Must-Have RTW Resources

When you’re traveling long-term you naturally meet other travelers on a regular basis, but I’ve encountered few people traveling for as long as a year. Most of the people I meet on my RTW trip are impressed and very supportive. So I was shocked when the Norwegian guy in my Italian hostel who had just finished detailing his own cross-European itinerary sneered at my explanation of RTW travel and asked “Well how do you afford that?” I would expect such things from someone who doesn’t travel themselves! A better question might have been “Wow! How do you do that?” So, for anyone willing to suspend their judgments, I present my favored RTW resources.

Get inspired

Bootsnall Their free 30-day planning course is perfect for anyone who doesn’t know where to begin.

Meet Plan Go If you’re in the New York area, attending an event put on by this career break organization is a great motivator.

Vagabonding The godfather of all long-term travel books

Legal Nomads Why a seemingly successful lawyer quit her job to travel the world – just one of many RTW narratives

Save as much as you can

Mint This budget tracking tool is free and easy to use.

How to use frequent flier cards Spartan Traveler’s guide to racking up frequent flier miles

Barclaycard
Citi AAdvantage
My two preferred frequent flier credit cards  

Plan a route

Indie Bootsnall’s airfare tool isn’t how I book flights, but is a great visualizer of routes.

Skyscanner Search for the cheapest flight over a month or in an entire country.

Rome2Rio There is no substitute for planning overland travel.  

 

Work out the details

Americans Traveling Abroad Visa and other information from the U.S. Department of State

Center for Disease Control Country by country list of recommended vaccinations and medications

World Nomads The best travel insurance on the market

T-Mobile Stay connected in over 140 countries  

Make a packing list

  Half the Clothes A great minimalist packing list for solo female travelers

HoneyTrek This link is to Anne’s video for women, but her husband Mike also has advice for men

Her Packing List This is just one of many helpful resources on Her Packing List

Tortuga Packsmith Subscribe to their newsletter for the absolute best travel and packing tips  

Buy your gear

Osprey I wear the 40L Farpoint, which meets the carry-on requirements of most airlines

Fujifilm I use a bridge camera from Fuji’s Finepix S-series

Prana Great quality clothes that are both stylish and travel friendly – I wore Prana even before traveling

Sea to Summit For gear like compression sacks and pack towels  

Find places to stay

Hostelworld My go-to for booking dorms and private rooms in hostels

Couchsurfing Find free local hosts around the world

Airbnb Short term rentals for when I need extra privacy or am staying somewhere too long to book a hostel

Agoda For booking accommodations in Asia  

Find things to do

The Blonde Abroad The leading voice on solo female travel

Nomadic Matt The leading voice on budget travel

Lonely Planet I think Lonely Planet’s guidebook quality is actually a bit hit or miss, but it is the easiest to use on the road

Pinterest I have a Pinterest board for every destination on my list to collect blog posts from around the web and make my own guides