might get to visit far-flung (or some nearby places). There are also some websites I check regularly and find very helpful. So, since I have many friends who like to travel almost as much as I do and I thought I'd share them with you.

www.skyscanner.com
This is a no-brainer - the cheapest flights I've found, my parents use it and I've recommended it to numerous people. It has lots of options for you to choose from (You can check flights for the whole month or year if you like) time you want to fly, you can exclude certain airlines if you don't like to fly with them. I've been using it now for about 7 years and I'm always stunned that people don't know about it.

http://www.hostelworld.com/blog/what-does-1-buy-you-in-every-european-country/158597?source=newsletter-hwnljune14
Here's a great article about what $1 will buy you in each European country - I don't know why they put  Walkers crisps in Ireland, if you want potato chips in Ireland you must buy Tayto or King. You don't know what you're missing until you eat these, that's a fact. Also, $1 in most Irish supermarkets or Centra/Spar etc will buy you 2/3 sausage rolls - which are brilliant for the hangover you will undoubtedly experience at some point in an Irish trip.

http://www.resorthoppa.com
This is a pick-up service from airports around the world. They do offer reasonable rates (I've checked and I've often taken tuks, taxis and buses from airports to the city centre or where I'm staying) and if there are more than one of you it can be good value. It also means that you don't have to worry about negotiating the journey in a foreign language after 14 hours travelling. They'll be waiting for you with a sign. Definitely cheaper than taxis and helpful in places where buses aren't readily available.

http://www.wwoof.net
If I had known about this! I first heard about Wwoofing when I was in New Zealand and it sounds like a great way to get free food and accomodation whilst travelling, particularly in more expensive countries in Europe or Australia/New Zealand. They also offer stays as short as 4-7  days so you aren't stuck doing something if you really hate it and - in the great tradition of travellers - you might actually learn something! Alternatively you can try http://www.workaway.info for longer stays (usually at least a month) and a wide variety of positions (au-pairing, working in a hostel, helping school-children, photography, marketing). Be very careful about vetting the owners/place though. I thought I had a month sorted in Sri Lanka volunteering at a hostel when the owner hit on me (via Skype). He suggested we have an affair whilst I was there. Needless to say, I turned him down and was lucky enough to find other work, without the site. There are many good projects though and I don't think it's a reflection on the website.

http://www.worldofwanderlust.com
I love this blog. A fellow female traveller, she has done so much that I'm envious of and the layout of the blog makes it very easy to navigate. It's always worth looking up her blog for tips on different places, hotel rooms (for the traveller with a bit of extra cash), places to see, ways to save prior to your trip etc.

http://www.whichairline.com/news/Battle-of-the-low-cost-airlines%3A-Ryanair-AirAsia-or-tigerair-None-of-them-in-2014%21
Another good article on low-cost airlines. WhichAirline recently did a cost comparison (WITH baggage) with some interesting results. Some budget airlines are excluded from the comparison search engines so this up-to-date article is a handy tool on which airlines websites to visit for the best deals.

http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/the-ultimate-guide-to-traveling-when-you-have-no-money/
I subscribe to Nomadic Matt and I've included a link here to one of his great articles on travelling with no money. For most of us, having no money is a concern of some sort, particularly when we want to get to our next place. Matt scours the net and partners with some travel companies offering great discounts, who are doing the best travel-related deals now on credit cards and other sites and he always has an abundance of helpful info in his emails and articles.

If you like to read about travel, like me, who likes to have a deeper insight into the places I've been or am going to - not just from Lonely Planet, Rough Guide etc - check out Conde Nast's list of travel books. http://www.cntraveller.com/recommended/culture/best-travel-books/page/books-on-worldwide-travel

For places to stay, I always use www.hostelworld.com and I would highly recommend becoming a member on their site. Their ratings are great and always from people who have stayed in a particular place. I vehemently advise against hostelbookers.com. They double-booked me on the one occasion I used them, in Christchurch and I ended up having to pay NZD150 for a room that night, last-minute. The website weren't even apologetic. The reason I was double-booked (along with a few others) was that hostelbookers hadn't sent through the booking forms to the hostel in question until the day I was due to arrive and by that stage they were fully booked. I had a 'confirmed' email in my hand. The staff at the hostel were ever so helpful but two other couples arrived in whilst I was online trying to find somewhere else and the exact same thing had happened to them. I've used hostelworld on approximately 30-40 occasions and nothing like this ever happened.

http://www.goodbyevirginiahelloworld.com
I met Ansley in a hostel in Kaikoura, New Zealand and we've kept in touch. I subsequently discovered her wonderful photo-blog. She really captures the essence of places on her travels and has photos of some neat little wonders that I have yet to come across. If you are keen on photography and far-flung places you will enjoy this blog.

Here are a couple of app's I have on my phone which I can't do without.
XE Currency - does what it says on the site, converts any currency to another in seconds. Free.
Travel Safe Pro. Emergency numbers for any country you may visit, embassy details and other numbers you might need should you have an emergency far from home. No, a lack of wifi isn't actually considered an emergency. However, if that is your emergency - there is a free app called Wifi Finder to help you.
TripIt - Picks up your flight details, bus details etc and stores them all in a handy format. It also tracks how many miles you've covered and where. You can also add your loyalty programmes to it and it will track those. I found it quite handy.

