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Posted by Amanda Kendle Jul 20, 2006 |
When I first started traveling as a teenager, somehow I decided I wanted to go backpacking. In fact I had a decently paid job at the time, so it wasn't just financial factors - I'd seen and read enough to know that I wanted to do things my own way. This first trip wasn't especially challenging - to fly into Melbourne, out of Sydney, and spend three weeks moving in between - but it was taken without any bookings beyond the flights, with a reliance on a guidebook for Australia.
This first guidebook was a Lonely Planet, and I loved the way it honestly told me if a hostel was a dump, and whether or not a museum was actually interesting: it talked to me like a new-found travel mate, not a marketing machine for the country. Since then I've traveled almost exclusively with Lonely Planets, deviating to lesser-known Bradt Guides for a few more obscure destinations. But equally, other travelers I know swear by a Rough Guide or a Let's Go. Nowadays when I visit a "tourist hotspot" like Prague, I tend to ignore even the guidebook and just follow my nose; but in most of Eastern Europe and Russia, tourist information services aren't too developed and guidebooks really give you a helping hand. Of course, a lot of the information you need can now be found on the internet, but having a book to hand every step of the way is still something I find hard to give up.
My article this week reviews Lonely Planet's Eastern Europe guidebook, which has got me from the top of Estonia to the bottom of the Balkans with very few hiccups. But this is no endorsement - everybody travels with a different style and for a different purpose, and you need to find the kind of guidebook which is right for you.