Resources You Need In Your Life – Travel, Blogging, Social Media
**note: order of items does not indicate priority or preference
“What resources – gear, apps, services – could you not do without, or recommend, for Travel, Blogging, Social Media….?”
If the regularity I'm asked that question is any indicator of audience demand, this Resources article may prove to be the most popular page on the site!
Here are those services, resources, gear, sites, and apps that keep Eat Drink Stay Dubai ticking over, and me travelling better.
As per our Disclosure Policy, anything listed here has firstly been used, tested and recommended by me – as a paying customer. It's listed because I use it, recommend it, and think you could benefit too. In some cases, there's even voucher codes or promos to add increased value for you.
I can honestly say, I wouldn't be without any of them – and neither should you. Why not try one out and see what you think?
Wearable technology clothing: Scottevest TEC Shirt – photo courtesy of Scottevest
TRAVEL RESOURCES
Airport Lounge Access
LoungeBuddy
If you want to get the best deals on airport lounge access in most major worldwide airport, LoungeBuddy is your best friend.
Read more about why you should use LoungeBuddy for VIP airport lounge access here
Flight Availability, Upgrades and Awards
Expert Flyer
A must for every potential travel hacker – or even leisure travellers looking to save money – Expert Flyer WILL save you money on flights. Either by finding you award flight or upgrade availability, or flight alerts to find you lower fare types, Expert Flyer really is worth it.
Holiday Letting
Airbnb
For those who prefer hotel apartments, homes, villas, or something a bit more like home, Airbnb should always be one of the first sites you check.
What's more, you can get a $15 discount on first booking with Airbnb by using this link
Booking.com
One of the true giants in hotel booking, Booking.com is always one of the first hotel booking sites you should try.
Booking.com is is one of the best sites for generally lowest prices around for hotels and hotel apartments.
Hotels.com
Another fantastic site for hotel booking, Hotels.com offers a terrific range of hotels at some of the lowest prices around.
As an additional bonus, many properties allow you to earn Welcome Rewards – so for every 10 paid nights, you get one free night in return.
Finally, Hotels.com often allow you benefit from the ‘best of both worlds' if you've Elite status in hotel loyalty programs. Although not guaranteed – ‘Your Miles May Vary‘ – I've found Hilton properties often will treat you as an Elite if you ask nicely at check-in.
HotelTonight
HotelTonight offer amazing value and deals for short-notice hotel booking. Read more about HotelTonight, and why you should use it, here.
As an added bonus, take £15 off every booking over £90 using the code “SCLARK143”
Pruvo
Pruvo is perhaps one of the most innovative and interesting hotel booking services on the market, as they guarantee you the cheapest hotel deal online (even after booking).
Read more about Pruvo – and please use our exclusive partner deal with them – here
Hotels
Whenever anyone new to Dubai asks for a recommendation for the best ‘Dubai hotel resort experience', it's tough to bear Atlantis The Palm
Read more about how to get the best Atlantis The Palm Special Offers here
Insurance
World Nomads
For many years, I always struggled with travel insurance – it was either too costly, not comprehensive enough or just ‘one size fits all'.
What I love about World Nomads is they're actually travellers offering insurance for travellers, so they know how bespoke a quote needs to be. No more paying too much for what you don't need, or taking a policy that doesn't cover you enough.
Packing
Packing Cases
Whilst everyone loves travelling, hardly anyone enjoys packing – but they will with Eagle Creek packing cases.
Easily making packing a breeze, by saving space and providing useful organisation, I'd put packing cases in the top 5 of ‘must know' travel hacks. What's more, Eagle Creek offer a wide range of different packing systems for different needs – e.g. shirts, small stuff, waterproof etc. – you'll learn to love packing. You'll actually find you can fit more in that case of yours too!
Shopping
Amazon
I've lost count how many times Amazon has saved the day for me, and they're always my number one stop whenever I need anything. What's more, whenever I've travelled – be it in Curacao, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia etc. – I've been able to get my hands on quality gear quickly – and at great prices through Amazon .
