» Lonely Planet (aka. LP): The most ubiquitous of all guides, often with solid information, but not always up-to-date. Often patronizing, boring with a recycled first 100 or so pages and recommendations generally over subscribed. They do cover some interesting locations (the Caucasus, Iran and Syria for example) and sometimes are the only choice. Their region in one, or shoestring titles are appallingly lacking in depth and information. LP's vary from very good to awful. It all depends on the edition and author. However, their maps are probably the best of all guides. Newer titles are now published in a jazzy format (with questionable 'authors choice' recommendations), but can be better than older versions.

This major change for those who remember the original format is very much a result of the original founders and authors (the Wheelers) no longer in control of the operation. The new formats do look more professional and as a result are less aimed at typical backpackers, losing their youthful, independent, adventurous spirit. The increasing professionalism of the management (some would say bottom line focused, milk the cash cow business acumen) is likely an attempt to break into the massive United States market (which is relatively conservative and prone to litigation) and increase revenue, all of which has meant that the quirky, amateurish (in the best sense) tone of the early books has diminished.

For example, an early edition of Africa on a shoestring has the heading 'Drugs', which includes information on purchasing drugs (mainly marijuana), while the 1980 edition of South-East Asia on a Shoestring includes information on how to purchase fake student ID cards - all of which you would now never find. Other quirks included some hand-drawn maps and the occasional strong/radical opinion. Some strong opinions remain, but they are party lines and for the best part closed minded. In 2007, the BBC purchased Lonely Planet (The Wheelers keep 25%), so we can see where this takes the business.

Lonely Planet's initial strength has caused some problems. With many equating Lonely Planet with backpackers. The series now tries to make a clearer split between the backpacker-only products and those (now the majority) aimed at more affluent travellers and tourists. These are by far the best selling and most popular guides where a recommendation can make or break a hotel or restaurant. (see image)

» Bradt: Acclaimed African guidebooks, their East and Southern Africa backpackers manual is a very fine guide indeed, perhaps the best and most down-to-earth written and detailed filled out there. Others are quite good especially African and other out of the way countries, but can suffer from being out-of-date and have a somewhat amateur look to them compared to the big boys of the industry.

» Rough Guide: Maybe the most in-depth and informative of guides available. Their structure can need getting use to if you have only previously used other guides. Sometimes seemingly aimed at older travellers and those with their own transportation, these books are a good read as well as a good guide. However, titles don't cover as wide a range of countries as LPs and older titles are nowhere near as good as newer ones, which are first rate in most cases. As with Lonely Planet, multi-region guides are far from perfect. European guides are excellent and their alternatives to over popular titles i.e. LP's India/Thailand are a perfect alternative to get away from the crowds. If you are planning a trip a great first stop in the planning process is Rough Guide's First Time series.

» Let's Go: Once you get past their dogged look (new editions have a new format and look a lot smarter, but are less budget focused) and the fact that they are highly American, with sometimes not always good humour, they're not bad. The fact that they do contain humour is actually a real plus, so is the fact that they are one of the only guides that makes real recommendations and focuses on budget travel.

They are also one of the most accurate, being updated yearly. Accommodation listings are however slim and normally include only a few backpackery choices - which may not be what you're after. These guides are perhaps best avoided in regions with many young American travellers. Let's Go guides are written and updated by Harvard students every year. In recent years more exotic locations, i.e. Middle East have been left un-updated and the focus is on 'safer' destinations in Europe.

» Footprint: An excellent series, intelligently put together, sometimes on fine paper (really condensing content) and perhaps the only multi-country guides worth having. The South or Central America Handbook is a serious project and puts the Lonely Planet and other versions to shame. Limited titles and often terrible town maps are their only let down. Footprint also seem to rave about places off-the-beaten track that when you arrive can be less than inspiring.

» Others: There are also good German (Stefan Loose) and French language (Routard) guidebooks available, as well as free FAQ travel guides that can be found on the internet. The German 'Reise Know-How' and other non-English guides are often direct translations of Lonely Planet, but some editions aren't and have greater detail and accuracy.

You will also sometimes find excellent regional guides such as 'BUG' Australia, NZ and UK/Ireland, or the excellent 'In your pocket' free city guides in Eastern Europe.

Even the best title is far from perfect, and series vary dramatically as authors and publication dates vary. The best tip to offer is don't be afraid to try something new. Pick a guide that is not the normal choice. How can you say Lonely Planet is the best guide when you haven't tried another?

