Mar 29th, 2013 at 11:00AM: It was with a heavy heart that I read the news last week that Frommer's guidebooks will cease to be printed. The guidebooks were purchased by Google last summer, and as of this year, the entire future list of titles will not be released. With the takeover of digital apps, social media, and user-generated content, we knew this was coming, but it still feels like the end of an era. It's become ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
LonelyPlanet posts
A Personal Lament To The Death Of Guidebooks
Mar 29th, 2013 at 11:00AM: It was with a heavy heart that I read the news last week that Frommer's guidebooks will cease to be printed. The guidebooks were purchased by Google last summer, and as of this year, the entire future list of titles will not be released. With the takeover of digital apps, social media, and user-generated content, we knew this was coming, but it still feels like the end of an era. It's become ...Meet The Reclusive American Billionaire Who Bought Lonely Planet
Mar 20th, 2013 at 3:00PM:
Last year, the Wall Street Journal called Brad Kelley "the man with a million acres." Now the American billionaire and land addict has expanded his kingdom to include the world's biggest travel-guide publisher. Kelley's NC2 Media bought Lonely Planet from BBC Worldwide in a deal announced yesterday.
Most of the headlines focused on the huge loss BBC is taking by selling the company for ...
Lonely Planet's Best Worst Pick-Up Lines For Travelers
Feb 10th, 2013 at 4:00PM:
"I hope you're not a monk, because I'd love go Tibet with you." Cue sound of detonating bomb.
Our friends at Lonely Planet recently compiled a list of the best worst travel-themed pick-up lines, via Twitter. The results are hilarious, as well as cringe-inducing. Some of our favorites:
"This may not be India, but since I saw you, I've felt like I'm in Lucknow."
"You must be from ...Book Review: Lonely Planet's 'Better Than Fiction'
Jan 7th, 2013 at 11:00AM: What is travel writing? Is the genre defined by its commitment to true-to-life recounting of the people, places and cultures we have experienced and lessons to be drawn from them? Or is travel writing something more malleable, simply a style of writing, true or not, that utilizes places and people as vehicles for a good story? The tension between these two competing definitions is at the heart of ...Lonely Planet's Top US Travel Destinations For 2013
Dec 5th, 2012 at 1:00PM:
Savvy travelers are already looking to make their 2013 travel plans. Our friends at Lonely Planet have done much of the work to make travel booking easy, releasing their new 2013 guides and top ten U.S. destinations for travel in the new year.
Whether you're returning to an old favorite or picking a new city to visit on a weekend away, these ten destinations are great places to consider ...The Problem With Guidebooks, Or How I Came to Hate Lonely Planet On A Sunday in Crete
Jun 25th, 2012 at 12:00PM: Have you ever been so annoyed with a guidebook that you wanted to track down the author and bludgeon them to death with a rusty hatchet? Neither have I, but yesterday I came close.
I almost always invest in a guidebook when I take a trip. But I'm not sure why, because I've been led astray on so many occasions. After arriving in the Greek isles at the start of a six-week trip, my wife and I ...The Most Useful Useless Phrasebook Phrases
Jun 1st, 2012 at 9:00AM: I've frequently touted Lonely Planet's Phrasebooks on Gadling (about as often as I've truthfully stated that I receive no kickbacks from them). They've saved my butt countless times, helping me do everything from getting on the right train platform to finding out what obscure ingredient is in a dish.
There's another reason I love these indispensible travel companions, however, and that's for ...iPhone app review: 'Spotted By Locals' European city guides
Jan 28th, 2012 at 11:00AM: On a recent extended trip to Phnom Penh, I decided to bring along my trusty five-pound Southeast Asia on a Shoestring guide from Lonely Planet. Big mistake. In a city changing as quickly as Cambodia's capital, I found that nearly all of the information had become dated and irrelevant. Nearly half of the recommended restaurants had gone out of business, and the budget guesthouses, experiencing the ...Get Lonely Planet's 2012 travel guide free this week at Starbucks
Jan 11th, 2012 at 9:00AM: Planning a trip for 2012? We'd suggest you do it over a Starbucks coffee this week. The chain's weekly iTunes' "Pick of the Week" cards are featuring a redemption code to download Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2012 from the iBookstore for free.
Featuring Lonely Planet's top places to visit and experiences for 2012, this full-color eBook can only help guide your travel planning for the upcoming ...Win the trip of a lifetime from Lonely Planet and Bing
Dec 27th, 2011 at 9:00AM: Your dream vacation could become a reality through a new holiday sweepstakes hosted by Bing and sponsored by Lonely Planet.
