If there are companies that have an affiliate program and they meet our criteria, we have signed up for their affiliate program. We are only choosing companies that we ourselves use regularly, or with whom we have had great experiences.
We look for sites and locations where we can get the best quality, the best prices, knowledgeable staff (who can answer the many questions we sometimes have), good return policies (essential when you’re shopping online), great product variety, and innovative products.
We’d love to have you use our affiliates. Every time you purchase something from one of our affiliates (be sure to click the link from our site), we get a small commission, which helps support our website (at no cost to you). Besides that, they are great companies or we wouldn’t have them as affiliates!
Be sure to check out our Other Resources and Links as well.
Clothing, Gear and Equipment
Cycling Specific
Food and Nutrition
Health, Fitness, Personal Hygiene
Finding Places to Stay
Women Specific
Virtual Office
Clothing, Gear & Equipment
REI – an outdoor gear and apparel store, offering just about everything you can imagine for the outdoors and outdoor sports. REI is a cooperative, which means you pay a fee for joining (currently $20 for a lifetime membership), and you then get a dividend at the beginning of the year (late February or early March), based on your purchases from the prior year. I have been a member ever since 1980 or so, and I find that the dividend amounts to an average of 8-10% each year. It’s really fun to get a check at the end of the year to use on more equipment (you can ask for the cash after July 1 each year, but before that it’s available to use on purchases).
REI carries all the major manufacturers, and has its own store brand as well. We have so much REI equipment that we are like a walking (or should I say cycling) ad for REI. We have their sleeping bags, tent, and thermal clothing, and we have bought virtually all of our camping equipment there. It’s my first stop when I need to buy anything, because of the prices, which are about the lowest you’ll find, and because of the rebate at the end of the year.
Their customer service is excellent as well – if I am uncertain about what to get, I will call and talk to someone and get all my questions answered before I buy. Their refund policy is also great – I have had to return things only very occasionally, and it’s always been a pleasant and easy experience.
REI has an online presence, and they have a number of stores around the US.
Magellan’s – Magellan’s Web Specials – “The World’s Most Trusted Source of Travel Supplies”, has an extensive website as well as a store located in Santa Barbara CA. They carry everything you can imagine for travel, from health remedies to wallets, luggage to travel clothing, adaptor plugs to packing aids, packs, purses and totes to shoes and rain gear, and eyewear aids to safety and security products.
Their selection is excellent, and their customer service is absolutely wonderful. We’ve been using them for many years now, perhaps from the late 1980s.
Magellan’s prices are very fair, the quality is very good, and they have things you won’t find elsewhere, or you’ll find it there first.
Magellan’s is one source I will always check when I’m looking for a solution to a specific travel problem, as they carry so many clever things. Several of their items have made it onto our very short packing list.
In addition to their products and great customer service, they have some excellent travel-related articles on their website. I frequently will copy and paste the articles to a word-processing document to keep the ideas in mind for planning the trips, or I will make notes and keep them with my luggage.
Amazon.com – www.amazon.com
eBay.com – www.ebay.com – an excellent source of some great buys, especially for last season’s colors or less popular sizes or styles; you do have to register; there are some tips and tricks to using it, but it’s well worth figuring it out. We’ve gotten some incredible deals on top quality items. Do your research about pricing before you sign up for an auction, though.
Patagonia – www.Patagonia.com (Use link for up to 30% Off!) – high-performance clothing, shoes, duffels and packs; excellent quality on the products; beautiful styling; very environmentally conscious and active in environmental programs; heavy use of “recycled threads” and organic cotton; prices reasonable to higher than average, but the very high quality makes them worth the expense (they last longer); worth getting hold of their catalogue just to see the photos and stories.
Their customer service is excellent, they ship quickly, and the whole experience is easy. We love the Patagonia products we have.
ExOfficio – www.ExOfficio.com – high quality, high-performance clothing that goes everywhere – outstanding travel and adventure clothing. They offer clothing that’s moisture wicking; equipped with security pockets; lightweight; sun protected; odor resistant; anti-microbial; eco-friendly; and easy to pack. Everything we’ve gotten has been quick dry as well.
Their customer service is great and they ship really quickly. We have been extremely pleased with all our interactions with them, and we love their clothing.
Massey’s Outfitters – MasseysOutfitters.com
– a great store we found in New Orleans, with an online presence. They carry an array of brands and gear for any adventure. Rosemary got her Chaco Z1 sandals there, and she is really happy with them.
