Now that you are done with Planning the trip, it is time to do some research and get some information on the country, places to see, things to do, and other little matters. 

While my friend continued to speak to the contact she had in SL, I did some research through friends and the good ol internet as well. I gathered itineraries from friends who had visited, from a travel company nearby and even checked out quite a few blogs. There were a few places that all of them recommended, and some were extra, which left me with a lot of thoughts. My friend and I went to and fro on Whatsapp talking about the list of places to see, where to stay and local transport, etc.. It was mind boggling, but amazes me now that we managed to pull off a trip entirely via Whatsapp.. 😀 

Some sites to refer for 

Hotel options:

http://www.agoda.com/en-in/country/sri-lanka.html

http://www.booking.com/country/lk.html

http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotels-g293961-Sri_Lanka-Hotels.html

B & B’s

http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotels-g293961-c2-Sri_Lanka-Hotels.html

http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/sri-lanka.html

http://www.bedandbreakfastworld.com/sri-lanka/asia

On our 1st night in Colombo, the one thing we both wanted was to stay at a place that had the Ocean view. And for this, we chose “Lafala Hotel and Service Apartment”. It was a brilliant place, the room was lovely, balcony doors opened to the view of the ocean. There was a large palatial bathroom, with a huge bathtub and a view of the ocean as well. The entire road Welawatte beach road was a pleasure to walk on. The ocean on one side, rambling trains nearby and buildings/hotels on the other side.  The one thing I noticed that most hotels here had was “free wi-fi” [It was such a blessing as I had work and friend was able to skype/whatsapp her family as well]

You can book a room here via Ctrip or Agoda. The room costed us $54 and they threw in Breakfast for one person complementary, the other we paid for. 

In other places we stayed sheerly based on inky pinky ponky, and ofcourse whatever looked impressive [good yet affordable]  :- ) But if you know exactly where you are headed, you can book ahead and save a few dollars here and there!! 

More to come in the next post..