My Travels

How do i make hotel reservations online?

2008-03-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

There are two choices whenever one wants to go on holiday. They can either buy a package from a travel agent, which will include accommodation, food, transportation, tour packages at the destination and a whole lot of other things. Or they can do what i do, make the booking of the holiday itself an adventure.

Whenever i plan to go on holiday, the first thing i do is look for hotel rates at my travel destination. There are three sites that i normally visit. The firs is hotelscombined.com. Hotels combined.com is not a hotel reservation service. What it does is it compares the rates from over 30 hotel reservation services available on the net. It gives you a list of hotels with rooms available on the date you're travelling for you to compare. You can book the rooms through any of the hotel reservation sites it provides. This is their link if you want to check it out.

The next site i usually go through is Agoda.com. This is a hotel reservation service. This is their link:

Another site i visit is viewmalaysia.com. This is a Malaysian site and you have to pay to join. It is a hotel reservation service and although it is a local site, it can give you some decent rate worldwide.

Now the reason why i go through these three sites is because i like to get the best deals. The biggest factor affecting hotel rates is timing. The time you wish to travel will affect the rate for accommodation. Travelling during peak season could be very expensive. So in order to get the best deal, i check these three sites.

The reason why i like doing this is that sometimes, while doing your research for hotel reservations, you come a cross a tourist attraction which would be interesting, but lies off the beaten track. I've visited some very interesting locations, which were not on any tour package but are interesting none the less. Next time you want to book a vacation, consider doing this. It could make the holiday more interesting.

Bali - Simply Spectacular....

2008-03-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

Bali has always been a dream destination of mine. I've been wanting to go since i was 20. All the stories my friends told me about the beaches, the hotels, shopping and the culture had only made me want to go to Bali even more.

Finally, i decided that i had to go. I went to the MATTA fair to see what kind of offers i could find on Bali and i found a great one. I bought a package that would see me finally going to Bali in December 2007.

When December finally came around, I was so excited. When it came to departure date, my excitement was overwhelming. We arrived in Bali around lunch time and immediately checked into the hotel. The hotel was beautiful. It was only a three star hotel but the atmosphere was so ethnic. The rooms were comfortable and since the hotel was in Kuta town itself, finding a place to eat wouldn't be much of a problem. It was also within walking distance to Hard Rock Cafe and in front of the hotel was a shopping complex.

We spent the next two days shopping all around Kuta. I even had to buy an extra luggage bag just to carry all the goodies back. I managed to buy some paintings from one of the local painters.

We'd spend every evening at some of the local hang out areas and enjoyed mingling with the crowd. On the third night, we decided to visit the Kudeta Restaurant. It was by the seaside and arrived just before dusk. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sunset. We spent most of that night at the Kudeta Restaurant wining and dining. Anyone who's planning on going to Bali, I'd recommend spending at least one evening there.

It was only on the day before we were left that we finally decided to hit the beaches. At first we were frustrated as the beaches surrounding Kuta weren't as we expected. We were expecting white sandy beaches with crystal blue waters. It wasn't until a local brought us to Dreamland beach that we found what we were looking for. White sand and blue water. It was beautiful.

We spent 5 days in Bali and left with a lot of regrets. There's so much to see and enjoy in Bali and we missed most of it. We plan on going again and maybe this time we'll take the guided tour first. See what Bali has to offer first, the go exploring the beaches on our own.

Breathtaking Perhentian

2008-03-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

I went to Perhentian Island, Terengganu at the end of August 2007. I didn't really know what to expect. Everybody was saying that the place is a great place to relax and to enjoy the sun and sea. I hadn't been on holiday for a while so i was really hoping what everyone was telling was true.

We left Kuala Lumpur at 1 in the morning. We had to pick up a friend at KLIA before we left for terengganu. An hour into the journey and everyone was fast asleep except for the driver. I woke up at 6 and had no idea where we were. Pretty soon we were approaching the borders of Terengganu and 3 hours later, we arrived at the jetty in Kuala Besut.

We boarded a speed boat to get to Perhentian Island. For a moment there I was a bit worried that we might have to make the trip by one of the local fishing boats, but my mind was put at ease once we boarded. It was just an ordinary trip. Nothing spectacular about it. 30 minutes into the trip we could see the island on the horizon. As we got closer, the excitement started to build. When we got our first glimpse of the island we were ecstatic. It was beautiful. White sandy beaches, clear blue sky, and crystal clear waters. Everything my friends told me about the island before we left was true.

The trip to the hotel didn't take very long. For the price that we paid, we didn't really expect much from the hotel. It wasn't even really a hotel. Just some chalets by the beach. The rooms were comfortable. But then we didn't really plan on staying in the room much. We just dumped our bags and headed for the beach.

Part of the package that we bought included a half day trip to Rawa Island for some snorkeling. We left on the morning of the second day. When we hit the water at Rawa Island it was spectacular. The water was crystal clear and we could see the coral reefs and all the underwater species surrounding the reefs. It was unfortunate that we couldn't take any underwater photos. We were supposed to finish snorkeling at noon, but we decided to extend the snorkeling session. It was worth the extra RM 50 we had to pay to the operator.

On the second night we left for Perhentian Kecil Island. We had to take a taxi boat there and it cost RM 30 each one way. It was a scary experience. The taxi boat was only about 4 feet in width and we got sprayed with water all the time. The waves were a bit on the larger side so it was a harrowing experience. But it was all worth it. We spent most of our time at a beach bar on the island. The music was superb and we enjoyed the atmosphere at the bars. The cooling night air made this short trip to Perhentian Kecil worth every penny.

We were there for 3 days and was sad when it finally came to leave the island. I'd love to go back. It was a refreshing and liberating experience. We're planning another trip back to Perhentian soon.