I did my Tacoma by hand = 14+ hours (lost count lol) and sore arms for a couple days. I used Megs Ultimate Compound. Worked nicely (it leaves very minimal haze and doesn't really need a polish step (it breaks down into finer particles)).
I used simple terry hand towels. I know they are prolly too aggressive, but it's all I had around and I'm broke.
But...if you want to do it properly..these hand applicator pads look ace:
http://www.autogeek.net/ccs-foam-hand-applicators.html
Compound = Orange
Polish = White
Jeweling and Waxing = Red or Gold
Next time...I will use a DA polisher (Porter Cable or Griot's) + Optimum Hyper Compound/Polish + Optimum MF pads (read really good things about MF pads over Foam pads).
For wax after compounding/polishing..I'd honestly skip the hard paste waxes and just use Optimum Car Wax spray. It lasts as long (if not longer) and gives a deeper shine than the majority of traditional paste waxes available (since it's both a polymer and carnauba wax) ...and you're going to be dead tired after hand-polishing anyways lol. Not to mention it doesn't leave any white residue on the trim as well (another added bonus).
Leave the "hard work" to the claying/compound/polish steps (where it's
actually needed) and let washing/waxing be the "easy quick steps" ...just my 2 cents.
Another alternative instead of waxing is... use a "coat" ....'Opti-Coat 2.0' is now discontinued and has been replaced with 'Opti-Gloss' ..which has really good reviews
....after all that hard work (claying and polishing)..I would go Opti-Gloss instead of wax to protect that nice work you just did.
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