How we estimate prices

Editorial research, multiple sources

For each of our 10 launch destinations × 3 travel styles, we hand-curate baseline prices for hotels, daily food, local transport, signature activities, and round-trip flights. Each value is cross-referenced from at least two of the following:

• Lonely Planet city guides — long-form editorial with budget breakdowns
• Official tourism boards (visitnorway.com, spain.info, vietnam.travel, egypt.travel, and equivalents)
• Partner public listings: Booking.com, Hostelworld, Skyscanner, GetYourGuide
• Recent traveler reports from r/travel and destination-specific forums (sanity check on outliers)

Every value is reviewed monthly. The "as-of" date is shown alongside each source citation on the dashboard.

Seasonal multipliers

For destinations where peak-season pricing meaningfully changes the trip cost — Tromsø in aurora season (winter), Madrid in EU summer, Buenos Aires in southern summer — we apply documented multipliers on hotels and flights only. The dates you pick determine which season applies; the math is transparent in the row breakdown.

Visa data is different — government-sourced

Visa rules are not editorial. Every visa row cites the destination country's official authority — NADRA for Pakistan, UDI for Norway, Egyptian e-Visa for Egypt, the Schengen Border Code for EU travel — with a one-click "Verify with X" link straight to the source. We don't opine on visa rules; we point you at the people who own them.

What this isn't

These are not real-time quotes. The actual price you pay when you click "Book" through to a partner depends on dates, availability, and partner pricing on the day. Our estimates should be within ~15–20% of typical real prices for the corresponding dates and travel style.

When live affiliate APIs come online (Skyscanner via Travelpayouts, Booking.com, GetYourGuide), the relevant rows will swap to live data automatically — cited as such, not as editorial. That's the path forward.

The buffer

Every plan shows a buffer (10–15% of subtotal, depending on travel style). It's explicit, not hidden — disclosed to cover normal variance in food, transit, and unknowns. You can toggle it off in the dashboard if you want the raw subtotal.