Like everyone else, I also planned the trip through the internet. It's a much easier and flexible way to go. I've found the following websites very helpful in booking hotel and flights:

www.booking.com
www.tripadvisor.com
www.lonelyplanet.com
www.travel.yahoo.com

I used booking.com for all the hotel and flight bookings and it was great, and all the sites give reviews about the hotels so u'll get a feel of where ur going. As for the sites to visit I used travel.yahoo, it gave me really good places to see.