Information Overload

I am suffering from information overload at the moment. One of the last few things my partner Aaron & I have left to organise for our trip is our hotels for our 2 stopovers, Dubai on the way and Singapore on the way back. Singapore was simple, Aaron has been there before, the hotel he stayed at was good, so that's where we will stay this time (bearing availability in mind of course). But Dubai on the other hand is a different story. Plus it is so different from anywhere I have ever been before. I usually prefer to get recommendations from friends and family but I haven't had much getting these, so as the good Librarian I am I turned to the Internet. Now I am so overwhelmed with information and reviews I am hoping the travel agent can assist before I go to crazy.

Apart from the hotel information overload, I also suffered from a bit of anxiety at the start of the trip planning by reading too many horror stories from the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forum. If hadn't already travelled overseas before without any hassles (all I lost was some deodorant, and that was in my hotel room) I could have been scared off travelling altogether.

Before I make everybody jealous with our itinerary (or bore people to death) I thought I would share a few of my favourites websites I have come across in my trip planning (and I say my planning and not ours, as I have done most of it. Aaron is in charge of the budget though).

Firstly for budget flight options I love Which Budget. Using this site I was able to find a cheap flight from Milan (well near Milan) to Belfast for under $100 Australian for the 2 of us. I have never heard of the airline (Jet 2) but we will deal with that later.

For accommodation I have be using Trip Advisor, Booking.com, Hostelling International, and HostelBookers.com. For our trip we will using a range of accommodation options, hotels, hostels (double rooms only - Aaron's stipulation) and the best (and cheapest option) friends and family. We are lucky that Aaron has family in Belfast and friends that have decided to live in all parts of the world including Dublin, Bologna and London.

Another accommodation website I have only just found but one which is looking very useful (and is aptly named) is EuroCheapo. The part I really like is the Expect to Spend section which give you an overview of hotel and restaurant prices as well as other handy tips.

I will finish this post now before everybody else suffers from information overload and anyway, The Bill is on soon (one of my TV weaknesses, I just love it).