Can the Internet Help us Find the Real Deal?

We're all searching for authenticity when we travel. We want to find the real deal, the non- touristy, authentic places where the locals go.

Then why do we use the internet?

I've been stung a few times in the last few months by relying so much on the Net. Especially outside of the US. In ROW and places where Net usage is much lower. Like the West country of the UK.

1. Last weekend I was in rural Somerset for a wedding, the couple had sent round a list of b&b's with phone numbers. That was a new thing for me- actually calling around and checking availability. After the 4th phone call saying they were full, I decided to go online and check. Very quickly I got a room on LateRooms for £80. I figured this wasn't bad and maybe I could share it with a friend, it was within walking distance of the party and all seemed good.
Until I got there and realised what a rip off it was for that price! It should have been about £20. Because I was on my own and it was a double room, I bargained with him and he lowered the price to £60, saying the needed to pay LateRooms 15%. If only I'd called him instead of booking it online I could have got it for half of that.

2. In Warsaw recently we were looking for a jazz club. We did ask at my hotel but they just looked online rather than 'asking a friend', which would've been much better. We ended up finding what was prominent on Google and it promised to be an incredible club with great bands and atmosphere..when we got there it turned out to be a student dive with an amateur band on and bad drinks, yes even bad vodka in Poland! Really not at all what i was expecting. I think to be fair, it's better during the week, but I really couldn't find anything online, disappointing....4Square might have been a better option.

The Net obviously favours those who are computer literate and speak in majority languages.
Net literacy outside of America is much less, take care! So those authentic granny-owned places are unlikely to be there, unless the grandchildren have designed a site for them and monitor it!

I plead guilty of relying on the Net as the source of all information- a collective consciousness which can tell me my future and whether my boyfriend loves me to the best spots to stay and what's on in a city I'm visiting. I'll try to change my ways. We need to take the info aware of all its biases and also talk to the people who know the place instead! Get tips the old fashioned way, this might be using social media to communicate with them or when actually sur place.

But uh oh a trip to Sri Lanka (where we are from) looms this Xmas, and we need to rent an apartment. My Dad is straight on Trip Advisor. I try and warn him against it.....but it's where the seductive properties are gleaming....