Travel resources
discounts and more!
We do a TON of research as we travel. There are days where everything clicks in to place, and there are days where we have 58 open tabs, ChatGPT is a mess and nothing is decided. So, we want to share some of the tools and products that we’ve come to rely on during this journey. This list highlights everything we use to keep our family moving. From finances to travel, tour-booking to mail-forwarding, these are the things we recommend to friends and people we’ve met along they way.
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Genki
The best International health insurance for Travelers & digital nomads
International insurance is something you absolutely need to consider before you hop on the next flight. In fact, there are some countries that require you to hold a policy if you are visiting on any sort of visa. There are two kinds of insurance though: international travel insurance and international health insurance. Genki (currently) only offers health insurance, and a monthly plan ensures health coverage for our entire family anywhere we go.
Keep in mind that health insurance is NOT trip or travel insurance. If your flight is cancelled or severely delayed, your health insurance plan will not offer reimbursement. These travel insurance plans are sometimes bundled together, but are usually separate policies, so be sure to check what the policy includes before you hit that purchase button.
We chose Genki for their coverage, their pricing, and – since we’re traveling to multiple locations – their flexibility. We can go to any country they offer coverage for and not have to worry about checking in-network or out of network like in the US. One thing to keep in mind, if you are traveling internationally and plan on returning to the US even temporarily, this health insurance policy will NOT cover any medical expenses while there. The US healthcare system is terribly expensive and while you can sometimes add on the US as a covered destination, it’s expensive.
Traveling Mailbox
The best virtual mailbox for extended travel
While traveling through HomeExchanges over the summer, we realized that the USPS mail hold service only works up to 30 days. Since we were in Spain for more than two months, we needed somewhere to send our mail that could offer scanning, forwarding and check deposits while we’re away. Traveling Mailbox has been the perfect solution for this, and their pricing is reasonable too.
As for the setup, he had to update our mailing address wherever we could (banks, accounts, etc.) so all future mail goes to this new “virtual” address. We also set up a change of address through the USPS which covers all first-class mail for up to six months. After signing up for a Traveling Mailbox account, we went through a quick verification process to confirm our identities and a week or two later we received our first mail item. Once set up I set up a quick test where I mailed myself a note to the new, virtual address and then mailed a similar note to my old home address. Both letters arrived in our Traveling Mailbox and were scanned in seamlessly.
Wise.com
The best international digital bank account
Navigating international currencies and exchange rates is a tricky challenge many travelers don’t think about until it’s too late. Wise is one of the few financial companies that seems to understand this. While in Guatemala (a very cash-based country), I lost my ATM card and had to block it. Since we weren’t near a mailbox (and forwarding from our virtual mailbox to where we were staying was nearly impossible), I needed a solution that was flexible and allowed me to withdraw cash anywhere. Once I signed up for a Wise account I was able to quickly add my card to Apple Wallet and withdraw cash at any ATM that supported touchless cards.
One of the best things about Wise though? Super reasonable exchange rates. While in Spain, we withdrew cash using our bank ATM cards and the rates were crazy high. The ATM wanted a fee and the bank wanted to mark up the rate by a lot. Wise offers mid-market exchange rates which saves you a ton in the conversion process. It also has reasonable fees which you’ll pay when transferring money. There are a ton of other features too which we haven’t used yet like a high APY on any account balance and foreign currency accounts you can load with local funds.
Capital One Savor Card
The best credit card for travel with no foreign transaction fees
Foreign exchange fees stink. When we were in Portugal, we didn’t think much about it until we saw our activity for the month… yikes! The Capital One Savor card allows you to make international purchases in local currency with ZERO foreign exchange fees. This means you are saving on every purchase because there’s not a “tax” of 3-7% applied to each one.
We also like the Savor card because it gives us 3% back on restaurants and 1% on everything else. There’s also no annual fee!
Get your guide
The best Guides & tours for international travel
It used to be hard to find tours, but GetYourGuide has featured tours in every location we’ve been to so far. They make it super easy to search, filter and find tours that match your interests and budget, and their reviews give you a clear picture of the experience. The link above is a direct link to the Orange Farm Tour we did just South of Valencia, Spain.
Viator
The best Guides and Tours for North American travel
https://www.viator.com/tours/Puerto-Vallarta/Chocolate-tour/d630-125743P1
Similar to GetYourGuide, but focused mostly on North American locations. Viator is owned by TripAdvisor and offers a large variety of tours and private, guided experiences. The link above is a direct link to the amazing cacao tour we did while visiting Bucerias, Mexico.