Sightseeing and Tours
Viator
If you ever feel like doing the tourist thing, such as sightseeing, and activity or a tour, don't look anywhere but Viator.
A Trip Advisor company, they've the widest range of bespoke tours, sightseeing, exclusive access events and much, much more – all with honest reviews and best price guarantees. If you're in a new country or city, the last thing you want to do is go on a rogue tour and get ripped off – so trust Viator and don't leave it to chance.
Travel Clothing
Ministry of Supply
One thing I hate about business travel is keeping clothes fresh, clean and wrinkle free – until I discovered Ministry of Supply.
Whether it's their super-comfortable (and odour free) socks, non-iron wrinkle-free shirts, undershirts that know when to keep you cool or warm, they really know how to do ‘radically engineered dress clothes'.
Whenever I was living and working out of my suitcase, knowing I could pull a shirt out and put it straight on, or my chinos wouldn't wrinkle like a botched Hollywood facelift, was worth the investment in Ministry of Supply clothes.
Wearable Technology – Travel Vests etc.
Anyone that knows me knows how I rave about my Scottevest – I even call it my ‘number one travel hack'. When I travel, I value convenience and practicality, and knowing I can save hassle at security – without needing to empty all my pockets – and keep everything at my fingertips makes my Scottevest irreplaceable.
However, it's not just about vests – their shirts, trousers, jackets and other cleverly-designed gear is great for travellers of both sexes.
BLOGGING RESOURCES
My ‘must-have' blogging tool – Calendar Social Media
CoSchedule
A sign of a great service is when you recommend them so highly it's like there's money in it for you to do so – even when there's not. CoSchedule is what I could call a ‘blogger's must-have tool' as it can do so much of the essential workflow of blogging, such as :-
- headline analysis
- editorial calendar
- awesome customer support and educational articles/webinars
- social media marketing
- analytics
- collaboration (e.g. guest posts)
Simply put, if there was one tool I'd advocate any serious blogger looking to level up their blogging, it would be CoSchedule/
Domains
Hover
Registering a domain can be a pain – and expensive – so I'm gutted I found Hover late in the game.
Far better searching and suggestion tools when looking for new domains, some of the lowest prices around, and hassle-free quick purchasing are just 3 great reason to try Hover for domain registration.
Email Marketing
Convertkit
Who doesn't think Mailchimp is awesome? Me – at least these days, since I found out about Convertkit that is.
Designed for bloggers, I wouldn't trust anyone else for Email Marketing, as their feature set and tools is far more powerful for marketers and bloggers alike. Mailchimp emails looks great, but your costs can soon mount up, especially if you've one user on more than one mailing list.
What is one of many stand-out features about Convertkit is that it powerfully segments and tags subscribers into as many lists as you may need, but only counts them once for billing. That is, you could have up to 1,000 subscribers on the entry plan but be emailing each one several times at no extra cost (unlike the other Email Marketing companies)
Hosting
Siteground
Web Hosting services are like nappies – you may think you've got a great one, until something goes wrong. One of my biggest evangelical moments in blogging is when I moved to Siteground, as I was totally unaware of how much poor service I was getting with my previous host.
I made the mistake of starting off with one of those cheap hosting services, and then found out things like :-
- how much downtime they had
- how insecure some of their connections were (Denial of Service attacks were commonplace)
- how terrible Customer Support can be when it's outsourced to (seemingly) some guy in his underpants watching Netflix
I made the move to Siteground on the basis of a massive customer service fail by my previous host, and I've honestly never looked back – nor had any customer service issues, no downtime, and the site is much, much faster and secure.
Photography
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud
SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES
Social Media Scheduling
Buffer
Buffer
Instagram Scheduling
Hopper
Hopper
Later
Later
Tailwind
Tailwind
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase via them, EDSD may earn a commission – although the cost to you WILL NOT increase.
Please be assured any affiliate partnerships are products I’m a existing customer of myself, and your support will help the site.
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