The Grand Prize winner and a guest will work with Lonely Planet staff and authors to devise a customized 15 day/14 night itinerary exploring up to four destinations around the world, up to a value of $30,000.
The sweepstakes kicks off on December 29th at midnight PT/3 ...Lonely Planet launches Wenzani travel app for iPhone and iPod touch
Dec 6th, 2011 at 9:00AM: Travel guide favorite Lonely Planet has joined the app game with the launch today of Wenzani, a free app for for the iPhone and iPod touch. Wenzani - a Zulu greeting which means "what are you doing?"- brings together recommendations from Lonely Planet and other top travel publishers along with local experts, and users' social networks.
"It's creating a personalized guide on-the-go," said Jenny ...Lonely Planet names top 10 cities for 2012
Nov 3rd, 2011 at 8:00AM: Earlier this week popular travel guide publisher Lonely Planet announced their selections for the top 10 cities to visit in 2012, with a few obvious choices making the list. For example, London, which will host the 2012 Olympic Games, was unsurprisingly given a nod, while Hong Kong and Orlando, two perennially popular destinations, earned the distinction as well. Other cities making their way into ...Major tourist site restored in Herat, Afghanistan. Please send me there!
Oct 19th, 2011 at 3:00PM:
While Afghanistan may not be high on your places-to-go list, the government is trying hard to offer more sightseeing opportunities.
A giant citadel overlooking the city of Herat has just reopened after several years and $2.4 million of restoration. The citadel dates back to when Alexander the Great's armies marched across Afghanistan on their way to India in 330 BC. It was used by a ...Interesting indoor spaces around the world
Oct 4th, 2011 at 5:00PM: I love the outdoors, to the extent that I tend to bypass or overlook exceptional indoor spaces when I'm traveling or recounting a great trip. Fortunately, Lonely Planet author/former Gadling contributor Leif Pettersen's recent list on LP's website has reminded me that---as many a grandmother has said---beauty is on the inside.
Pettersen says only in recent years has he developed a special ...Lonely Planet dishes out summer travel tips and chance at a Napa Valley trip
May 26th, 2011 at 3:00PM:
Summer is fast approaching and sure to fly by even more quickly than it came. To help Americans get the most out of the summer months, Lonely Planet has launched a special micro-site called "Weekends of Summer" that has 15 free guides for all the weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The guides reads like a summer to-do list, with suggestions like "pop a cork" and "explore the great ...Sesame Street helps kick off summer travel season
May 2nd, 2011 at 12:30PM: Does Cookie Monster have to buy two seats? Does Elmo travel carry-on only? You can ask them yourself this week as several Sesame Street characters appear at US airports this week to kick off summer travel with Delta Airlines.
Today, Elmo and Cookie Monster will be making gate announcements and welcoming travelers to Minneapolis-St Paul Airport, before meeting up with Grover at La Guardia on ...Space tourism celebrates tenth anniversary
Apr 30th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Space tourism is ten years old this week. On 28 April 2001 millionaire Dennis Tito became the first person to go into space as a tourist and not an astronaut or scientist.
In an interview with BBC today he talked about how thrilled he was and called his eight days being in orbit "paradise."
While space tourism is the ultimate in high-cost adventure travel--only seven people have done it so ...Where are all the travel guide apps for Android?
Mar 25th, 2011 at 11:00AM: Nearly two years ago, I bought my first smartphone: the T-Mobile Android MyTouch*. I'm only occasionally jealous of my iPhone-carrying friends, as I find few travel guide apps for Android. Even after a move to Istanbul, I still use and rely upon it daily; Android's interface is fast and easy-to-use, and seamless use of Google applications like Gmail and Google Maps is part of the reason I bought ...Useful foreign phrases, Part 1: how to say, "I'm just looking" in 10 languages
Mar 24th, 2011 at 12:00PM: I've frequently pimped Lonely Planet's Phrasebooks on this site, but I swear I don't get kickbacks from the company. It's just that I'm a big believer in not being a). A Tourist (although, let's face it, if I'm not at home, I am indeed A Tourist) and b). helpless.
Even if you're the biggest xenophobe on earth--which would make foreign travel a really weird and pointless pastime you might want ...Lonely Planet North American city guides free till February 4
Feb 2nd, 2011 at 11:30AM: To help stranded travelers navigate their way around a strange city during "snowmageddon 2011", Lonely Planet has dropped the price on its North American city guides to $0.
The 13 different free guides cover most major cities in the US and Canada and are all available in the iTunes App Store.
San Francisco
New York City
Boston
Washington DC
Chicago
Seattle
New ...
