travel guides.... - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

transfiguration · 07-18-2004, 01:30 PM

next november i'm going to be taking off to europe for at least 6 months, and i'm trying to figure out what to do about travel guides. i definitely want to use them [in addition to internet resources].

i'll be going everywhere from ireland to poland to croatia to spain [and all places in between]. i don't want to bring one of those huge europe books because they tend to miss the small towns [which i love] and they weigh about 100 pounds. same goes for packing along four or five books.

i already have a uk/ireland one from my last trip, and since that's where my trip will start - i figured i'd give it to someone at a hostel as i was leaving the uk for the mainland.

my question is - how easy is it to find english language guides over there? what do you guys do? is there a better way? i plan on using websites to find hostels, but i like the books to let me know what the heck there is to look at and go see.

any ideas??
thx!

**skidrage** · 07-18-2004, 11:18 PM

You can find most of the english language guides in bookstores in the big cities, but they are going to cost you a lot more than they would back in the US. One thing you could do is this, which is what I did. For my last backpacking trip, I bought a Let's Go Eastern Europe book. I already had a Let's Go Western Europe book from a year before, and I just ripped out the sections that I would need. This way, you can keep the section for the country you are in currently in your daypack, and keep the rest packed away.

These books did have smaller cities listed in them. I know the Let's Go Europe book deletes a lot of the smaller towns, which is why I suggest the books that are divided off by a certain section. Even though you do say you will be going all over, I am sure there are sections that you won't need (maybe Iceland, Russia, Ukraine).

Like you, I used the internet for hostels, but the tour books are handy for city information on sites and transportation. Also, they give you a good idea on costs and what to watch out for.

**Ozpacka** · 07-19-2004, 02:31 AM

Or you could just buy the books, photocopy what you need out of it, make your own european guide and then take the book back...

Not that i reccommend this course of action though

Leeroy

transfiguration · 07-19-2004, 05:48 PM

hey skidrage -

that's a good idea. plus i hadn't even thought about the guides costing more over there - i was more concerned about even being able to find em.
and since i'll be done with eastern europe first - i could give that to someone when i leave and that would lighten things up too.

anyone else have any other ways of doing this??

**MolsonGirl** · 07-20-2004, 07:58 AM

I did the photocopy deal but I borrowed mine from my local library at home... none of this using it and returing it to the store stuff... P.S I must stree that if you do the photo copy thing put it in a watersafe bag or somethign.. ziplock is what I used... cause normal paper is definetly not as strong as travelguide paper.

psypher · 08-05-2004, 02:22 PM

what kind of information is most important in these travel guides? i've browsed through some 'lets go' books but i find them totally overwhelming! seemed like to many specifics. is all the information necessary? should i be reading through these before i leave? or will they make more sense when i get over there?

**skidrage** · 08-05-2004, 02:32 PM

All travel guides are going to have the same basic information setup such as transportation, lodging, food, sights, and night life. What do you find so overwhelming about the Let's Go books? If it is the first 100 pages with the general info, I say just rip that section out as it is good to look through once, but then becomes pretty useless.

The guides are very helpful to read before you arrive. Sometimes you might discover an area that sounds interesting from it's entry in the guide. Also, depending on the detail of instructions, it can help you out greatly and avoid being looked at like a lost tourist when arriving to a town. On the other hand, whoever wrote the Czech Republic section of Let's Go 2004 must have been drinking too much absinthe. Terrible directions in multiple cities and some pretty bad places given the thumbs up reccomendation.

In general, I think that travel guides are best for the maps they give and the general information on the city with regards to transportation sights, and price ranges. For lodging, check online sites and for food and night life, just find out from the people who are working where you are staying.

**tumblezweedz** · 08-25-2004, 10:57 AM

You can also send home the bits you're done with, which lightens the load and gives you the added adventure of exploring foreign post offices. Always exciting. Sometimes a whole day in itself. Anyway, you can also throw whatever souvenirs, postcards, etc. that you pick up in the envelope and mail it to yourself to save lugging it around.

For eastern Europe, the In Your Pocket guides are pretty much invaluable, although some city's are definitely better than others. The Krakow one is particularly entertaining just for it's descriptions of the restaurants. Check out their website (www.inyourpocket.com) to see which of the cities you plan to visit have guides, but I wouldn't bother trying to order them in advance, it's cheaper to buy them in country, and sometimes tracking them down can be another all day adventure! Generally speaking, head to the hostel or the central tourism info - not all bookstores have them, although in Vilnius and Riga they're easy to find.

They have better city maps than most guide books, but they usually don't cover much outside the city - maybe a daytrip or two. Also, since they're updated every couple of months, they're usually more accurate than the big guide books.

**PlayPal** · 10-13-2004, 03:56 PM

So is it overkill to buy a travel book for each country that I'm going to?

**skidrage** · 10-13-2004, 06:16 PM

PlayPal

I would not suggest buying an individual book for each country. BUT, how many countries and for how long are you going? If it is for example, three months in Germany and three months in Italy, then it would make sense to buy books for the individual countries as you will be spending a great deal of time there. Otherwise, do you really want to be carrying around 10 different travel guides (plus the cost of the books)?

**PlayPal** · 10-13-2004, 09:03 PM

That makes sense. I'll probably be spending around a month in each of two countries with a month split between spain and portugal (poor portugal, always lumped in as spains little brother in travel plans). The other two countries are Italy and Greece. I'm thinking of just buying one for each country when I get there, and giving the books I'm done with to other travelers if any need them.

**tumblezweedz** · 10-18-2004, 10:39 PM

It might be worth picking up three guides for the travelling you're doing - Spain/Portugal, Italy and Greece. Before you go, read James Michener's "Iberia". It's not as big as his other books, but I like the way he brings places to life.

**PlayPal** · 10-19-2004, 11:13 AM

Iberia huh? I'll check it out. I read my first Michener this summer. It's called Centennial and it was really pretty good. That guy has some crazy attention to detail. Really interesting stuff though. Anyway, thanks for the info.

**PlayPal** · 10-19-2004, 11:16 AM

Iberia huh? I'll check it out. I read my first Michener this summer. It's called Centennial and it was really pretty good. That guy has some crazy attention to detail. Really interesting stuff though. Anyway, thanks for the info.