One of the greatest things about our generation is that we love to travel and to explore the unknown. Visiting a new place has become more than booking plane tickets and hotels in touristy places like the Bahamas or Bali. Instead, today’s travelers prefer to go on longer expeditions to unchartered territory. We’ve replaced five-star hotels with homestays where we can interact with resident families, and fancy restaurants for local diners serving indigenous cuisine.
These fantastic journeys give us more than souvenirs and photographs – they change the way we view the world. They teach us things we would never learn at home and make us feel emotions that we won’t forget in our lifetime. They make us yearn to step back into the unknown, back in time, and to fully immerse ourselves in the rich culture and history that envelopes us.
It was one of these life-changing events that I wanted for myself. Honestly, when I decided to go to Sri Lanka, I didn’t know where to start. My mother was born there, so I had a little bit of history with the stunning island, but I was now 32 and had never set foot on its golden sands. Not knowing exactly what I was looking for, or even what I needed, I turned to the internet. Immediately, I had information thrown at me left and right. Some places quoted plane tickets for $800 while others quoted the same flight for $1,200. A few websites said I had to pay $30 for a visa, while others said that I would get a free visa approved when I landed. I quickly felt confused and overwhelmed by everything I read.
Thankfully, I came across www.travelsites.com. TravelSites is an online platform created by fellow traveler, David Jones. He’s been going to different corners of the world for years now. Sometimes, he backpacks through the wilderness with nothing but his laptop, and other times he sips drinks at the poolside of a boutique villa. Each time he spent days, weeks even, in preparation. He found online tools to help him create a budget, purchased tickets if necessary, found a mode of transportation, confirmed a place to stay, and identified all of the things he would want to see or do. With all his experience, David had collected plenty of resources to help him drastically cut down the time it took to plan his getaways. He then took all of this information he had and put it into an easy-to-use website for other travelers like me.
With TravelSites on my browser, I felt ready to start this journey again. The website is extremely easy to use, with everything you need laid out right there on the home page. David had created different categories of things a traveler might find useful when planning their trip and listed all of the relevant resources under that category in order of how popular it was with other travelers. Yet, all of the information on TravelSites is updated in real-time, ensuring that I didn’t get outdated prices or information that were no longer relevant. Some of them even have reviews so that I could get an idea of what to expect.
I started with the Cheap Flights Sites category for finding cheap flight tickets since one of my major costs would be my plane ticket. I needed to know how much of my budget I had to allocate there and confirm the dates I would be away. That category alone had over 33 resources listed and linked for me to just click and purchase my ticket. Since I knew that they were categorized in order of user popularity, I chose the first one – Skyscanner. Within minutes, I had my flight details confirmed and ready to go.
Since the ticket cost me around $1,000, which was a huge chunk of what I had to work with, I decided to split my time in Sri Lanka between hostels, some moderate accommodations, and a few nights at a luxurious hotel or two. Thankfully, TravelSites had resources for each of these. I was able to use the links under Hostel Bookings, Home Away, and the Hotel Booking categories to confirm where I would be throughout my stay.
I wanted to visit a few different places scattered throughout Sri Lanka and needed to find a way to get around while I was there. I was starting to feel a little worried about my budget, but as I looked through TravelSites, I realized that the website had categories for Car Rentals, Public Transportation, and Ride Sharing. It gave me the idea to use all three so that I could really stretch every penny I had left.
With flight, accommodation, and transportation out of the way, within hours, I was really starting to look forward to my trip again. My initial anxiety subsided, and I was so thankful for how helpful TravelSites turned out to be. As I continued to browse through the site, I realized there were so many other resources I hadn’t even thought about. David had included categories for Language Learning, Traveling with Pets, Travel Insurance, Photography, Travel Software, Travel Books & Guides, Food & Restaurants, Weather, Currency Converters, and even a list of links to online stores that sold popular travel accessories. There were so many more categories I didn’t even need but I am sure they might be helpful to other travelers around the world.
I spent a bit more time purchasing items I needed for my trip, like a universal adapter and a neck pillow from the list of links under Travel Accessories Stores. I checked out the links under Photography and downloaded a few cool apps on my phone so I can take amazing pictures of my trip. I then spent some time on the sites listed under Food & Restaurants so I could drool over all of the delicious things I would try while I was in Sri Lanka. I honestly hadn’t even realized that there were so many things I needed to think about in preparing for a vacation.
In the end, I had an amazing time and will always cherish all the people I met and the things I got to see and experience while I was in Sri Lanka. I honestly know that it would not have been as pleasant a memory if it hadn’t been for TravelSites and how useful it was in helping me plan my trip. It amazes me how convenient it was, and I didn’t even have to pay to use it.