One of the best tips you'll get from this site is (if you can, i.e. a good alternative is available) at least try to travel with a non-LP guide especially if you are heading to a popular destination. Along with the launch of a new format (which is better in some ways, but much more opinionated (a dangerous thing for such a widely used guide)) and many new 'packaged' products, LP has certainly taken a more corporate turn now that the Wheelers (original founders) have sold a large share of it. This coincides with the company taking yet another step up their own arse, so proud and confident they are of their travel empire. The emphasis is now very much on selling rather than creating original guides and independent advice.

Nevertheless, for the most part there is nothing wrong with Lonely Planet guides. All guides have their faults and LPs are no different - only you will be another LP sheep, walking around with the same bland guide as thousands (make that hundreds of thousands) of others.

Rip up your guidebook?

E-mailed suggestion 'With large regional guide books (you don't need to do this for single country guides), that you have no chance of reselling, a friend suggested tearing pages out as needed. Not only reducing the weight of the book while travelling, but meaning you need only carry a few pages (e.g. map) around when sightseeing or in town. Was appalled initially at the idea, but when tried realised it made sense and made you feel a lot better since most of the information was so bad!'' If you do decide to rip them apart so that you can only carry the pieces that are/will be useful to you the best way to do this [for the LP among others] is to put them in the microwave. Usually about 30 seconds will do. It melts the glue in the spine allowing the pages to come out effortless and more importantly without any loss of information' - Nicholas Shirley

It's a great idea. Give it a go if you have a huge guide, you'll never look back. Of course a little photocopying is another option. It's well worth making a copy of maps and other relevant info to take out with you when looking around. Who wants to carry a great guidebook with them everywhere?

An internet connection keeps you in touch with the things that normally matter at home, such as keeping track of friends, family, the news, sports or anything else. Faster connections are opening up a whole new world to travellers, from downloading pod-casts and e-mailing the odd photo home to updating an on-line travelogue or even listening to live radio shows. You find many PCs in internet cafes that have MSN/Yahoo Messenger installed and this is an excellent way to make contact with friends/relatives and have a live chat without the cost of an international phone call.

It is also not uncommon to find in larger more professional internet cafes located normally in the larger cities of Asian 'technophile' nations (such as Manila, Seoul, Singapore etc), web cams and headsets you can use (via MSN or other) to send a live image home. If a web cam is not present, which to be honest is something of a novelty, someone back home will still be able to stream you their image via newer versions of MSN or other software installed. 

It is also worth noting and mentioning here, that bigger more professional internet places will often burn your digital photos to a CD. Many will have a card reader, but not all, so you might want to take your own connection lead. To generalise horribly, you will find this service in any major capital or larger city which is a significant tourist attraction in Asia. In Latin America the same is true, but you need to look harder. In Africa you have to look harder still. In Europe/North America with less widespread internet cafes you can still find these services. Wherever you are, if in doubt, just ask. Most places have a CD burner at the desk and are happy to help even if they don't advertise the service.

Faster e-mail

It really depends where you are, but slow connections still haunt most travellers and can be incredibly frustrating especially since most of us have become so use to ADSL speeds in the developed world. If you are off the beaten track in the developing world, you'll need patience, but here are a few tips:

For the fastest connections in locations with less than inspiring speeds, look for empty internet cafes at periods where there is limited traffic on the net (early morning). Also bear in mind that many internet cafes only have one or two connections which are shared/split between users. So two users equals half the speed, four users quarter the speed and so on. It's worth setting your webmail account to only show 10 or less messages at a time, diverting junk mail into a separate folder and not having a webmail account full of advertising (most of the major providers) to speed up your webmail use when connections are painfully slow.

Couples can easily share the same webmail account to save paying for the lengthy log on process just to check for new mail. Two users can log onto the same account at the same time - no problem. If a connection is very poor, leave the provider and come back later - periodic network problems are common where technology infrastructure is still developing. However, such measures are becoming less and less necessary as ADSL connections find their way into more and more of the developing world. Nowadays, in big cities of even the most tin-pot countries you can normally find excellent speed connections.

Phoning home

Phoning home is often expensive, but costs are falling with call centres found in many larger cities (often using internet phone or international discounters). In developed countries buy calling cards locally and use on pay phones. New Zealand to Europe with a locally bought calling card would be cheaper than a North - South Island call in New Zealand. Such calling cards are available all over reasonably developed Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Philippines etc. (try convenience stores such as 7-Eleven).

In much less developed countries you will have to really hunt for these calling cards if available, so a good method to talk to someone back home is to ask the hotel you are staying in if you can receive a phone call there. Then e-mail/SMS a time and number to those who wish to call.

