Tag: Guidebooks
‘I Was Writing a Guidebook to a Country That No Longer Exists’
by Michael Yessis | 10.10.11 | 9:08 AM ET
Kate Grace Thomas updated the Lonely Planet guidebook to Libya just before the Arab Spring. As the country turned violent, the book was quickly put on hold. Yet Thomas found herself itching to return to Libya. She writes about her experiences in Guernica:
War is not my beat. I knew that. But Libya, somehow, was. I went in December to tell its stories—stories of nascent tourism and marvelous ruins, stories of deserted beaches and drinking sugary tea in the winter wind. And now, there were more stories to tell.
(Via @writinginpublic)
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz‘Europe’s First Travel Guide’ Missing From Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
by Michael Yessis | 07.07.11 | 6:33 PM ET
The Codex Calixtinus was reported missing Wednesday by distraught staff at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. The 12th century illustrated manuscript was “compiled as a guidebook for medieval pilgrims following the Way of Saint James,” according to the BBC.
This is the oldest copy of the manuscript and is unsaleable on the open market.
Only a handful of people had access to the room in which it was kept.
This edition of the Codex Calixtinus is thought to date from around 1150.
Its purpose was largely practical—to collect advice of use to pilgrims heading to the shrine there. It also included sermons and homilies to St James.
The Guardian adds:
The local Correo Gallego newspaper reported that distraught cathedral staff spent hours searching for the manuscript before contacting police late that night.
“Although security systems have been improved considerably it is true to say that they are not of the kind one might find in a bank or a well-protected jewellers,” the newspaper reported.
Only five security cameras were used to watch the archive area, according to the newspaper, and none were pointing directly at the safe where the priceless manuscript was stored.
Frommer’s Europe: From $5 a Day to $95 a Day
by Eva Holland | 11.16.10 | 1:17 PM ET
Doug Mack crunches the numbers on the evolution of Arthur Frommer’s classic guidebook, “Europe on $5 a Day,” from the 1957 original to its final, 2007 incarnation: “Europe on $95 a Day.” The result is an interesting little snapshot of the ways travel prices have changed over the years. By 1996, for instance, the guidebook was titled “Europe on $45 a Day”—but the inflation-adjusted value of $5 was just $27.92.
He also explored what you can still see in Paris on $5 a day in a World Hum audio slideshow awhile back. The answer? Not much, though confusion and surprises are still free.
Twitter, Travel Apps and the Fate of the Guidebook
by Eva Holland | 10.07.10 | 2:44 PM ET
In The Guardian, Benji Lanyado outlines his transition over the last few years from traditional guidebook user to travel blog junkie and, finally, to Twitter-traveler. Here’s his take on the next phase—the rise of travel apps like Foursquare:
What once required hours of rifling through guidebooks, or Googling into the provincial nooks of the internet, is now attainable in an instant. And increasingly we don’t need to find the information. It can find us.
Having convinced the online public to reveal who they are (through social networking sites such as Facebook) and what they are doing (via Twitter), the web’s latest question is significantly more zoomed in: where are you? Location-specific information is what we want, especially when we are travelling.
Lanyado notes that roaming fees remain a serious obstacle to widespread app use. There’s also a (mostly) thoughtful and civilized follow-up discussion in the comments.
More Thoughts About the Future of Guidebooks
by Michael Yessis | 08.13.10 | 11:54 AM ET
The latest analysis comes from Financial Times travel editor Tom Robbins. A positive note:
Sales figures may be dire, the challenges mounting, but this summer there’s a buzz in the world of travel publishing, a sense of being on the verge of a totally new era. The internet allowed people to research their trips themselves before setting out, but smartphone apps and iPads travel with them. Suddenly the guidebook publishers, who for years seemed to be looking on from the sidelines, unsure of how to make websites work for them, have found themselves with a medium that makes sense.
‘35 Handkerchiefs, 10 Shirts, 10 Ties…’
by Eva Holland | 07.16.10 | 11:30 AM ET
World Hum contributor Doug Mack looks back at the packing list suggested by early guidebook author Temple Fielding. “Fielding’s Travel Guide to Europe” first came out in 1946—when, apparently, a “lounging robe” and a set of sealskin slippers were essential travel accessories.
Interview with Jeremy Weate: Off the Map in Nigeria
by Frank Bures | 04.21.10 | 11:56 AM ET
Frank Bures talks to the guidebook author about the challenges and rewards of travel in Nigeria
The Magic of an Ancient Guidebook
by Eva Holland | 04.16.10 | 9:45 AM ET
NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu is the latest to discover the delights of traveling—whether virtually or in reality—with a decades- or centuries-old guide. His inspiration? Sabine Baring-Gould’s “Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe,” published in 1911. From the story:
The cave habitats of Europe opened to his erudition and lust are mostly lost now, many devastations later, but they made me hungry and gave me an idea. Why not retro travel?
