The Internet is wonderful - and awful. There's an awful lot of crap out there, so I think it's worth saving others a bit of time if I can. The sites and services I recommend are by no means the only good ones, but were of significant use to me and I would (at the moment !) recommend them to you.

I will fill in as I remember things and find the time between beers on the Coral Coast in Fiji...Oooh sorry, drifted off then. And no, I'm not on commission from any of them... But probably should be !

UPDATED *** www.hoteltravel.com

I've changed my opinion on this one. DO NOT BOOK ANYTHING via this website. We are still in dispute with them over a payment where they took from my VISA more than they should have when we cancelled a hotel stay. And we have also had uncertainties when we've arrived at places booked by them. On one occasion, we thought we had booked an extra bed, but when we arrived, the receptionist said there was no way an extra bed could fit into the room, and she was right, it was tiny. So Hotel Travel had not done their homework at all.

By all means use the site for info as it is very good, but don't give them your business.

www.holidaycity.com

My personal favourite. Less info here, but very simple and easy to use and, crucially I found, you can send a "pre-booking enquiry" for each hotel you like the look of and they will get back to you in 24hrs with a quote and answers to your questions. This site does mostly Asia, but also Oz, NZ and a bit in Europe too. Strongly recommended.

www.gator.com

With the number of times I've been asked to fill in my details on websites in the last few months, I'd have arthritis if it wasn't for Gator. You download software, configure it with your details and then everytime a form pops up for you to fill in, you click once or twice on Gator and it fills all your details in for you. Only drawback is that it sometimes throws an advert at you - just close it and carry on. Worth having.

www.china-travelguide.com

This is the site we found for our guide in Beijing. It wasn't quite as cheap as we'd been told it might be, so there might be bargains to be had if you dig further. But we weren't ripped off and it was worth it for knowing we were being shown around by a local. Particularly nice was being greeted at the airport and taken to our hotel. About $125 a day for a guide and driver in an airconditioned van. Dear for China, but not for tourists.

Most shopping for outdoor clothing was done by trawling round every outdoor shop we could find. No single outlet seems to have everything (something I'm working on!) but you have to be patient and keep your eyes peeled - and plan in advance.

Lea was looking for approach shoes for a couple of months and had found none she liked. Then one day while I was having a wee in Grasmere (in a public toilet, not the lake), she spotted the perfect items in a tiny shop and snapped them up.

I guess half our stuff was bought like this and half was bought mail order. Sometimes you know what you want and you've just got to look for the best price and order it. One problem with that though is delivery charges. Sounds obvious, but something which is cheaper on the Internet can actually end up dearer once you've had it delivered. Try to buy several things at once if you can to spread that cost.