hey, no problemo
yes,i try to read up.
sometimes it's just looking at killinghope.com and seeing if the country has a chapter in there.
i usually try to check out the basic facts about the place at a bare minimum, like wikipedia shit
(wiki is pretty good for stuff like this imo, saves me trouble really.)
sometimes CIA world factbook can tell you other interesting stuff but i also look at what the state department is saying about places.
i never wanna be ignorant.
we also have a TON of travel books. mostly lonely planet but their quality is not as reliable as it once was.
those books almost always address some historical stuff to get the broad strokes.
to book,
i have tended to check kayak (and avoid weird 3rd party booking sites that they might have priced on there, like webjet. i've heard orbitz is dicey. expedia, travelocity and priceline are ok but i try to book directly with the airline)
i often come up with amazing deals.
these days i've learned that following theflightdeal on facebook can be good.
they tipped me off to a 1 day sale which got me $400 tix to korea.
stay flexible, and go where the sale takes you, is my advice to basically everyone. if you are close to or can easily reach multiple gateways, check them all.
for rooms, i look at booking.com for the deal and check the quality of the place on tripadvisor. TA has been where i've gone to book or find the (few) tours i've taken, and it's been fantastic so far
stay away from acapulco.