Travel Guides
I received an email today from Booking.com claiming that they are the world’s most popular hotel booking website! I have been reading their newsletters every week and this one triggered me to blog something here on my personal experience with them. Actually I can’t agree more on their claim. Booking.com is truly one of the best accommodation reservation websites that I have come across so far, with facts that there are more than 163,904 accommodations worldwide found in their website, over 10 Million guests reviews, up to 75% off on hotel rates, and no booking fees!
For accommodation planning and booking, I used mostly 3 booking websites. For hostel, Bed & Breakfast or campsites, Hostelworld gives me the best collections to choose from; For hotels or apartments with more privacy and better comfort, I would first look for deals in Hotelscombined; Once I got the idea of hotels price range for that particular period, for serious consideration, I will study the hotel features, reviews, facilities, terms and conditions of staying on Booking.com website. After comparing these 3 websites, I will only decide which accommodation to stay and which website to book from.
I booked most of my accommodations on Europe tour mkII using Booking.com. Why I used them more than any other booking websites? Here are few of my opinions on the advantages of this reservation website.:
- Booking.com is easy to browse. I can get options of hotels in any city or region easily and quickly. You can also choose the exact location of where you wish to stay in a city from its interactive map;
- Clear and detail descriptions on hotels facilities and room amenities. I can get trusted information on every aspect of the hotel which are always true in my past experience;
- No booking fees and free cancellation up to 48 hours from the check in date. You will not pay a single cent on booking fees, which makes your rooms cheaper. For many of the rooms, you can cancel your booking without charge for up to 2 days before check in;
- No upfront payment for the booking in most of the rooms. Of course, you can get cheaper deals in some of the rooms if you pay deposit or full payment upon booking. The choice is yours;
- Detail options on types of rooms, inclusion of breakfast, availability of wifi connections, which are true and accurate;
- Useful and trusted guest reviews which are true in my past experience. Generally, any hotels scored 7 and above are good to stay.
- I have never faced difficulties in checking in with Booking.com confirmation code. I got what I booked for.
Having said that, there are times when I start looking for other hotels reservation websites such as Hotelscombined instead, due to these reasons,
- The location of hotels shown in the map can be misleading sometimes, somewhere. You have to double check the hotel address from Google Map to confirm. They could be hundreds of meters away from where each shows;
- Be careful on tax and miscellaneous charges inclusion. Though it always states in the booking condition for each hotel on whether taxes are included upon booking, you might be surprised or upset if you overlooked during booking and when being asked to pay extra upon checking in. Make sure the price you book is either including or excluding taxes. This may lead you to a different, if not wrong, decision when picking hotels;
- Though there are more than 160 thousands of rooms to choose from Booking.com, there are times when the rooms are sold out for the date of your visit, but this could be only for Booking.com! Try searching for the same hotels in other booking websites to confirm on availability, if you are really keen on that particular hotel. A good website to do this is Hotelscombined, which search for deals from most popular booking websites such as Agata, Hotel.com, Otel.com and more.
Otherwise, Booking.com is a trusted hotel reservation website from my experience which booked many of my rooms on travel to Europe and Asia. It might not be your best option, but it surely is one of the most popular booking websites around. 
– Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Europe
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There are so many things that you could buy from Italy as souvenirs for your friends and family back in your home country. For me as a budget traveler, I only buy those small and light (of course cheap also) souvenirs which can be easily carried on board of my flight without incurring extra freight and protection charges. I still remembered those souvenirs that I bought in Bali broke in the course of my Airasia flight after checking in as hold baggage. Travel tips: Never check in fragile items during your flight. You can’t imagine how rough and careless the flight crews treat those hold baggage. They simply throw and stack your baggage without taking a single care of them, and no matter how many “Fragile” warning stickers you have put on!
By the way, these were what I bought on my travel to Italy, which are great for souvenirs for friends, office colleagues or family members.
1) Baratti & Milano chocolate is one of the oldest chocolate maker in Italy. Established in Torino, Italy since 1858, I would say it’s the best milk chocolate I had ever eaten so far. These chocolate is as good as, if not better than, those top favourite chocolate makers from Europe, such as Lindt from Switzerland, Thorntons from UK, or Neuhaus from Brussels. You must buy home some Baratti & Milano chocolates or at least try them while you are in Italy. I bought the souvenir pack with an assortment of varieties in Rome Ciampino Airport.
2) The miniature replica of Pisa Tower. There are in many different sizes and materials and of course prices. The best I found is this one that I bought in Pisa, from one of the stalls located beside the real Pisa Tower. Its made of some sort of composite material (I don’t know what is that, it feels like plastic but weigh like stone). It is about 12 inch tall and carved with sufficient details of the architecture of Pisa Tower. The whole piece is in milky white colour with brown highlights to details. It is best for souvenir to be put in your living room.
3) Need we say more? Fridge magnets are among the top tourists favourite souvenir items on travel. There is an abundance of choice for these fridge magnets found in every tourists spots in Italy, with different design and price. Generally, you can get 1 for 2 Euro or less. Of course, higher price is always justified by its quality, albeit you have to look for bargain for the same type of design from different places. I bought these magnets in Rome, my last stop in Europe, just before my flight.
Always plan what to buy when for souvenirs. The best is to buy it just before your flight home. However, you have to make sure the souvenirs that you want to buy is available at your last stop. For example, you need to buy Neuhaus Belgian chocolate in Brussel eventhough Brussels is not your last stop in Europe, just because you won’t be able to find one elsewhere. Otherwise, you can buy Guylian belgian chocolates instead which are widely available in European airports. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Europe
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