To defend the travel guide

Veröffentlicht: 17. Juli 2022, 11:25 Uhr

Von: wom87

My colleague picks up the two travel guides scattered on my desk. "Do you want to take them with you?" I nod. "Are they not too difficult?" I flinch with my shoulders. "Peter will wear it." "You could just look up everything on TripAdvisor." "I prefer travel guides." Her lips curl up at a half -confused, half -despised look. "Okay," she says in a tone that indicates that it is wrong at all.

In contrast to me, she has never bought a travel guide - a trend that seems to be gaining online not only for practical reasons such as her (easier, cheaper and more up -to -date content), but also for superficial reasons. In large parts of the travel press, “not in the travel guide” has become a lazy abbreviation for authenticity. In articles and blogs, referring to “travel guides” tourists is referred to, and for many travelers, traveling without travel guides has become an honorary sign.

The truth is that travel guides are invaluable when they are in a country in which they have never been. Of course there will be some “sheep” that all eat the same banana milk shake in the same street café because page 207 in your travel guide for Thailand told you, but that doesn't mean that everyone is a conformist with a travel guide and an bumper.

Here are five reasons why I will not throw away my travel guide so quickly.

1. She knows more than the travel press

travel blogs and travel reports in newspapers love to talk about places that are “not in the travel guide”, but in reality most of them are in the travel guide. Take the "Beyond the Guidebook" series from National Geographic. Today I looked at the 12 travel destinations on the first page: Acadia National Park in the USA, Sambia, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, the coast of Bohuslän in Sweden, Venice in Italy, Cooperstown in New York, the Dolomites in Italy, Minneapolis in the USA, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Bonito in Brazil, Helsinki in Finland and Berlin in Germany. All except for one (Arcadia National Park) are included in the corresponding travel guide in our collection.

I then looked at one of the blog of the blog. Here, too, everyone is treated in our travel guide for the United States except for one of the 11 travel destinations (namely Cayucos). Perhaps the name Occasionally Beyond the Guidebook would be a more suitable name for the blog.

let's take another example: Darley Newman, the moderator, author and producer of the EMMY price-crowned series Equitrekking, advertises her show that she covers places that you do not find in travel guides, and yet in this interview from 2012 she decided to do this as the "undetermined travel destination that people should know"- The same Cappadocia Lonely Planet, which is also called Turkey’s most interesting page in 1973.

2. It knows more than other travelers

In 2013, Expedia carried out a Twitter chat in which followers were asked to suggest places that lie away from the leaked paths. Travel author Robert Reid analyzed three sides with suggestions from prospective travel experts and found that a Lonely Planet leader covered every single proposal. This does not mean that they will never come across a magical, unknown place, but the idea that "real" travelers know more than the travel guide is misguided and quite arrogant. In general, travel guides in the country that they write about, and will therefore be much better familiar than a random guy in a mischievous bar.

3. It knows more than (many) locals

This point is often controversial, but it is true. Could I, a lifelong Londoner, claim to know my city better than the person who wrote a book about it? No. I could suggest one or two good restaurants that are not covered, but a travel guide will do much better with regard to Must-Seees than I do.

I always ask about recommendations from locals, but this method of doing things is best used in connection with a travel guide and not as a replacement. A travel guide does not exclude authentic experiences by default; You just have to be open to other sources of information and use them together.

4. It can save you money

A travel guide tells you all the tips and tricks you need to know to keep your budget low. Regardless of whether it is a cheap hostel in the basement, a discount you knew nothing about, or about a cheaper day to visit a sight, a travel guide contains a comprehensive list of savings tips.

A advice is to carry out the majority of your research in advance. If you plan to visit several islands in Vanuatu, as we will do, use the travel guide to see if there is a cheap way to move before you arrive there. In this way you can take precautions (e.g. more time, money or a pre -booking) that you may not be able to meet on site.

5. There is context

I appreciate crowdsourcing information like that of Tripadvisor, but I think that it lacks a deeper context. Blog posts and travel items just don't have enough space to really immerse yourself in the history and culture of a country. They may give them a list of cultural commandments and prohibitions, but they do not treat the nuanced reasons why certain things are not acceptable.

My favorite part of a long journey is to roll up with a high -quality travel guide and read about the various errors of a country: for example, the fact that there is a religious sect on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, which Prince Philip is worshiped, or that in Tajikistan the University is considered a highly attractive characteristic of a woman Nairobi gives a group of female prostitutes who have become resistant to AIDS. This is gold.