If you are a traveler then you know that there is always one common denominator throughout all your travels. Planning. It is the single most important way to discover what kind of traveler you are. Some people, including myself, like the thrill of freedom and wild romanticism that comes from traveling without a pre-determined destination in mind. Others, like my partner, get a thrill in finding the perfect places to spend our time most happily. Both ways work beautifully together and have resulted in some unforgettable voyages for us. We always try to combine a little of both our travel philosophies to the planning of our journeys.

In China, we’ve had plenty of occasion to travel, and we have some tried and true links that can help you book your accomodations and cheap airline tickets without hassle. Plus, you can do it with as many nomadic wanderings or good old-fashioned tried and true favorites as your heart desires.

China Trip Advisor is an all-purpose site that allows visitors to book hotels, hostels, tours, flights, cruises and trains. I especially like their Recent Posts Forum, which allows travelers to post questions and answers about travel in China. We booked our e-tickets to Guangzhou with C Trip while we were at the Canaan International Hotel/Hostel in downtown Xi’an and were thoroughly impressed with their speedy delivery of tickets right to our hotel room later that evening.

We’ve been lucky enough to travel cheaply and in style throughout the past four years. With China in mind, I’ve stayed at super posh hotels like The Grand Hyatt in Beijing and The Shangri-La, which are the ultimate travel luxury when you feel you need to elevate yourself from the real world for a little while. In particular, I liked spending time in the lobby of the The Shangri-La in Changchun. It has always been the ultimate place for relaxation and was especially nice to visit when I wanted a taste of home during the holiday season.

www.sinohotels.com has been more than helpful on several occasions when we wanted weekend getaways to Beijing. We like to use Sinohotels because they usually filled our requests for accommodations in the hutongs in Beijing with quite a bit of flair. I could always count on getting a cheap, clean, decent room that was always centrally located amongst the night markets and street vendors of Beijing and within walking distance of Tiananmen, The Forbidden City, and Wang Fu Jing.

We really enjoyed using the services of eLong Travel while traveling through China. It’s a great discount website that hosts a variety of hotels situated throughout China. We found some pretty cool little hotels in Changchun, Beijing, Xian, Shenzhen and Guangzhou with eLong and have been so impressed with their services that we have passed their information on while we’ve been on the road.

E-long has recently added to their website, and it’s even easier now to find nice and inexpensive accommodations conveniently located in the areas you want to visit. We were centrally located each time and always had a wide variety of shopping arcades, clubs, bars, restaurants and galleries to choose from. Travelers can also book internationally with eLong.

For terrific tours of the Great Wall of China, you’ll want to check in with the experts at Great Wall Tours.

Traveling in China will definitely have its ups and downs, whether you want to plan every last detail in the comfort of your own home or whether you want to plan on the road. These websites will get you where you need to go with minimal cost and friendly service guaranteed!