Are the Lonely Planet books good to buy?
I have just finished a 7-month backpacking trip around Europe. I guess you could say that I’m now considered as an avid traveler so I believe what I am about to say is completely justified.
Lonely Planet guidebooks are unhelpful, useless and are complete dead weight. My ‘Europe on a Shoestring, Big Trips on Small Budgets’ was more a hindrance than anything.
All 1000 grams of it did not help me one bit. Perhaps if I wanted to fork out a weeks budget for a 1-night stay or wanting to eat Chinese food my whole way through Europe I would of loved it but alas I am on a budget and would rather eat traditional fare from whatever country I am in. It’s the joy of backpacking after all.
If you buy the Shoestring book it’s fair enough to say that you want to keep a close eye on cash so why on earth did LP think it was a good idea to put ‘Splurge’ boxes in?? If I wanted to splurge I would be on the Hilton-Louis Vuitton Pull Along Suitcase-Trip. Wouldn’t it be smarter to fill that space with cheap ways to see the town you’re in? Or better yet, maps that actually are correct?? Or how about the best travel iphone/ipad apps available – I mean they could even suggest their own (rather costly) LP guide apps.
When i was in Budapest during my trip, I was in the mood for Hungarian food funnily enough. So I figured my trusty LP companion could help. My choices were:
1. The most authentic Chinese restaurant in Budapest.
2. Good Italian food at affordable prices.
3. The Parisian Garden – where the French expats eat.
4. Self-service Turkish.
5. Decent enough Mexican.
6. Dishes from Russia & Azerbaijan.
It looks like I am going to “not” go “Hungary” tonight ..
So what I suggest to any backpacker is don’t waste the cash on guidebooks and spend that on a deposit on an iPhone: you don’t need a data plan as there are tons of free Wifi areas in Europe (McDonalds is free Europe-wide), you can access google-maps for free so you always know where you are, it’s not obese and more importantly it can give you up to date weather, train times (DB Bahn app is my fave), skype for any of those phone call emergencies, and any sort of destination info you wish. I’m not even going to argue my point further here, as it is pure common sense.
To cut my ranting short it is safe to say that my LP bible never made it to the end of the trip, instead it was swapped for a teen-vampire romance novel at a hostel’s ‘book swap’. Team Edward!