I spend a lot of time clicking a mouse (Ed: so that’s what we’re calling it these days). Just ask the guy who had to massage the gremlins out of my right arm. Here, three sites that made my job a little easier this week:

1) Airfare Watchdog – To know site owner George Hobica is to know a man obsessed with never paying retail for air. He’s been at this for years, the old-fashioned way – paying a small army of nerds to scout for the lowest fares they can find. I wanted a cheap fare to Chicago. I found it: $133 on Continental, round-trip. [Click!]

2) Trip Advisor – I’m going back to Miami to work on a November project for the paper. Wanted to stay in Bal Harbour, ask not why. Figured, why not the Beach House. Used to be cool, right? But I’d heard bad things of late. Those things were true: two minutes of reading the horror stories from previous guests had me running far, and fast. I also learned that the hotel may soon close. Finally, and best of all, I learned that the hotel’s General Manager cannot spell, and is a bit of a twit. In TA we trust. [Click!]

3) Turkey Travel Planner – Istanbul is on the docket for early November. I haven’t been able to find a lot of user-friendly information on the web, but veteran guidebook writer Tom Brosnahan’s site really is, as he says, designed for the user, not the advertiser. Definitely a site to know if you’re headed that way [Click!]