Guide Books:
Another great resource for planning your travel adventure are good guide books. We have personally used guidebooks on pretty much all our trips, and generally the information has been up to date and useful.
However, guidebooks should be used as the name suggests, as a “guide”. Just use them as a foundation for learning about the areas and the logistics of each place, then go off and explore and figure things out along the way.
Use them as a reference, but not your bible. Take what you like, and leave the rest. And don’t forget your friends who have been there done that, and your networks on Facebook and Twitter.
Some of our most rewarding experiences from travel have come not from information and suggestions from guidebooks or forums, but from just getting out there and taking the path less traveled.
By going off and meeting locals, wandering around by foot and keeping our eyes and ears open to new experiences and opportunities to have cultural encounters.
Very rarely do we eat at places suggested by guidebooks. Mostly we will just ask locals, get recommendations from fellow travelers, or just walk around and see what’s out there.
Sure, most recommendations are in guidebooks usually because they are good, but there are places to eat, stay, and visit that are not featured in any guidebooks!
And by the way, if everyone follows the accommodation recommendations in guidebooks during peak season, what do you think your chances are of getting a room?
Helpful Tips:
- If going on a long trip to many different countries and regions, only buy the guidebook for your first stop. Books are heavy and we need to travel light. You can always purchase on the road, or trade with other travelers when you have finished using your current one.
- When we purchase a large regional book like “South East Asia on a Shoestring”, we either photo copy the sections we need , or tear out the pages to make it more practical to carry with us!
- You can also buy photocopied guidebooks in many places on the road for a lot less than brand new, and as long as all the pages are there what’s it matter?
- If you want more detailed info on a particular place, buy that specific book e.g. Buy the Thailand book instead of the South-East Asia book, or buy the San Francisco book instead of the California book!
Below are some of the most highly recommended guide books:
Probably the most well known guidebook and the one we have personally used the most. Often referred to as the travelers “Bible”.
Founded in 1972 in Australia, Lonely Planet Travel Guide started with a shoestring guide to Asia and has since grown into a guidebook empire of more than 500 titles in eight languages. The guides still focus primarily on budget travel options.
A popular alternative to Lonely Planet. The Rough Guides series was founded in 1982 and is based in the U.K. and covers more than 200 world wide destinations. Primarily targeted towards budget backpackers.
The Let’s Go series of guide books was started back in 1960, and has been one of the best guides for student backpackers. Founded in Cambridge, MA and still remains 100% run by students at Harvard, and it’s written for students, by students.
A man by the name of Arthur Frommer wrote a book in the 1950′s called “Europe on $5 a Day.” Now, there are more than 350 titles in the Frommer’s library.
The books mainly still focus somewhat on budget travel, but the audience seems to have become Americans over the age of 30 or 40, and the information is not just on budget backpacking and staying in hostels.
Free Downloadable Travel Guides:
Check out this list of free downloadable travel guides for destinations all over the world on BootsnAll.
Forums:
When travel planning, a very useful resource can be your fellow travelers. What’s that saying….”in order to know the road ahead, ask those who have walked it”, or something like that.
Anyways, take full advantage of the travel forums and ask questions and read the posts. Most of the people on the forums are genuine and anxious to help.
Just remember though, no two travelers are alike and one’s opinion needs to be taken with a grain of salt. They are not you, and you are not them! Take two different people and put them in the same environment, and you will usually get two different perspectives!
Below are some recommended forums:
Lonely Planet Thorn Tree
Probably the most active travel forum from the largest guidebook publisher. The forums are country and region specific, and the chances are good that the question you’re about to ask has already been asked by someone else.
BootsnAll Message Boards
A place to give your boots a rest and discuss travel with members of the community!
Eurotrip Message Boards
A very good and very active message board focused on Europe.
TripAdvisor Forums
An active forum from one of the most-visited travel websites.
