Accommodation - Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Accommodation is very easy to do yourself online these days. A couple of months ago I booked all my accommodation for the Europe trip and my Travel agent was not able to match the prices or locations that I got. You do get better deals the more advance you can book.
Because I want to walk around the places I am staying to be able to photograph the non tourist scenes, locations of hotels are the most important aspect, then price, and since I don't plan on spending a lot of time in my hotel room I didn't need expensive 5 star hotels either.
I like the websites where you can choose a hotel by it's location on maps such was Booking.com Adoda, Expedia and even better if you can find a website that compares most of the accommodation sites such as Trivago.
So in Paris I wanted to be in the 1st district and managed to get a the Timhotel le Louvre and a reasonable price considering Paris is so expensive especially in July. But very close to the river I can walk the right and left bank of the Seine in the centre of the city.
Milan I booked the Windsor Hotel within walking distance to Duomo and the city centre 1.7km and a four star hotel that just happen to have a reduced rate at the time I booked. It is also close to the train station where I will be arriving from Paris.
I also booked an apartment for one night at Bellagio in the middle of my 5 night stay in Milan at a very reasonable rate with a balcony overlooking Lake Como, so can shoot some scenes from there-- Hotel Suisse.
In Venice I splurged a bit and went for something on the grand Canal with views close to St Marks.. A family run bed and breakfast called a Tribute to Music with a balcony overlooking the canal … I can set the camera up and shoot from the balcony especially the night scenes. According to the reviews the views are spectacular.
In Rome I managed to get a completely new refurbished room in a bed and breakfast 51 Nationale near the station and the Colossium good for walking location. A good idea is to check the reviews from patrons that have stayed when you are looking at hotels on line always a good guide.