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Post by auntieannie on Dec 28, 2017 18:55:15 GMT 2
Existential question:
What do you do with your old guidebooks?
Until now, I have kept my old guidebooks as I felt they were kind of part of the bigger of my trips, the travels that still live in my heart.
Would you keep them or would you get rid of them?
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Post by Voy on Dec 28, 2017 19:19:39 GMT 2
I keep them - as the reasons you went there don't change. And with all these new websites, finding a hotel isn't hard anymore !
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Post by Baz Faz on Dec 28, 2017 20:50:20 GMT 2
When we move from France to the UK we downsized. A lot of books had to go. I kept travel books but old LP guides went. When they are really old they have a curiosity value. I have read the very first LP guide from Singapore through south eat Asia and then to Europe. Strange to see only 4 accommodation picks in Bangkok.
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Post by rikita on Dec 29, 2017 2:37:35 GMT 2
so far keeping them. just so when someone visits me they can see them on my shelf and ask if i went to all those places ;p
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Post by Netsuke on Dec 29, 2017 5:03:54 GMT 2
I too keep my LP guide books and like Rikita, my reasons are similar - people can see where I've been and ask ,"Have you been to all those places?" which gives me a thrill and my chest swelleth with pride.
Not to mention they look good in the bookcase - think hand stained rosewood, Victorian style. I did get rid of the really old ones which had been given to me and were so old, any information in them was rendered practically unusable and besides, they didn't have the nice, bright, shiny blue covers. Some have the new, bright green coloured covers and much as I would love to have them together, I can't because they would be out of alphabetical order if I did that. Oh yes, books in sets are catalogued alphabetically left to right!
I do have three which I bought because I want to go there someday, but looking at current finances and health (though mainly finances) it is doubtful I will get there but hey! a gel can hope!
I keep them because they hold memories and just looking at them bring back memories and different things come to mind.
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Post by trentt on Dec 30, 2017 1:39:49 GMT 2
I will be moving within a few months and have been rather ruthless with my belongings, tossing, recycling, or giving away easily 1/3 of all I possess. The guidebooks are all gone now.
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Post by shrjeff on Dec 30, 2017 10:49:26 GMT 2
like trentt and baz, our move necessitated downsizing and old print travel books, while fine for history and sites, aren't too useful anymore..
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Post by Netsuke on Dec 31, 2017 4:24:58 GMT 2
I knew I had a photo somewhere of my bookcase. This was after a big cull of downsizing. The knick knacks are from travelling and Secret Santa. Ha! I just noticed the Holy Bible is right next to my Harry Potter collection. Fortuitous or what?  |
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Post by trentt on Dec 31, 2017 16:46:59 GMT 2
My god, my bookcases never look so tidy, not even after just moving in to a new place.
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Post by Voy on Dec 31, 2017 18:03:22 GMT 2
re bible and Harry -- I had married friends , where one was Christian and one Muslim - on their book case they had the Q'ran and the Bible - with the Kama Sutra in between...
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Post by Netsuke on Jan 1, 2018 10:22:52 GMT 2
It's easy then to see which position they take.
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Post by Baz Faz on Feb 16, 2018 2:31:44 GMT 2
We brought the Lonely Planet guide to Bali and Lombok. It is the last time I shall bring an LP guide. It has been pretty useless. Indeed worse than useless as it gave us wrong information about a walk we did. I was peering round a restaurant to try and find the path that LP said started there. A security guard told me that many tourists came looking for the path which actually started from a different restaurant down the road. When I found it , it turned not to a path but just walking on the embankments of rice padis. Useless.
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Post by OnlyMark on Feb 16, 2018 5:25:33 GMT 2
I gave up on LP books many years ago. I sometimes buy/use the Rough Guide, but even then it is a rare occasion.
During my overlanding times there were many people who would dispute information I was giving by pointing out to me in the LP that it was different, "That's not what the LP says," they would say.
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Post by lumi on Feb 16, 2018 5:48:45 GMT 2
I gave up on LP books many years ago. I sometimes buy/use the Rough Guide, but even then it is a rare occasion. During my overlanding times there were many people who would dispute information I was giving by pointing out to me in the LP that it was different, "That's not what the LP says," they would say.  that's hilarious! I haven't bothered with a travel guide for many years now though I did find it useful when traveling extensively for long periods (I was travelling for several months in each country). For me, the most valuable was the idea of main attractions in a town and bus routes (which I used as a guide because they naturally can change). And the guidebook also helped me know of small towns and despite having no info of use in the book, I would get off the bus there and work myself out. I used to hate the pages listing restaurants as they always change in Asia as does the price and quality. I never once followed a food listing but they always dedicated so many pages to them. |
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Post by shrjeff on Feb 16, 2018 7:25:30 GMT 2
i gave up on lp back in 2005 when we went to japan... one of the suggestions was taking the circle rail line in tokyo to see the various neighborhoods...
the author obviously never had taken it because the rail line is walled off... if we craned our necks we could just see the tops of the buildings... what a waste of time (the lp's come-on was that it only cost a single one station ticket...)
bottom line: all the stories on the tt about the authors of the guides reporting rumors rather than having been where they claimed was true!
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Post by sophie on Feb 16, 2018 9:20:28 GMT 2
I liked some of the old guide books; I think Moon and Rough Guides were generally better than LP. I have kept most of them, but probably the next move they will be recycled. I have better things to hang on to!
