Headlights
 

I need to change the light bulbs on my 93 accord, I need more light, yesterday I almost went over a median while making a left, Its extremely dark over here in Central Florida, they don't believe in street lighting... which I like when driving, but I'm finding out that its just too dark in many areas.
When it rains out of the blue (here you get a 10 minute thunderstorm, then the sun comes out and its like it never happened, I love it) the visibility is seriously diminished, the day before yestreday I almost had to pull over.

I have seen some cars with what appears to be white light from the headlights, is that the bulb or is it the casing? it really does look like thise bulbs have greater output, and you can see so much more!!!A car passed me by the other day and I could tell it had at least 50% more light than I did. I'm not looking to spend much money on this, If I could get suggestions on good replacement light bulbs I guess thats what my budget can afford at the moment.

Whats is the deal with all these HID, xenon and etc, are they better than the stock? pricey? whats the lifetime on these? any other options?