Lonely Planet, a guide to travelers

Lonely Planet is probably the most used and the best travel guide for travelers. It has founded in 1972 by two Australian hippies, which doesnt suprise me; Australians do love travel! It's first book is named Across Asia on the Cheap and it is written by Tony Wheeler. In the 90's, they have already published more than 500 books about different countries and regions. Today, it is one of the biggest travel guide in the world.

Let's take a look what is inside of this guide. In the first pages, you find a map of the country, which has also some highlights-or must see parts of the country- With this physical map, you can have your first thoughts about the country and its climate, elevation, rivers, lakes, etc. After that, the book introduces you with the authors, mostly native English speaker authors. Highlights with photos are included in next pages. When you look at the contents, you find a brief history, culture, famous foods and drinks. Every country is devided into some regions, such as north part, south east part, etc.

Select a part and let's begin! Firstly, you see a more detailed map of the region you chose. There you can see what is where, how to go to there, must see places. Secondly, you can find cities and areas, and moreover, you find the distances and bus/train services between cities. It is really essential to know how much it costs and how much time it requires when you are traveling from somewhere to another. An important note here: buy a new edition! As you know prices are never constant, they change. So before you having a bad surprise, check the edition date and then prices would be more closer than its written in the book.

Turn the page and go on, here you find some good restaurants, bars, pubs, sleeping places-from expensive hotels to sooo cheap hostels- The best part about them is probably the prices are listed. Calculate your budget and dont spend more money than you planned before.

Knowing a sleeping place before you get there is good but mostly expensive or mid-range priced hotels are listed, so if you have a small budget like i have, you better search hostels on internet. There are 2-3 good sites, I'm sure you can easily find.

In the end, you find emergency numbers, some language lesson and important notes about health. Not in Europe or in the US, but these informations might be useful in some countries, especially in Asia and Africa.

Here its website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations

Take care and travel!