Peter Glenn – PeterGlenn.com
– just recently found their online site – we have mostly used their physical locations; very fair prices; good quality products – the better brand names in the industry; good returns policy; knowledgeable, friendly and helpful staff; good variety in products; great selection of products for specific sports (skiing/snowboarding, water sports, inline skating, skateboards) and camping; we got our Keen water shoes here, along with a dozen or so other items that made it onto the very short packing list for our summer 2006 cross-country bike trek. They have gone very high-end on their online products, but the quality and uniqueness is definitely there.
Lands End – www.landsend.com – a clothing store that offers a nice selection of active wear for all seasons. We know they offer a nice silk shirt for colder weather, and they have beautiful swimwear. They’ve got a variety of locations around the US and you can always order online.
Cycling Specific
Amazon.com – www.amazon.com
eBay.com – www.ebay.com – an excellent source of some great buys, especially for last season’s colors or less popular sizes or styles; you do have to register; there are some tips and tricks to using it, but it’s well worth figuring it out. We’ve gotten some incredible deals on top quality items. Do your research about pricing before you sign up for an auction, though.
Food and Nutrition
iHerb – www.iherb.com – iHerb carries an excellent selection of natural health products at very good prices (very competitive on everything, and the lowest we’ve found on many things). They have no house brands, and carry most name brands.
They carry vitamins, herbs, essential oils, nutritional supplements, bath and beauty products, and much more. As a benefit to customers, they offer “the only free non-commercial encyclopedia of nutritional and herbal supplements online”.
Use code FEN369 for a first time discount when you shop on the iHerb website.
Health, Fitness, and Personal Hygiene
iHerb – www.iherb.com – iHerb carries an excellent selection of natural health products at very good prices (very competitive on everything, and the lowest we’ve found on many things). They have no house brands, and carry most name brands.
They carry vitamins, herbs, essential oils, nutritional supplements, bath and beauty products, and much more. As a benefit to customers, they offer “the only free non-commercial encyclopedia of nutritional and herbal supplements online”.
Use code FEN369 for a first time discount when you shop on the iHerb website.
Finding Places to Stay
House Carers – www.housecarers.com – This is a great site for matching up house sitters and homeowners.
Women Specific
Activa – www.activasports.com – Activa carries women’s specific active wear with good designs, good brands, and reasonable prices. They carry a lot of organic cotton clothes and a good selection of shoes in the most current active-wear brands.
Virtual Office
Hostgator – www.hostgator.com – is the hosting company we are using for our new blog websites. We can host as many different domains as we want, for the same price as we would have to pay for one. Their customer service has been very good so far as well.
VistaPrint – Click here for 250 free cards!. We have designed and bought three sets of Vista Print business cards over the years, including both the English and the Spanish versions of the cards that we hand out while on the road now. It’s easy to work your way through the website to design your own cards, the prices are great, there are lots of options, and the delivery is really fast. It’s a really wonderful feeling when you get the cards that express you exactly the way you want them to.
Amazon.com – www.amazon.com
eBay.com – www.ebay.com – an excellent source of some great buys, especially for last season’s colors or less popular sizes or styles; you do have to register; there are some tips and tricks to using it, but it’s well worth figuring it out. We’ve gotten some incredible deals on top quality items. Do your research about pricing before you sign up for an auction, though.
PC Connection – www.pcconnection.com – This site has a very large array of computers, laptops, accessories, etc.
MyFax.com – www.myfax.com – a wonderful service for the traveler; sign up for a monthly fee (ours is only $10 a month), get a phone number, and you’ll receive faxes online. You can choose to get your faxes by email or you can log on to the myfax.com site and get your faxes there. You can also send faxes through your account. It’s extremely efficient, and it’s a great way to keep track of all your received and sent faxes, too.
My 1 Voice – www.my1voice.com – it’s a phone service for travelers or small companies; for a monthly fee ($10-$50) based on phone numbers and minutes used, you’ll get services like caller ID and caller routing as well as support for multiple phone numbers, internet fax reception, call scheduling, and much more. We like the feature of being able to listen, view, manage, forward, and archive your voicemails, just like you would with your emails; and we like the voicemail to email service.
Office Depot – www.OfficeDepot.com – one of the tried and true locations for office supplies; we’ve used them for years for everything from labelers, ink cartridges, paper, and business card stock to pens, markers, name tags and copies. They have many locations, reasonable customer service, good prices, an excellent selection of products, and you can order online.
Barnes & Noble – www.barnesandnoble.com – we’ve been fans of Barnes and Noble for many years now, and when we needed some adventure travel books, maps of Mexico, and Lonely Planet guides, we went to Barnes and Noble. We’ve ordered DVDs from them, too. They offer great sales, they have a good return policy, and you can order online as well.
More affiliates will continue to be posted!