The Guidebook Question
You see them everywhere when you travel: guidebooks. They’re the first thing many people buy when they consider going to a country, or maybe the second (after your plane ticket). They contain valuable information, help you save money, give you the scoop on what to do, where to stay, etc. But they also do one more thing, whether you realize it or not: make you part of a herd. And that’s not something lots of independent travelers are looking for.
Traditional guidebooks run the gamut in terms of what they offer the traveler, and what kind of budget they are going for. High-end books like Frommers tend to focus on more expensive places, and a more luxurious style of travel. Lonely Planet’s Shoestring guides go for the budget traveler, as do countless other guides.
The Lonely Planet has seen an explosion in popularity in the past few years, and have edged out most of the competition. Rough Guides is about the only other guidebook I saw when I did my RTW, but it was about 1 Rough Guide for every 10 LPs. Really, the Lonely Planet is everywhere.
Lonely Planet has achieved its popularity for a reason: good maps, good information, good places to stay. But that popularity is now detrimental to its usefulness for many travelers. If there isn’t a recent edition for the place you’re visiting, you can bet that the top hotels will be difficult to get a room in, and will be much more expensive than quoted in your old guide. This isn’t always the case, but it does happen, particularly in places with a more volatile tourism industry, like Southeast Asia.
Whether or not you want to bring a guidebook is a personal decision that only you can make. Opinions vary wildly across the board. Some travelers would never be caught dead flipping through a Lonely Planet while sitting at a café; others would feel lost without it. Surely a happy medium exists, one where you can use the book for information, yet not rely too heavily on it.
Fortunately there are plenty of online resources that are treasure troves of information for travelers. In this day and age, you don’t have to rely on a guidebook if you don’t want. (I will have to admit that personally I find having one in the pack to be a good thing, as long as you don’t use it as your only source of information for all things travel.)
Wikitravel, similar to Wikipedia, is a great travel resource. Because it is updated by users, the information is recent and accurate. The Bootsnall forums are always a great place to look for information, with the added benefit that if you ask a specific question someone will usually answer it for you. Another good tool for traveling in Southeast Asia is Travel Fish. Lonely Planet’s website has some good basic information for each country as well.
I’m sure I’m leaving out dozens of great sites, but you get the idea. If you don’t want a traditional guidebook, you can do plenty of research on the internet. Sometimes the most recent edition of a guidebook is a year or two. In developing countries, this means a lot will have changed. The internet resources have the advantage of being very current, and updated by passionate, informed travelers.
How do you feel about guidebooks? Have any great websites with travel information? Please share in the comments!