For your viewing pleasure

Updated | 2019

Couchsurfing

Probably the single most profound travel "tool" in the toolbox. Couchsurfing (CS) offers a way to stay in almost any major city, for free. You also get to meet REAL LOCAL PEOPLE and share experiences together. Generally these are people who travel or have traveled, and they tend to be quite fascinating and more generous than you can imagine. Make sure you plan ahead (2-6 weeks is recommended) and don't be discouraged by declined requests!!

Pro tip: don't request to stay with someone if you don't really vibe with their profile!!! It's just not worth the pain of an awkward/lame situation to save a few $ on a hostel/AirBNB.

Skyscanner

The go-to place for international flights. You can search date ranges, even a whole month, to find the cheapest options! Beware of baggage fees: when booking cheap flights you often don't get any checked bags, and sometimes not even a carry-on. Travel light and be aware of what you are allowed to bring, or you may end up with a hefty baggage fee at the airport!

Pro tips:

• Check flights from/to a whole country, and then look into booking your national flights separately! Generally it's very cheap to fly in and out of Las Vegas, so if we are returning to the U.S. we tend to fly into there and then book a cheapo flight out!

• Don't underestimate the power (and cheapness) of the round-trip flight!! Even if a round-trip from your city isn't cheap, check round trips from major cities as well, then book your flights in and out of those places!

Google Flights

An underestimated tool for booking national flights or even finding international flights. But DO NOT book your international flights here, they are almost always more expensive. Beware of booking "basic economy" flights that will hit you with crazy baggage fees!!!

Pro tip: Don't forget to also search Southwest flights if flying inside USA because Southwest is not integrated with Google flights and they offer some cheap flights and FREE BAGS (sometimes this is $100+ value).

Google Voice

Want to have a free phone number and be able to make free national calls from your computer even when abroad? Check out Google Voice: it's one of my favorite travel tools and allows me to roam the world without a cell or data plan. Wifi is always easy to find these days so why pay for a silly phone number when you can have it all for free??

Pro tip: when you get your free number, you might as well get a cool new area code as well! I chose "313" as an 8-Mile reference... Haha.

DanceDeets

A great place to find dance events around the world! Just put in a place and voila!!! You can also search by style, post your own events, and link directly to event pages on Facebook. Super useful tool and created by dancers!