Worth noting is if you have an international SIM (mentioned left) and it is giving you free incoming calls where you are, using services like Jajah.com cuts costs still further. You could take a calling card from your home country (e.g. BT charge card or AT&T) with you for emergencies, but beware using them is very expensive and unnecessary.

In addition to Yahoo/MSN messenger mentioned above, many will no doubt be aware of Skype, which allows you to call nearly or absolutely free from anywhere to anywhere, transfer huge data (photos/music) files and live text messages as with MSN. You just a need a to find a internet place with a headset or webcam and the free software installed. This really depends on regions, but to be honest, it's still not that common. Calls are free Skype-to-Skype, and for 'Skypeout' (to call regular phones) or 'Skypein' (to receive calls from regular phones) only a small fee is charged and call costs are incredibly low. It's all pretty cool if you are in a position to utilise it all. There's loads more information and probably a better explanation of services and charges on Skype's website.

Cell/Mobile Phones

Probably the biggest measure of a rapidly developing world aside from the proliferation of internet cafes is the use of cellular / mobile phones even in some of the world's poorer countries. Major North American/Australian and European networks which allow roaming, will pick up a signal in the vast majority of the populated world. Taking a cell phone has many advantages and is recommended (see the 'What to Pack' page), but several disadvantages, most notably the potential cost of actually using it. If roaming on your home network, call costs (made or received) will be significant, but SMS message costs are manageable, normally being a fixed rate and free to receive.

If you intend to use your mobile a lot, really the best bet is to buy a local pay-as-you-go SIM card which can normally be found without too much trouble (make sure your phone is 'unlocked' if you plan to do this). However this is only really practical if you are staying in one destination for sometime and if moving around from country to country like most, highly impractical and uneconomical. The second solution is to buy one of the now widely available international SIM cards, which can be great, but are far from an ideal solution simply because how useful they are in saving you money depends on where you are in the world. They do however allow you to receive calls for free in many countries and reduce call costs in many others compared to roaming on your home network, but only really do so in the developed world. If you are travelling to the likes of Spain, France, Germany, etc., the savings you can make are significant and make them well worth having. Take the same trip, but through India, China, Thailand and the like, and making and receiving calls will be almost as expensive - if not sometimes more - than roaming with your home network - that is astronomical if used for any length of time. One such company that comes recommended is Go Sim (although there are many alternatives such as 0044 and doing the research on where and when you will save money is recommended before diving in.

A nice box is provided at a small cost and the air option will arrive in the Europe in about five days, sea will take considerably longer at more risk. Mailing things home from most of Asia is no problem. Burma is cheap, but higher risk, Vietnam expensive. India and Iran are good/cheap. With large parcels always get your stamps franked before you give the item in and pay extra for registration if possible. Costs are much higher in Australia & NZ, and especially Latin America.

Kg	Air	Surface	Sea
1	900	950	800
2	1280	1125	1080
3	1660	1500	1360
4	2040	1495	1640

It's in these cheap local/street eateries away from the tourist runs where veggies will find life a little more difficult, but items such as veg fried rice or an omelette are perfect to fall back on. It's true to say many cultures don't understand the concept of being a vegetarian. It's really most difficult to keep to a vegetarian diet in Islamic countries such as any Arab nation, Iran, Pakistan, Western China and especially Central Asia (CIS). In these cases and others self-catering is by far the best option if a veggie or otherwise you find yourself in a bind. Fruit and bread will always be easy to find, the same normally goes for tomatoes, cheese, nuts etc. In general being a fishetarian (know as a pescetarian i.e. eating fish/seafood) makes life much easier, and if you're eating chicken life is easier still since this is the staple of so many diets. In less developed places being a vegan can make things very difficult.

In the country summary section you will find a note regarding the ease of eating and eating veggie in each country. Concluding: 9/10 times being a veggie is not a problem (with a few compromises) and there are many places, mainly India, where it's a joy.

Comment:

I've been a vegan for four years, I absolutely love to travel and I never really found it a big problem even in underdeveloped countries. What I found very handy is a little book called 'vegan passport'. It contains an explanation of all the things a vegan doesn't eat in 56 languages (93% of the world covered). It really does make travelling a lot easier for hard-core veggies. My personal experience is that people in underdeveloped countries usually are very responsive to your personal wishes and it happened to me a lot of times that people (after I managed to make them understand what I don't want in my food) created new delicious vegan meals especially for me and I also never found it a problem to find fruit, vegetables, nuts, rice or legumes anywhere I traveled. In developed countries I never found it a problem at all, in underdeveloped countries being vegan does limit your choices I'll admit, but I never had a problem finding at least something and it's a very safe way of eating in some areas (salmonella, food poisoning etc.) - Kathi

Cinemas are particularly good and widespread in Latin America and 9/10 times films are shown in their original language. The British and American councils in some major cities have a reading room and Internet that can be used even if for a small charge.

