My Favourite Companies
On this page, you will find links to some of the companies that I have used and unashamedly promoted on Hit The Road Jack. At no additional cost to you, if you make a purchase via some of the links on this page, I may earn a pittance of commission; perhaps enough to buy half a tin of shop-brand beans. I am eternally grateful.
Visas are one of the biggest difficulties that all travellers face. They become a lot more than a difficulty when you’re stranded at a border with pistol-wielding guards scrutinising your passport, before refusing you entry for a reason you cannot fathom. Make sure you obtain the correct visas by using a company that makes the process far more straightforward. It is by no means the cheapest option, but having someone else translate the Arabic on an Iranian visa is pretty helpful…
The largest small-group tour company in the world and because they are the biggest, they offer a wider range of experiences than anyone else. The service you receive upon purchasing one of their tours is superb and it is very easy to work alongside them to customise and perfect the trip you want. Organising independent travel within your package is very straightforward, should you want to, or you can opt to stay within the group, which is a fantastic way to meet like-minded people.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last ten years you’ll already know about Skyscanner but for those who don’t, this company is far and away the best flight-comparison site around. I use the app/widget on my phone almost every day: just select the destination ‘Everywhere’ and the time-frame ‘Anytime’ and browse through the myriad of deals that look far too good to be true. £5 to Bremen? True. £83 to Dubai? True. £126 to New York? True. £245 to Mars? Not true, but give Elon Musk a few years…
Offering a more obscure range of tours than G Adventures, Intrepid is a good bet for some of those countries where having a guide is required as a condition of the visa (yes, I am talking about you Iran). The company recently acquired Gecko Adventures, which specialised in travel for under 30’s and was extremely popular within the backpacking community. One of the few tour groups that organise trips to Antarctica, if you have a spare kidney to sell for the ticket that is.