So there you have my little collection of websites and apps I use on a regular basis that make my life easier and more interesting. If you have any, please let me know as I'm always interested in anything travel-related.

Staying in a shack in Sihanoukvile

After a 7 1/2 hour bus ride through the country-side (which is very picturesque by the way, but after that length of time, and mostly in the dark it gets a little tiring) we disembarked in Sihanoukville. The town was larger than we originally thought and since it was by now 9.30pm we knew we weren't getting to the island of Koh Rong that night so we set about finding suitable accommodation. We teamed up with two Swiss guys and got a tuk-tuk down towards the sea, finding a hostel/guesthouse on the corner. We checked out the log cabins and it seemed clean so we booked in for the princely sum of USD12 each.

Our cabin in Sihanoukvile

After a quick bite we decided to explore the little coastal town, first coming across two cows wandering down the main street. I wished I had a camera as it was absolutely hilarious to watch. They walked up to a little bar and a man sitting down nearly jumped out of his seat. We saw many tourists/backpackers like ourselves in the bars dotting the seafront. It was like a really run-down version of the seafronts you see in Majorca or Ibiza. There were little shacks everywhere on the beach with various genres of music blasting out and people in various stages of undress, many holding joints, dancing to the rhythms being pumped out.


We found a place where we could book the boat to Koh Rong and also accomodation in some treetop huts at Coco's. As the boat departed at 8 we decided we should head back and get some sleep for our early rise. Unfortunately sleep was not to be that night....as soon as the lights went off I heard some scratching in my bed. Terrified of bed bugs, I decided I would sleep on the covers, but that didn't work either so I moved over to April's bed. She seemed to be sleeping soundly. Unfortunately her bed was near the window so I could hear our neighbours outside their room partying. I took a panadol night....then half an hour later another......then a Xanax, then another. Eventually I gave up and just read my book. Not a nice feeling. We struggled out of the room around 7am, without showers and made our way by tuk-tuk to the meeting place for the boat....where we were told that the bus had left. He'd mistakenly given us the wrong time (although he maintained that he hadn't). We asked if the tuk tuk driver would take us to the port.... It was a battle against time, we didn't know if the tuk-tuk would make it...we tore along the streets, maneuvering in and out of traffic, animals and people... we pulled up at the port and dashed to our boat just as they were pulling up the anchor. Relieved, we sat quietly in the sun, getting our breath back and watching the boats go by.

Bye Bye Sihanoukvile! We made it!

It was the first time I really realised how far away we were. It was a great feeling but also quite emotional. April and I had been rushing around since we'd met up but the stresses of the previous month (after the break-up) were getting to me and I had a little cry on the boat. It passed quickly - I think I just needed a little release. April was great, she put her arms around me and told me, as great friends do - that it would all be fine. Watching the pretty clouds pass by and the open blue sea ahead, I thought maybe she might have a point.

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

My oldest friend April planned to travel for a few months at the end of 2012. I was envious and really wanted to join her but could only really take a couple of weeks off so we planned to meet in Cambodia.  I can't go into a day by day blog like other trips but I did take some notes....

Day 1 - First impressions of Phnom Penh was that it was so different to Bangkok - I finally felt I was in "real" Asia. The airport was tiny and the staff/police there were unsmiling. Outside was a different story. My tuk-tuk driver Pauli awaited me and negotiated the crazy streets with ease. I have never, ever seen so many motorcycles. People everywhere smiled, waved and stared (I am incredibly white, even moreso than the average Irish person and this is a source of great interest for non-Caucasians). I noticed that although everyone is fighting for space in traffic there's almost a system. They squeeze in but don't push you out of the way!

The fumes!

I was excited to be on my own to explore for the day but looking forward to April's arrival. Phnom Penh is such a mixture of the modern and the old. It is a city that still bears the hallmarks of the civil war in the '70's. Could it be called a war? It was more like wanton slaughter by a dictator, people didn't really fight back!

Bird of Peace - A bird sculpted out of recovered machine gun parts - a grim reminder of war.

The city also has a lot of greenery, small shop shacks line the streets, walking was a pleasure although people wondered why I hadn't hired a tuk-tuk or motorcycle.

There are beautifully ornate statues everywhere and Buddhist objects. Strange smells and sights assaulted me everywhere on my walk. I was warned about rats down by the river but didn't see any.

April and I stayed in Me Mates place - http://www.mematesplace.com
It had been recommended by friends and fellow travellers. It ended up being more expensive than everywhere else we stayed but it was clean and we had our own bathroom. Also, having a bar downstairs with internet was nice, and the owners have dogs (I LOVE dogs!). I didn't find any of the others guests particularly friendly before April arrived but the locals on the street were really nice and were showing me their English copybooks and trying to learn off me which was charming. I shared some of my cigarettes with them and whiled away the time until April arrived.

I felt excited about the rest of the trip and it was brilliant to have my best friend by my side again in a brand new country!