Travel Guides Recommended for Trip Planning

Travel Advice From Lonely Planet, Fodor's and American Auto Assoc.

Sep 28, 2009

Books like Lonely Planet or Fodor's Travel Guides, can help you plan your next trip and save you time and money, while identifying unique off-the-beaten track locations

If you are considering traveling locally, nationally or internationally, travel guidebooks are a great do-it-yourself travel resource. Most guidebooks are filled with fascinating facts on destination costs, climate, tours, transportation, accommodation, restaurants, exciting excursions and much, much more. Y

our trip will take on a deepened enjoyment if you spend less time getting lost, waiting in depots, or scrambling for last-minute, late-night hotel bookings. Travel guides will point out some of the more attractive, amusing, captivating or even remote and romantic places within your budget. These guides tend to be tailored to individual countries and cities, and generally updated yearly. Most guidebooks are extensively researched and written by experienced travelers. Even if you book through a travel agent, it is still a valuable idea to review a travel guide ahead of time.

You will find some of the best travel information in the world in these books. These guides promote “principles of traveling widely, treading lightly and giving sustainably with a strong commitment to independent travel, trustworthy advice and editorial independence.”

Lonely Planet writers quite often add a cheeky, funny perspective on traveling. The books tend to be compact paperbacks, easy to pack. These guidebooks now cover every continent and country throughout the globe – from Africa to South America and beyond. The books are reasonable priced in the $20 - $25 range and have colour photos and detailed maps. They can be purchased at most bookstores or through the Lonely Planet website.

Some of their bestsellers include the China Travel Guide, Cuba Travel Guide and the New Zealand Travel Guide. New upcoming titles include Europe on A Shoestring and Hawaii Travel Guide. They also offer a number of travel language guides. The editors encourage travelers to send feedback about their own travel experiences to the writers.

These guidebooks also offer a wide selection of destination locations. The books tend to be bigger and bulkier then the Lonely Planet series – which is an important consideration when trying to pack light. For example, the Lonely Planet Guidebook to Las Vegas had 264 pages, while the Fodor’s Las Vegas Guide had 344 pages – when traveling, bigger is not necessarily better.

Prices for the Fodor’s guidebook are also $20 - $25, similar to Lonely Planet. Recent releases include guides to New Orleans 2010 and also London 2010. Fodor's are a division of Random House. Other intriguing specialty titles are available on topics such as: family travel, cruise travel, how to pack and how to tip. Hopefully not too many travelers will need to sit down and read 192 pages on how to pack their luggage, although with ever-changing, international airport luggage guidelines, a book on this topic is not unrealistic!

Published by AAA Publishing, these books are organized in sections highlighting: points of interest, lodgings & restaurants, attractions and a reference section. These guides cost about $20, although free to AAA/CAA members. The books use a “gem” rating system, which can become somewhat confusing, until you spend the time deciphering it. Because the books do accept paid advertising, at times there seems to be a bias toward higher end resorts and hotels getting more of the attention. If you do have an AAA. /CAA membership some venues will give you a reduced room rate. The TourBooks are bigger & bulkier - in the range of 600 to 800 pages. You may want to browse sections ahead of your trip and then tear out the relevant pages to keep your luggage load down.

Regardless of which Travel Guide you choose, it is still recommended that you contact accommodations, restaurants or your travel agent prior to your booking and near to the day of your travel, because conditions can change very quickly in the world of global travel. Guide Books do have print deadlines that may not have recorded a sudden change in the country of your choice, such as a weather disaster, a restaurant gone bust, or an unexpected four lane highway being built right outside your resort room window.

The copyright of the article Travel Guides Recommended for Trip Planning in Travel Guides is owned by Bev Yaworski. Permission to republish Travel Guides Recommended for Trip Planning in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.