Lonely Planet Introduces Handy Pick & Mix Guides

by Martha Edwards on

The Lonely Planet has been my faithful companion on almost every trip I’ve taken. Southeast Asia on a Shoestring and Europe on a Shoestring are two particularly battered versions … they’ve been bent, dog-earred, used as makeshift pillows in desperation and clumsily highlighted while on bumpy bus rides.

And while I wouldn’t leave home without my trusty guide, I wish there were a way to make it more compact. Yeah, I know it’s just a book but for a backpacker with a shopping habit, a book that size takes up a lot of precious space and weight. On my southeast Asia trip, for instance, I could’ve done without the chapters on Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma and the Philippines — they just weren’t on the agenda for that trip.

But wait … there is a way to lighten up your Lonely Planet load. It’s called Pick & Mix and it allows you to download, save and print individual chapters. The chapters are identical to those in the guidebooks, and each will cost you between $2 and $4. And, you’ll get a discount if you buy multiple chapters at once. They’re currently trying out the Pick & Mix program so you can only get select guide books right now, but look for more soon.

Old Guidebooks? Keep ’em or Ditch ’em?

by Brett Atkinson on

It’s a lazy Sunday in Auckland and I’m relocating my workspace from an external office back to the spare room in our apartment (it’s a long story involving a rapacious landlord who doesn’t appreciate the finer points of the freelance life).

Here’s my dilemma.

What should I do with loads of old guidebooks, including some that date back 20 years? In my office I’d had the luxury of space to keep them all, but maybe now’s the time to move on.

What does everyone else do with guidebooks once they’ve returned from a trip?

  1. Do you leave them in your bookcase as a souvenir of your travels?
  2. Keep them as a badge of honour to prove to visitors you went to Vietnam before Bill Clinton lifted the embargo, and have got a faded early 90s copy of Lonely Planet Vietnam to prove it?
  3. An independent traveller like you doesn’t use guidebooks.

Thanks to TeddyBoy on Flickr for the pic of his well-travelled bookcase.

One for the Road – China: Living Abroad in China

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

If you and your family are considering a relocation to Shanghai or any other Chinese city, be sure to check out Moon’s guide to Living Abroad in China. The book is written by Stuart and Barbara Strother, who first visited China while studying abroad in the early 1990’s. They later returned with their twins in tow and spent several years living and working in Shanghai. Although now based in California, the Strothers still visit China and lead a summer study abroad program there for US business majors.

This handy guide is broken down into three main sections. The first portion focuses on daily life: moving with kids and/or pets, health, finance and employment issues. It is then followed by a section highlighting prime living locations, organized by province. And then there’s a helpful reference section at the rear, with all the nuts and bolts stuff that parents or single adults will want to know before making a move.

One for the Road – China: Time Out Beijing

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

Time Out’s new city guide to Beijing was published in late June, right before I left for China. I was lucky to get hold of a copy just days before my departure. I’ve read Time Out’s magazines before, but this was the first trip during which I used one of their guidebooks.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, since I’m not familiar with their city guide format. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself turning to Time Out Beijing at least once every day during my trip. And I think I carried it with me almost every day too, since it’s so lightweight. The color maps in the back are not that great, and I wish they had Chinese translations for all the entries. But the content is good, and includes side bars with valuable tidbits about food, business, history and trends. I like how they break out the sightseeing chapter into different sections for each geographical neighborhood. That made it easy to flip through when I found myself lost somewhere, in search of something to do :)

It’s a stylish, pretty guide with color photos that provides an excellent overview to the city. Check it out if you’re headed to Beijing soon — the info is all fairly current, since it was published recently.

One for the Road – China: Top 10 Beijing

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

One of guides I used frequently during my week in the ‘jing was DK Eyewitness Travel’s Top 10 Beijing, a new title in their popular series that was released in Spring 2007. I’ve never really used DK guides before but decided to bring this one along since it wouldn’t take up much room. I also usually steer clear of glossy guidebooks with lots of photos, as they can often lack the detailed content I’m looking for in a travel guide. But if you have done your detailed research ahead of time with the heftier guides, this might be the best traveling companion to throw in your pack. It’s a slim and sleek overview to the city, loaded with practical and useful content.

Because of its compact size, I carried the Top 10 Beijing with me almost very day. The “Around Town” section was most useful to me — there are six suggested walks for different sections of the city, and although I didn’t follow any of them exactly, each served as a handy reference tool when mapping out daily itineraries. In addition to DK’s featured ten must-see Beijing sights (I only visited six of their top suggestions) there are a variety of other creative top ten lists throughout the book — things like music bars, parks, socialist monuments, Chinese movies, teahouses, galleries and street food. The 128-page guide also includes decent mini flip-out maps in the front and rear covers. It’s definitely a guide to consider, especially if you’ll only have limited time in the city.