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Post by trentt on Feb 16, 2018 15:02:41 GMT 2
I actually got plenty of good info from LP guidebooks, usually on places to stay. For example, upon disembarking from the Helsinki ferry in Tallinn with no place booked, my companion (Willard - anyone remember him?) and I picked out a hostel from the LP guidebook and took a taxi there. It was a lovely spacious home, unfortunately fully booked! Then the owner said, "Well, there is a room in the basement I could show you ..." It was the entire basement (finished) with a bed, a sofa-bed, a fireplace, well lit, heated, and he let us have it for about 1/2 the price of the normal rooms. We were amazed and aghast at our luck.
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 16, 2018 15:34:10 GMT 2
any of you ever got a "footprint" book? I got one the second time I went to India.
And ahem... I don't think I ever actually bought an LP travel guide. unless I got one for Australia.
I bought "Le routard" which is a french brand. (don't think it is much better, mind you)
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Post by rikita on Feb 17, 2018 2:42:10 GMT 2
i still usually get lp guides, habit i guess, and i get confused by other ones because they look different. also, for a while i used to win them in their photo contests, so i got them for free, but they don't do the contests anymore. i used to get most information from them, and for me it usually worked out okay, maybe it is a matter of luck who wrote the guide to the specific country you are in ... still like to use a guide book as a starting point for planning, so i can decide what things i want to look for, online.
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Post by Scrubb on Feb 17, 2018 5:00:50 GMT 2
I found LP guides had their weaknesses, but still provided me with lots of good info. They usually helped me narrow down the areas I wanted to see, and suggested reasonable accommodation, if nothing else. We still have a shelf of them, going back to about a 1991 version of southern Africa. (I did have one or more before that but don't seem to have kept them.)
Might still buy a guide this year for Namibia/Mozambique. But we'll see - can do a lot of research on line these days.
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Post by slowcoach on Feb 17, 2018 15:25:18 GMT 2
Might still buy a guide this year for Namibia/Mozambique. But we'll see - can do a lot of research on line these days.
The first, and arguable best, guide for Namibia (in English at least) was the Bradt Guide (link is to an abridged text of an old version). It is still maintained by the original author some twenty years on, but I am not sure how often it is updated. The author, Chris McIntyre, is a recognized expert and travel industry insider.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2018 22:17:20 GMT 2
I have an old Guide Bleu for Romania dated 1966. I think I picked it up off a bench, where books are often left. It is quite amazing how politically correct guidebooks were in those days.
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Post by tiltedflipcurves on Feb 20, 2018 23:04:47 GMT 2
Meaning they were written so a traveler could carry them into Romania without risking imprisonment based on their contents? That seems wise.
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Post by tzarine on Mar 3, 2018 10:14:09 GMT 2
i can't let go of my lonely planets, yet
the spain is battered & annotated from the summer we lived in burgos
the japan was a gift from the night clerk @ the khaosan & full of notes, as well
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Post by rikita on Mar 9, 2018 2:47:38 GMT 2
so i bought a guide book for croatia, and yes, an lp guide, as i said, it's what i am used to - but i didn't order it online but in a book store - they didn't have it there so they ordered it for me - and i forgot to specify i want it in english. so now i have a guide book in german. this is not what i am used to.
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Post by trentt on Mar 12, 2018 15:17:35 GMT 2
I've given all mine away, so I'm left with 0 guidebooks. Given that I'm losing my vision, I don't anticipate traveling ever again, nor could I read anything from a guidebook on bad days. I'm glad I traveled when it was possible!
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 12, 2018 15:58:31 GMT 2
oh, trentt! what can we do to help?
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Post by trentt on Mar 12, 2018 18:20:31 GMT 2
Not much! I'm going through all the hoops to get disability benefits, but I've been denied twice and will be appealing for the 2nd time. I've had no income for 13 months, I'm uninsured, and close to penniless. My brother will put me up as I wait for the next decision, so at least I will not be homeless.
My situation is typical in this country. I had a friend with Stage IV colon cancer who waited 18 months for disability approval. You get these generic denial letters telling you they believe you are still capable of gainful employment - ha ha! I'm good on the keyboard, so it's not impossible to use the internet, though today my vision is so-so and I really can't read anything in this reply.
Here's what you can do: overlook any typos!
Thank you for your concern. These past 2 years have been a real trial.
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 12, 2018 18:34:37 GMT 2
I've given all mine away, so I'm left with 0 guidebooks. Given that I'm losing my vision, I don't anticipate traveling ever again, nor could I read anything from a guidebook on bad days. I'm glad I traveled when it was possible! Trentt, I'm glad your deteriorating eyesight hasn't stopped you posting (though less than you used to). |
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Post by shrjeff on Mar 12, 2018 18:36:15 GMT 2
sad to hear this trentt... are you suffering from amd?
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that's hilarious! I haven't bothered with a travel guide for many years now though I did find it useful when traveling extensively for long periods (I was travelling for several months in each country). For me, the most valuable was the idea of main attractions in a town and bus routes (which I used as a guide because they naturally can change). And the guidebook also helped me know of small towns and despite having no info of use in the book, I would get off the bus there and work myself out. I used to hate the pages listing restaurants as they always change in Asia as does the price and quality. I never once followed a food listing but they always dedicated so many pages to them.
