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| Wednesday, April 23, 2008 |
 A few weeks ago, it was reported that Thomas Khonstamm made up stories he wrote for Lonely Planet saying he never went to the country he was supposed to review. The story received wide press coverage about the credibility of guidebooks and travel writers. In reality, he was assigned to write about the culture and history of Columbia not review places he went. He didn't need to go to Columbia. All the reviews and local information were done by people who actually live in the country. So really it's a non-story. I can review Columbia's history and not go there. Just give me some time on Google!
There was also a lot of talk around the web that it might bring down the industry. I don't buy that. People will still buy guidebooks and listen to other people for advice. You learn a lot from other travelers and people will still keep reading about adventures from far away. It keeps them dreaming and keeps them motivated. Lonely planet's sales might fall in the short term but overall, they'll be ok. For your average person, a guidebook is still the easiest way to get information.
But what about guidebooks? Are they actually worth using? The answer is maybe.
I rarely ever use guidebooks for accommodation or restaurant information. I mostly use recommendations from other travellers or just try my luck and hope it works out. I always try new places and the best ones are rarely in guidebooks. That's not to say I don't even use them. (I have) but more often than not I don't. The places in guidebooks tend to draw a lot of tourists and I always found better food and accommodation away from the crowd.
I buy guidebooks because they make good guides. They provided useful information about a country's history and environment as well as major attractions, practical transport information, and maps. When I get into new areas, I flip open my guidebook to read up about it and take a look at the maps or look up the train schedule. Guidebooks are good to have as a back up but that's it. They shouldn't be used as bibles.
Because guidebooks have two main faults:
The information can be dated. By the time the author gets the reviews together, the publisher edits them, they get printed, and end up on the shelf, the information can be at least a year old. That's not very helpful as a lot can happen in a year, especially in rapidly developing areas of the world like Asia and Central America. As a traveler, you need up to the minute information and no matter how fast they turn out those guidebooks, you just can't keep up that quickly.
They can be vague. There are guidebooks that cover all of America, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the pacific islands, etc, etc. With such a vast area of coverage, its hard to get the depth of information you need. Not all the cities and towns will be on it, not all the attractions, modes of transport, and the selection for food and stay will be very limited. You just won't be able to get the depth of information you need if you pick up an area guidebook. The alternative is one guidebook for each country but do you really want to carry around a guidebook for every country in Europe? I don't! That shit is heavy!
A good alternative to guidebooks are online websites. Websites like MatadorTrips, Brave New Traveler, Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree,The Freshman Traveler all have online communities where you get up to the minute travel info from people who have just been there. Read around traveler's blogs and ask them for information. They are just as good sometimes.
Overall, if you haven't been to a country before and are looking to get some practical information, then a guidebook is worth buying but, if you know your way around, I don't see a need. I don't plan on getting one for my vacation this week or when I go back to southeast asia. But when I go to China? Yeah, I'll pick one up. It will be good to get an overview and see the layout of the cities and get basic information.
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posted by Nomadic Matt @ 8:49 AM  |
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| 1 Comments: |
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Agred - A website or printouts from a pc will never be a substitute for a book on the road
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Agred - A website or printouts from a pc will never be a substitute for a book on the road