Skip to main content

Best Travel Apps/Sites I've Used + Referral Codes

Codes and rewards are accurate as of October 2024

Wealthsimple (for Canadians)

The Wealthsimple Cash card is a debit Mastercard with no monthly fees, and most importantly no foreign transaction fees + 1% cashback, making it a really good option for spending money while abroad. The average credit card foreign transaction fee varies around 2%, which can add up to a lot of money over time. 

I've used the Wealthsimple card to buy things in many places in the UK + Europe and it seems to have very wide acceptance. Their platform is also great (commission free, fractional shares, etc.) for investing in stocks, so even if you're not planning on traveling, it might be worth looking into.

If you use my referral code to open an account and fund at least $1, you will get $25 for free.

Use my code: V66QRQ 🎁 T&Cs apply. https://www.wealthsimple.com/invite

Wizz Air is a very cheap airline in the UK and Europe. By joining the Wizz Air Discount Club (Standard), you get a €10.00 discount on flight fares from €19.99 for yourself and one companion. It costs €39.99 / year to join (so you make the money back immediately on one round trip if you go with a companion), I highly recommend it!

Flying to another country for the price of a meal!

Beware: the reason these flights are so cheap is that you are only allowed one carry-on bag of certain dimensions for free, so this is great for short trips.

Unfortunately, there is no referral or discount code for the Wizz discount club.
The Wise card is similar to the Wealthsimple Cash card with good exchange rates and low fees, however it's a bit harder to load money onto it (good to have both though). Where Wise really shines is that you can use it to make international money transfers with good rates.

Wise can help you save $100s compared to Canadian banks/Paypal for International Money Transfers

I paid my accommodation fees with a Wise international money transfer which saved me a significant amount of money in exchange fees.

If you use a referral code for Wise, your first $800 CAD transferred will be fee-free. I don't have a referral code for it, but you can easily find one online by searching "Wise referral codes".
This app is a true hidden gem - not only is it great for reading restaurant reviews and making reservations in the UK and Europe, but you can get up to 50% off food at certain restaurants by making a reservation during certain time ranges (which are pretty long and normal). I've done this several times and it has always worked so far!

Veal steak for €12.50 + Truffle risotto for €8.25 from La Burlingue in Paris thanks to The Fork :)

In addition, if you use my promo code when making your first reservation, you get €20 worth of points afterwards to use at some restaurants: 84C3D557.
Saily is a very easy service to buy and load a data-only eSIM for almost any country. I got a 30-day Saily eSIM before I landed in the UK and activated it when I landed so that I didn't have to stress out about getting a SIM card at the airport to have data reception.

The prices are also quite reasonable, for example $12.99 for 30 days 5GB in the UK, $11.99 for the same in France, etc.

If you use my referral code, you will get $3 off your first eSIM: ANAIHE7186.

Too Good To Go

This app is also available in Canada, but seems to be more widely used in Europe. It allows you to get unsold surplus food from stores/restaurants for around 1/3 of the original price. The catch is that they are surprise bags, so usually you don't know what you're going to get apart from a broad category like baked goods, cold food, etc.

Food from a $8.39 surprise bag in Calgary

It can be hit or miss but they're usually so cheap that even one or two good food items is worth the price of the bag. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any referral program, but I highly recommend trying it out :)

Let me know...

Hope this post has been helpful, and if you have any of your own recommendations I would love to see them in the comments below. It's not easy to find or keep track of useful tools among all the... less useful ones!

Until next time,

Ana
Labels:


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 31, 2024 at 1:44 PM

    Great post!
    - I like Wealthsimple a lot. They still have some problems but the fractional shares and no fees are great as you start and continue to build wealth.
    - I also agree Wise might the best for sending/receiving money abroad. You can use this referral link to get that free transfer: https://wise.com/invite/dic/catalinc19
    - "The Fork" is great; I wish it was available in Canada! Miam Miam as you say!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnaNovember 17, 2024 at 2:45 AM

      Thanks for sharing your code! Yess really hope one day it makes it to Canada :D

      Delete

Post a Comment



Popular posts from this blog

IKEA Yearly Midsummer Buffet 2024 Review

Every year around June, IKEA hosts a Midsummer Buffet full of fish, meatballs, salad, and more. You have to be an IKEA Family member (which is free) and buy a $25 ticket in person on a previous day. I attended the Calgary buffet, and here is my full review!
3 comments
Read more

UCalgary Tech Recruiting w/ BobaTalks’ Jeff Nguyen

While this isn’t quite a tech blog, this post should have some important insights for any UCalgary students interested in a tech career. After seeing that  Jeff Nguyen , a recruiter in the student space, founder of BobaTalks (which provides free mentorship for students), and prolific "LinkedInfluencer" (the good kind) was going to have a booth at  CalgaryHacks 2025 , I knew I had to reach out. As someone deeply involved in both student mentorship and tech recruiting, he seemed like the perfect person to chat with about student recruiting, starting with how UCalgary students can stand out in the job market.  Q: UCalgary has good computer science courses and fantastic clubs. Even so, many students here find it tough to break into big or even mid-sized tech companies because there's not a lot of direct access to recruiters. What's your take on the best way for students in a market like ours to get noticed? Jeff : I believe that computer science is one of those fields wh...
5 comments
Read more

My Study Abroad "Girl Math(s)"

For the unitiated, "Girl Math" is when you justify spending money as saving money by jumping through a few mental hoops - such as by spending an extra $15 on Amazon to get free shipping. So as a lighthearted and slightly helpful financial overview of my exchange experience from UCalgary to Oxford Brookes University, here are some Girl Math examples I thought about during my study abroad experience. If you exchange to a university with tuition more expensive than your home university, you're getting a great deal Living in student accommodation is $30/night versus a minimum $100/night hotel, and you get a free transit pass, so it's a super discounted vacation! Visiting a free museum in the UK is worth $30 equivalent in Canada. So visit many! Every $400 trip to another country basically saves $1000+ in flights that you'd have to pay to take that trip from Canada If you get a study abroad scholarship, that's free money that you wouldn't get otherwise  Eating l...
5 comments
Read more