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Travel Guides- An Overview
By Victor Pryles
You can get reliable, useful information from guidebooks. Yet, some are better than others and often, it's important to know what you're looking for when you travel, what your goals are and what your pocketbook can handle.
As I often tell my fellow Traveling Paupers, a guidebook is just that— a guide. Not a set of rules that are fixed in stone. Never let any guidebook chain you down to a fixed itinerary. Be adventurous, add your own mix of wonder and discovery to the trip you plan, and use your guidebook as an introduction to the locale, not the final arbiter of what is valuable.
That being said, I'd like to explore some of the guidebooks I've found useful in making trips around the world. It is, by no means, a comprehensive listing of all the books available to you. But this sampling should give you a very good starting point to discover what travel books can offer.
The Michelin Red Guides
Provide detailed information about European hotels and restaurants, while the Green Guides focus on European art, history, and places of interest. They tend to be best suited to travel that isn't too budget conscious. Upscale.
The Fielding Guides
Provides a candid, well written guide especially good at finding off-beat, unusual destinations. I recommend them to Paupers that wish to travel off the beaten track. Unique.
Fodor's Travel Guides
Recently celebrating their 60th birthday with almost 100 titles in the Gold Line series. They emphasize the West, but the Fodor's Guides cover countries through-out the world. They provide good historical and cultural information as well as practical recommendations. I like it for those who wish to stay on the middle of the road. Perennial Bestseller.
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