Guide Books & Other Recommended Reading | Advance Hostel/Guesthouse Booking | Insurance | Flights & Other Recommendations
This 'resources' page is pretty much a collection of, well, resources useful to any independent traveller.
These range from a section on recommended guidebooks and reading to booking a hostels/guesthouses and travel insurance.
To be frank and up front, that using some (not all)
services, like buying a guidebook after using a recommended link, will
result in a small (in fact they are tiny!) referral fee (at no cost to
the purchaser) being received. Full details are given wherever this is
applicable and are explained in full, but to summarise quickly: these
fees are not a fortune, they do however just about cover the hosting and
bandwidth costs of this site, which takes many hours of work each week
to keep updated. Remember, this is not a commercial site, a business or even a travel fund and that any recommendations are included because of their
genuine use to travellers; opinions given are always honest. Any use
of the below is appreciated.
Recommended Guides and Reading
Let's be fair, you're not going to find all the answers on the web or this site, so we'd suggest a few guidebooks and reading recommendations straight from the road.
Find the best reads and guides in the following regions:
Pre-trip planning, Africa,
Asia,
Australia, New Zealand & Pacific
& Latin America.
If
you use Amazon, please use these links in the
UK,
USA and 
Canada.
Flights, clothing and other:
For flights it's worth checking out the following:
Opodo.
For details on how to find the best airfare prices (normally Opodo comes up trumps)
click here.
Canadian have reported good results at
Flightnetwork and we love Kayak and Skyscanner.
For clothing in the UK try Gear Zone in the US/Canada try USoutdoor or MooseJaw, both offer cheaper than high street prices, free shipping and always a huge range hard to find elsewhere.
If in Europe, for gear such as expensive North Face, Teva or Mountain Hardware items, buying on-line from the US for delivery overseas can often work out cheaper. Sierra Trading Post is one US outlet that has reasonable overseas shipping rates - they're also quite cheap.
Jag Bags produce great silk sleeping bag liners. The business has recently changed ownership and the bags can be bought via Terre Vista Trails.
For great travel towels (the best in our opinion)
and other wicking (but not smelling) items of clothing, many have recommended
Discovery Trekking.
More coming soon.... (please feel free to recommend anything).
"Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!"