h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

LONELY PLANET!!!

Lonely Planet publishes WONDERFUL guidebooks. An English friend of mine was visiting me for a few weeks this summer, and although the text was a bit outdated, it NEVER LET US DOWN!!! YAY!!!

We found awesome places we would have never found.

What piffle.

The LP guide always says stuff like "quaint" when it means "unclean, smelly, and full of awful people". Perhaps some people get into some kind of patronising romantic mood when traveling through horrid places. The LP researchers certainly do. If you're arriving by train with the other little backpackers and have no brain then maybe LP is worthwhile.

To quote the Beach "What's so f*****g lonely about the Ko San Road?" Mind you, I have to have a certain amount of affection for the series that annoyed the residents of bracing Skeggy by declaring it to be the sort of place the English middle classes wouldn't be seen dead in.

But... it was educational... you'd rather go without anything and get stuck in tourists traps!?? For our experience, the guide worked wonderfully, and was well worth the money to buy it.

::waggles her butt::

I expected the two words to be "Don't Panic".

For me lonely planet is for relatively young people, much younger than I am.

The best advice I can give tourists is: "Respect the people who live in this place, and act like you want to see tourists act when they visit your town". (the last part except when you make a living by separating tourists from their money)

Herrrmmm.....

Everyone surely has their own travel styles... "Don't Panic" is universal advice, undoubtedly!!!

There's currently a boycott on lonely planet, as they publish a guide to Burma where the tourist industry was part built by slave labour, and supports one of the world's worst dictatorships.

There are plenty of other good guidebooks (e.g. the Rough Guides series), but none are as complete as they claim to be. The best places are often not mentioned in any guide.

::shudders to think::

Anyhow the guide you need depends much on what you expect to do.
Are you planning for a lot of sunbathing, drinking and discoing, or will you grab a backpack and roam the countryside.
Or more different things.

Each possibility will have its own optimal guide.
Marijn

my brother has been to japan twice, both times staying with families (and he's off again tmorrow! to universty in japan...) and he found the LP guide invaluable. i don't think it really matters what sort of holiday you're doing, it's full of all sorts of information, for different budgets. i'm also going to japan at christmas, and it's prepared me for a large amount of what to expect...so i disagree that it's "piffle"
^. .^
= ' =

(That's my girl!!! )

I think that guides that at least try to include the less obvious places are to be applauded, though having never used one, I can't really compare the various series.

Most guides I have seen give reasonable or good information about the history and geography of a place. When they include shops, restaurants or hotels they are often completely out of date, or mention only the expensive or highbrow ones.
For these things I prefer to go to a local tourist office, also to get me a good and very detailed map of the surroundings. I like to make long walks.

I SO agree with you. I was travelling India for 2 1/2 months and to me the LP was vital. For once, it gives you good advice on where to go for starters and if you have the latest issue the information on prices for riksha rides or accommodation etc. is pretty precise and helps prevent getting ripped off, which of course will happen to you anyway but then that is just the way things work. I am all for respecting the locals and their customs but refuse being seen as a moving wallet even when travelling 3rd class.
Obviously no guide can cover an entire country because if they did, the "best places" off the beaten track would not be there to discover. Communication is the word: talk to other travellers to pick up some good hints. After a while, when you have gotten over the initial culture shock, you will become more confident and dare get off the train half ways in some obsolete village just to see what it looks like.
Smiles and sunshine; CCG

my brother also says Rough Guides are good...
^. .^
= ' =

There are quite a few of these sort of guides out there. And like LP, they offer useful information cunningly hidden amongst historical artefacts (aka the accomodation and restaurant sections).

There used to be a series called "xxx on $15 a day" (which shows my age ). The one on the UK had this wonderful line that went: "The best place in England is Aberystwith in Wales". On reflection, the author was lucky to escape with his/her life from both countries )

On a similar note, the old Yugoslav government (back in the days of Tito) once produced a guide book for tourists with a helpful set of serbo-croat phrases. One of which was "Help! Help! I'm drowning", a phrase that should be in every guide book...

I rather like the Worst Case Scenario Guidebook: Travel. Not only does it have all you need for your trip: surviving an airplane crash, riot (something which I'm sure would be helpful in England during soccer season), and/or hostage situation, but the back of the back has all sorts of fun phrases like: Hello-I have been seriously wounded; Can I use your belt as a tourniquet; and May I borrow a towel to wipe up the blood? I grabbed this book at the school bookstore and haven't regretted it yet.

That's the COOLEST!!!

I only hope you do not try to borrow the towel of a researcher. The answer might be: 'Blood, on my clean towel? Use your own, use your or my shirt but my towel? Never!'