Tied with skyscanner as the traveler’s best flight research resorce. Google Flights is great for uncovering cheap flights with smaller airlines in Asia.

A powerful airline booking tool that covers nearly every airline out there (unlike Google Flights). Momondo is your best bet for planning flights in Africa. Also, Momondo’s analytics let you easily figure out the cheapest days and times to fly.

As most insurances don’t cover you outside of your home country, World Nomads steps in for travelers. Covering everything from routine medical issues, like infections and stomach bugs, to emergency evacuations and stolen luggage, World Nomads is where its at. When I needed insurance for the Everest Base Camp trek, in case I needed airlifting out due to altitude sickness, I turned to World Nomads.

For generic travel items, where function matters much more than brand, I go with Amazon to save my hard earned cash

The original travel guide and still a great starting point for new travelers. If you’re new to backpacking, I highly recommend picking up a regional Lonely Planet guide until you get the hang of things. When I’m starting in a completely brand new country and region, I still pickup a digital copy to start

Need to get between two places and have no idea where to start? Rom2Rio. Start there. This app and website combines planes, trains, boats, and rentals to inform you of how to get to your destination.

For the Balkans and part of Europe, Get By Bus is your best bet for finding bus companies, timetables, and bus stations via the internet

For true dirtbags! Couch surfing not only connects you with free places to sleep in the spare spaces of fellow travelers, but also functions as a social network connecting you with locals that bear a true traveler’s personality

Maker of nearly bulletproof backpacks, backed by a lifetime guarantee. The one backpack I carry is a GORUCK and I love it. Highly recommended.