Is This the ‘Twilight of the Travel Guidebook’?
by Eva Holland | 03.31.10 | 11:57 AM ET
With his second edition looming, guidebook author David Page ponders the future of the genre:
As a traveler who prefers to ferret things out on his own, to skip the well-paved interpretive loop and instead wander off-trail in search of the overlooked and overgrown, I can’t say I’ll much lament the passing of the genre (assuming, that is, that the rumors of its demise have not been greatly exaggerated). Give me a half-decent map, a good 19th-century explorer’s narrative, a gallon of water and maybe a headlamp for good measure, and I’ll set off across the landscape giddy into the unknown. When I get that hankering for a decent Philly cheese steak or a sixer of empanadas de pino, I’ll risk altercation and embarrassment and ask a local—long before I try to hack my way to something useful through the thickets of TripAdvisor or Yelp.
As the author of an old-fashioned printed-and-bound guidebook, though, I worry. I wonder if it may finally be time to decamp. Or (gulp) to reinvent.
New Travel Book: ‘China: Museums’
by Eva Holland | 02.05.10 | 12:21 PM ET
This illustrated guide to China’s many lesser-known museums is due out in April. The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos has a thoughtful Q&A with co-author Miriam Clifford, on her favorite spots and the way China presents itself, to visitors and to its own citizens.
Interview with Susan Van Allen: ‘100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go’
by Eva Holland | 01.11.10 | 10:39 AM ET
Photo courtesy of Susan Van Allen Eva Holland asks the author why female travelers (and travel writers) are so drawn to Italy
Finding the Zagat of the Napoleonic Era
by Eva Holland | 11.23.09 | 11:37 AM ET
World Hum contributor Tony Perrottet has a great read in this week’s New York Times Travel section—he heads to Paris on the trail of Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de la Reynière, a legendary gourmand who financed his immersion in early 19th-century Parisian dining by writing a series of proto-guidebooks, the “Almanachs des Gourmands.” It’s exactly the kind of historical tidbit I love stumbling across, though it’s not recommended for readers on an empty stomach.
Is an Electronic Guidebook Packing Too Light in 2010?
by Rick Steves | 11.10.09 | 10:50 AM ET
On Kindles, guidebooks, and whether the two are ready to be mixed
Travel Writer as Curator
by Rick Steves | 11.03.09 | 9:51 AM ET
On the state of newspapers and the role of tour guides and guidebook writers
Michelin’s Guides Explained
by Eva Holland | 09.24.09 | 10:58 AM ET
The Daily Beast demystifies the powerhouse foodie-travel guides from the tire manufacturing giant. Did you know that the books actually started out as road trip pamphlets marking the locations of gas stations and mechanics?
The Medieval Icelandic Guide to Marauding
by Eva Holland | 09.22.09 | 12:35 PM ET
The Telegraph highlights the mostly intimidating descriptions of Scotland that pop up in a series of 13th-century Icelandic chronicles. “Icelanders who want to practise robbery are advised to go there,” reads one section. “But it may cost them their life.” The chronicles, the story explains, “were often used as route guides for raiders, traders, crusaders and explorers, effectively a road map of medieval Europe and the Middle East.” Apparently, they’ve remained accurate enough over the centuries that they’re still used by archaeologists today.
Are Zagat Ratings an Endangered Species?
by Eva Holland | 09.09.09 | 10:11 AM ET
The New York Post reports that the company’s book sales are “down dramatically” and that web traffic is declining, too. The culprits? The recession—and its impact on high-end dining—on the one hand, and free online upstarts like Yelp and Chowhound on the other.
Skip the Colosseum? Give Prague a Pass?
by Eva Holland | 09.02.09 | 10:24 AM ET
Eva Holland sees an emerging trend in the world of travel advice, and she's not happy about it
Pedaling Through New York’s Neighborhoods
by Eva Holland | 07.15.09 | 9:47 AM ET
Good news for travelers on two wheels: New York City’s planning department has launched a series of cycling guides to lesser-visited areas of the five boroughs. The Times’ J. David Goodman took the first installment, “Queens Around the World,” for a test drive, and apart from a few logistical hitches he gives it a positive review. He wrote of his trip through Flushing, Corona and Jackson Heights: “Cruising this route by bike reveals how each community bleeds into the next, and does so at a speed that is quick enough to show the juxtapositions, but not so fast that each is lost in a blur.”
A guide to the Bronx is due out next.
Google Unveils City Tours, Comes One Step Closer to World Domination
by Eva Holland | 06.25.09 | 12:40 PM ET
Look out, guidebook publishers—Google is coming for you. The all-new Google City Tours provides users with suggested urban itineraries and then allows for customization from there. The Guardian’s Benji Lanyado takes it for a test drive.
- « Prev Page
- Next Page »