I have come across the website quite a few times when searching for hotels. I’ve just booked my 4th holiday of the year (okay, it may sound like I’m boasting but I haven’t had a day off since August and my latest trip is during the Christmas break anyway) and its the second time this year I’ve used Booking.com. The website comes up all the time, if you search from hotels in the UK, in America, around Europe, it always appears in the search engines such as Google. Many of the voucher codes websites offer deals on using the website or booking through them so keep an eye out for the best offers.

Currently the website has over 73,000 hotels worldwide and is about as competitive on price as you’ll find. If you know of any other sites that are equally good please add a comment and let me know.

In Hong Kong I stayed in a hotel for 7 nights on Hong Kong Island. It was worth starting the trip with a bit of luxury as I knew there would be far worse places to follow.

I then moved on to Australia, where me and my mate spend 2 months in Sydney in an apartment with 2 girls we knew from the UK. The place was complete with swimming pool, sauna, gym and roof terrace. We then bought a car and drove 26km around the country staying in hostels in the cities and campsites win the desert.

We then did the hostel thing in New Zealand when a couple we were travelling with decided they wanted a bit of privacy and got a camper van and drove round both islands.

In Singapore, and Malaysia it was hostels all the way, and then to Thailand where we ended the trip in a beach hut on Ko Pha Ngan. Although we were pretty skint by this point even the cold water showers didn’t dampen the spirit. It’s well worth going backpacking – even on a shoe string budget.