Wanderlog
The best way to organize, budget and plan your travel
We tried Tripit for a while but wanted something more modern and expressive. Wanderlog lets you easily add trip info (flights, hotels, car rentals, ferries, etc.) and track as much details as you’d like. Their mobile app is super easy to use and there’s now an AI assisted guide that is truly helpful when exploring what to do in a location. There’s also some great options for sharing your travels as well – see our Waiheke Island, New Zealand destination guide for an example of the maps you can create on Wanderlog.
HomeExchange.com
The best way to save thousands on lodging while traveling
We’ve already shared a little about how we use HomeExchange.com to save thousands on lodging, but if you use the link above to open an account you can start out with 250 guest points to kick-start your travels!
Kindred
The best way to find personal, curated lodging options around the world
Kindred is similar to HomeExchange but offers a slightly different pricing model, a different set of homes, and a totally different experience for booking that involves an advisor. We used kindred to find a place in London and had a great experience searching for homes using Kindred.
Booking.com
The best way to find hotels, flights and car rentals
I’m sure you already know about booking.com (“booking dot yeah”). We use it to find flights, hotels and car rentals and compare prices on a number of different places at once. We’ve had some trepidation about certain direct bookings (boutique hotels with limited digital systems) and went to booking.com instead because they had policies that protected us as customers. When researching hotels in particular, booking.com is a large percentage of the tabs we have open and quickly helps us narrow down our options.
Skyscanner
The best way to find cheap flights
Skyscanner is a great way to find cheap flights but they have a secret weapon: fuzzy date search. With SkyScanner, you can select a month (or multiple months) and see prices for each day. This makes it super easy to find flights that are cost-effective when you aren’t limited by specific travel days. If your plans are fuzzy, their search is perfect for you (and can save you a lot of money).
Tripadvisor
The best way to see reviews and more for any location
TripAdvisor is the largest database of place information and their rich community offers a wealth of insights that you can’t get anywhere else. We use TripAdvisor to learn what people say about destinations, and understand what the top must-do activities and must-see attractions are.
Expedia.com
One of our favorite ways to book flights and compare prices
Similar to booking.com, Expedia is an another aggregator of flights, cars, and hotels that is consistently one of our top tools for research.
YNAB
The best way to budget and plan your finances
We’re budget nerds here at MundoSchool and YNAB has been our financial ledger for over 10 years. It’s how we track income and spending, and it’s how we plan for expenses that are coming up. You can arrange your budget into high-level spending buckets or you can get really granular and have categories for everything. If you connect your bank account, transaction data flows in automatically so you never lose track of expenses. Tack credit cards, plan for the future and see your net worth (if you track other accounts) in one easy to use dashboard. YNAB also has a mobile app which makes mobile budgeting a breeze.
TMobile
The best cell phone carrier with unlimited international data
T-Mobile has been our rock solid cellular provider while we travel internationally. Most countries are supported by default and they offer unlimited data (at slower speeds) and free text messaging. As soon as you land in a new country you’ll get a friendly text from T-Mobile that reminds you what your plan includes in your new location.
Keep in mind that “normal calls” (cell to cell not using data or WiFi) is not free. These calls are $0.20 per minute which is pretty typical, but as long as you’re connected to WiFi you can make data only calls using WhatsApp or similar tools.
Surfshark
The best VPN for International travel
While traveling internationally, you’ll quickly learn that many US-based websites and apps don’t play well with your location. A VPN lets you avoid those issues by routing traffic through there servers which are based in the US. We researched a few VPN providers, but Surfshark was the easiest to set up, had reasonable pricing and the option to add on a “dedicated IP” for a little extra peace of mind. They have 4,500 servers in 100+ locations, so for example, if you’re in Japan and want to connect through Australia, you can!
HolaFly
The best way to get high-speed cellular data internationally
While T-Mobile handles our base level of cell service, we sometimes need a little more speed and local connectivity. That’s where Holafly shines. They provide an easy way to add a second data line to your device through the installation of an eSIM. There’s no physical card to plug in and their app makes it a really simple process. Just purchase a plan, set the number of days, and go! While some other providers make you choose a data limit (some number of GB per day), Holafly gives you unlimited data. It’s been invaluable during moments where the internet is down – we just connect to our hotspot and have full connectivity.
Dreamhost
The best WordPress-friendly web host and domain registrar
Dreamhost has been the best low-cost web host for nearly twenty years, and in that time they’ve improved all aspects of their offerings. Along with shared hosting and domain registrations, they now offer dedicated servers, WordPress-specific hosting, one-click WordPress installs, managed hosting, VPS, and AI site building tools. They do it all, but their website is really easy to use and their service is best-in-class. The only issues I’ve had were my own, but their support team was super generous with their time and steered me to a solution quickly.