The problem here is that you've not specified the options in enough detail, for instance you appear to prefer going to Ecaudor with preparation time to going without preparation time, but you haven't stated this anywhere. You haven't given the slightest hint whether you prefer Iceland with preparation time to Ecuador without. VNM is not magic, if you put garbage in you get garbage out.
So to really describe the problem we need six options:
A1 - trip to Ecuador, no advance preparation A2 - trip to Ecuador, advance preparation B1 - laptop B2 - laptop, but you waste time and money preparing for a non-existant trip. C1 - trip to Iceland, no advance preparation C2 - trip to Iceland, advance preparation
Presumably you have preferences A2 > A1, B1 > B2, C2 > C1. You have also stated A > B > C, but its not clear how to interpret this, A2 > B1 > C2 seems the most charitable. You seem to also think C2 > B2, but you haven't said so so maybe I'm wrong.
You have four possible choices, D1 = (A1 or B1), D2 = (A2 or B2), E1 = (A1 or C1) and E2 = (A2 or C2)
The VNM axioms can tell us that E2 > E1, this also seems intuitively right. If we also accept C2 > B2 then they can tell you that E2 > D2. They don't tell us anything about how to judge between D2 and E1, since the decision here depends on the size rather than ordering of your preferences. None of this seems remotely counter-intuitive.
In short, 'value of information' isn't some extra factor that needs to be taken into account on top of decision theory. It can be factored in within decision theory by correctly specifying your possible options.
Furthermore, information isn't binary, it doesn't suddenly appear once you have certainty and not before, if you take into account the existence of probabilistic partial information then you should find the exact same results pop out.
The same goes for the Allais paradox: having certitude of receiving a significant amount of money ($24 000) has a value, which is present in choice 1A, but not in all others (1B, 2A, 2B).
Why does it have value? The period where you have certainty in 1A but not in the other 3 probably only lasts a few seconds, and there aren't any other decisions you have to make during it.
Well, sure, by mangling enough the events you can re-establish the axioms. But if you do that, in fact, you just don't need the axioms. The independence axiom states that if you have B > C, then you have (probability p of A, probability 1-p of B) > (probability p of A, probability 1-p of C). What you're doing is saying you can't use A, B, and C when there is dependency, but have to create subevents like C1="C when you are you sure you'll have either A or C". Of course, by splitting the events like that, you'll reestablish independence - but...
Followup to : Is risk aversion really irrational?
After reading the decision theory FAQ and re-reading The Allais Paradox I realized I still don't accept the VNM axioms, especially the independence one, and I started thinking about what my true rejection could be. And then I realized I already somewhat explained it here, in my Is risk aversion really irrational? article, but it didn't make it obvious in the article how it relates to VNM - it wasn't obvious to me at that time.
Here is the core idea: information has value. Uncertainty therefore has a cost. And that cost is not linear to uncertainty.
Let's take a first example: A is being offered a trip to Ecuador, B is being offered a great new laptop and C is being offered a trip to Iceland. My own preference is: A > B > C. I love Ecuador - it's a fantastic country. But I prefer a laptop over a trip to Iceland, because I'm not fond of cold weather (well, actually Iceland is pretty cool too, but let's assume for the sake of the article that A > B > C is my preference).
But now, I'm offered D = (50% chance of A, 50% chance of B) or E = (50% chance of A, 50% chance of C). The VNM independence principle says I should prefer D > E. But doing so, it forgets the cost of information/uncertainty. By choosing E, I'm sure I'll be offered a trip - I don't know where, but I know I'll be offered a trip, not a laptop. By choosing D, I'm no idea on the nature of the present. I've much less information on my future - and that lack of information has a cost. If I know I'll be offered a trip, I can already ask for days off at work, I can go buy a backpack, I can start doing the paperwork to get my passport. And if I know I won't be offered a laptop, I may decide to buy one, maybe not as great as one I would have been offered, but I can still buy one. But if I chose D, I've much less information about my future, and I can't optimize it as much.
The same goes for the Allais paradox: having certitude of receiving a significant amount of money ($24 000) has a value, which is present in choice 1A, but not in all others (1B, 2A, 2B).
And I don't see why a "rational agent" should neglect the value of this information, as the VNM axioms imply. Any thought about that?