Peter Griffin: Internet travel works a treat, until nature strikes

I'd never been to the Caribbean so I was full of excitement as I sat in the Flight Centre shop waiting for the travel agent to book me a trip to the Bahamas.

Above her head was a sign saying she had sold $1 million of travel. Surely she'd be able to fix me up with a cheap flight to a famous tourist spot like the Bahamas, some suitable accommodation and connecting flights to Orlando, Florida.

But as she tapped away on her computer with a slightly perplexed expression, my confidence in her began to drain away.

She came up with three hotels, all costing around $300 a night - that's US. I stifled a laugh and asked if she had anything "mid-range". She looked doubtfully at her screen, then told me to leave my details and she'd call with some more options. I had a feeling she'd never call and she never did.

Travel agents are like doctors. Unless you know one personally or have been going to the same one for years, your chances of getting good results walking in off the street are 50-50.

But does booking your holiday yourself via the internet give you any better odds? Two years ago I would have doubted it. But the travel industry has since become sophisticated when it comes to e-commerce and online marketing.

For those who are comfortable making credit card payments online and willing to do a bit of research, it can be a rewarding option.

After coming away from Flight Centre disappointed, I took a punt on the internet and decided to book my entire trip online.

I started with a return flight from Wellington to Auckland, which was where I needed to go to catch a connecting flight to Los Angeles.

Qantas and Air New Zealand have quick, user-friendly websites and both have done a good job when it comes to e-commerce. You can track your frequent flyer account and pay using a credit card and both email you an itinerary and e-ticket once you've paid. Check-in requires nothing more than photo ID for domestic flights.

The purpose of my trip was to attend an IBM conference in Florida, so Big Blue took care of my return flight to Los Angeles. For an Orlando-Nassau return flight, I turned to relative newcomer, Zuji.co.nz. I've used the site for international flights before and found it efficient because it compares prices on a good number of airlines.

I decided to go with Bahamasair, paid the $360 online with my credit card, and had an itinerary and receipt arrive immediately by email. Zuji charges a $9 booking fee but the tickets were couriered out to me in two days with a printed itinerary.

Next was accommodation. I used TripAdviser.com, a website that has user reviews of a staggering number of hotels worldwide.

The site discouraged me from staying at one of the plush resorts, with most reviews complaining that they didn't live up to expectations. They were either too expensive, impersonal or damn tacky.

The Orange Beach Inn, meanwhile, had garnered some good reviews so I checked the hotel's website. After firing off an email, the owner, Judy, got back to me with an offer for a studio apartment at US$95 ($153) a night with a 10 per cent discount. She was also planning a trip to New Zealand and wanted to pick my brain. I booked in for four nights.

So what is there to see and do in the Bahamas?

Lonelyplanet.com gives a good overview of what's available in the Caribbean but not too much - the company still wants to sell its weighty books. But it's a good starting point.

Bahamas.com was more forthcoming on the island group's many attractions. I was able to find all the old pirate forts around Nassau through the site and was steered to www.pirates-of-nassau.com, the website of the impressive piracy museum.

Once I arrived, I found the pictures of Orange Hill Beach Inn matched those on the website - no touch-ups or deceptive angles to make the place look bigger or the water bluer.

The reviews stacked up. Judy knew exactly who I was when I checked in and within minutes had a welcoming beer open for me.

The Bahamas is an expensive place to holiday but, thanks to the web, I knew that and was prepared. I may not have saved much money booking online but I arranged everything from the comfort of my home and learned a lot about my holiday destination.

Now for the bad part. As I write, my flight out of the Bahamas has been delayed by two hours thanks to tropical storm Alberto, which is threatening to turn into the first hurricane of the season.

I may not make it out of the Bahamas tonight, which shows that despite all your research, your course is still being steered by the most unpredictable of planners - Mother Nature.