» The point of all this: to fill your time, escape your surroundings, stave of any home sickness... - no matter where you are, especially if you have been going for a long time.

Most countries do have their own very cheap English language newspaper and as stated Time and Newsweek are available in all big cities with ex-pat populations worldwide. A LW radio will allow you, for what it's worth, to pick up BBC World Service, Voice of America and others.

Never a problem. With the right fabric clothes, a locally bought sachet of washing powder and travel washing line, doing your own washing is very easy and it will normally dry over night. It's always possible to buy little packets of washing powder and if not a bar of soap or shampoo is always good for the job. Here's a great link for inspiration.

However, in most countries you can get laundry done easily and fairly cheaply through your hotel/hostel or local laundry outlet. Problems are rare, but be cautious especially about having technical fibres washed. Asking for a cold wash and no tumble-drying makes sense if you're worried. Considering this you can happily do most of your washing (such as odd items) yourself and have a proper wash done every few weeks.

Comment:

'Fantastic site, very helpful, and definitely not as dramatic as some others I've seen, e.g. take axe with which to build small fortress.... *sigh* ' - 'I've only travelled in SE Asia, and I'm going back next week. I only had one thing that seemed the highest priority for me to get for the return trip: hand sanitizer gel. I couldn't find it anywhere in Thailand, Cambodia or in HCMC (Saigon) last time, and good lord, did I want it! The thing I'm leaving behind this time?

Anything involved with clothes laundering: the laundries there are so cheap, save me the headache of packing damp clothes, and, frankly, I don't think my clothes have EVER been cleaner.' - Carrie Hart

Is there such a thing as culture shock?

Culture shock is often both over and understated, and varies considerably as to where you first land. Above all, allow a few days to adapt and expect in less developed countries a much higher level of dirt, pollution and noise than you have at home, being unable to follow the language, feeling somewhat of a target for crime and putting up with accommodation and transport that is not great at the best of times.

This is all perfectly normal and you adapt pretty quickly - in fact culture shock is the best part of travel and the reason why many do it - and there are always ways to recharge. Conversely, many travellers find culture shock on their return from a long trip a greater issue. For many it is much harder to get back into their normal life where everything all of a sudden seems very quiet and shockingly unexotic.

Now here's the good bit. By its very nature, independent travel allows for a greater intermingling with ordinary citizens, the vast majority of whom are not intertwined with tourism. Backpackers are so very fortunate that they will get to see rural Africa/Asia/Latin America, where they discover that most natives, even the poorest, are disarmingly open and hospitable and dare it be said, better people than you and I.

As the world modernises and globalisation keeps trucking on, to expect an entirely traditional society anywhere would be like taking a trip to Dallas and expecting to walk into a western movie!

The sensible attitude to take is to accept how things have become, try to understand it on its own terms and spend some time getting off the beaten track a little.

» Marijuana: Commonly and generally safely (well easily at least) available in India especially in Goa, mountain regions (e.g. Simla) and Pushkar. Also in Nepal (you will see it growing wild on most treks), North Africa, especially Morocco and Egypt (Dahab), Thailand's Islands, Indochina, México, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Southern Africa (especially Malawi) and Australia and NZ - to name a few. These are just the most concentrated areas where a scene has sprung up, probably due to lack of police interest and a past or present hippy scene.

Many of these places are not what they once were. Both Dahab and the Thai Islands have passed their heyday some years back. So has South East Asia, where some might recall guesthouses leaving bowls of grass out for guests to help themselves! You will come across marijuana in virtually every country worldwide. (images1 - image2 - Marijuana growing wild off the KKH, Northern Pakistan). Although not a big deal for many travellers, Marijuana can carry some strict penalties in some regions that far outweigh its potency.

» Amphetamines and other pills: Asian pharmacies have very different regulations than in the west. Someone in the know once supplied a huge list of items easily purchased such as Prozac. Don't recall the list and not sure it's a road anyone should go down. The most common pharmacy hits are the 'diet' pills available in Thailand, normally sold by dealers at full moon parties (these now have a large police presence) or passed off as Ecstasy. Realistically, it's not really a good idea to go popping Thai pills you know nothing about that at best give you a rushing around feeling and a few sleepless nights, since they are just basic amphetamine.

It's uncommon to come across amphetamines or meta-amphetamines in their pure form on a traveller circuit. You'll only come across Ecstasy in developed countries, where it is normally more expensive than in western Europe.