Oct 9th, 2009 at 9:00AM: What is it about Southeast Asia that so captivates our attention? For many Westerners, Southeast Asia has attained an identity of exoticism and escape, enchanting travelers as a destination "off the map" of global tourism. It's a myth readily fed by popular culture. From Graham Greene's The Quiet American to Alex Garland's The Beach we're painted a picture of a magical world, unsullied by the ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
lonelyplanet posts
South by Southeast: New directions in Southeast Asia
Oct 9th, 2009 at 9:00AM: What is it about Southeast Asia that so captivates our attention? For many Westerners, Southeast Asia has attained an identity of exoticism and escape, enchanting travelers as a destination "off the map" of global tourism. It's a myth readily fed by popular culture. From Graham Greene's The Quiet American to Alex Garland's The Beach we're painted a picture of a magical world, unsullied by the ...Fake Canadians go home
Aug 30th, 2009 at 4:30PM:
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I'm as mad as a polar bear reading about global warming. Everywhere I look I see Canadian flags on backpacks. A maple leaf seems to be as important an item of budget travel gear as daddy's credit card, but there's one problem--many of the people flashing the good old red, white, and red ...Indie Travel Podcast launches new magazine
Aug 21st, 2009 at 10:30AM: Craig and Linda Martin have been traveling the world together since 2006. In that time, they've launched the Indie Travel Podcast and turned it into a successful website (they were named Best Podcast in Lonely Planet's 2009 Travel Blog Awards) and an excellent source of information for the independent traveler. Now, in a time when major glossies seem to be folding right and left, they've launched ...Six great beach reads for travelers
Jul 20th, 2009 at 11:30AM:
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There's a special joy that comes with losing yourself in a good book while relaxing on a beach. The warm sun on your skin, the sand between your toes, and the sound of waves gently breaking on the shore create the perfect environment for shrugging off your cares and ...What do you need for breakfast on the road?
Jul 10th, 2009 at 5:30PM: I'm a big fan of breakfast - a big Western breakfast, with eggs and bacon and toast and coffee. And my friend once pointed out after we emerged from our guesthouse in Nha Trang, Vietnam at 4pm after a wild Halloween night that no matter what time of day it is, I need to eat breakfast-y food for my first meal. When I researched Thailand for Lonely Planet last fall, I ate Thai all the time despite ...Economic slow-down hits Lonely Planet: Guidebook publisher to lay off 10% of workforce
Feb 25th, 2009 at 8:30AM: It's not exactly General Motors laying off 60,000, but for most travel writers, this piece of news hits closer to home. The massive guidebook publisher Lonely Planet has just announced that, because of the recent economic down-turn, the company will be sacking 10% of its workforce.
Sure, it's only 50 people that are being let go, but the news will no doubt have guidebook and other travel writers ...I Ran Iran: a feel-good film project foiled by politics
Jan 2nd, 2009 at 11:30AM: I'm wild about independent films with ultimately feel-good heart. Milk and Opium is a film that caught my attention in 2007. So did Binta's Great Idea. Here's another film project I'm excited about: I Ran Iran. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem, from what I've discovered, that the film has been completed. That's too bad. The trailer and the story behind the film are intriguing. By the end of the ...Lonely Planet names top 10 "weird" cities
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Dec 24th, 2008 at 3:00PM: Top 10 lists are the lifeblood of blogging. How else, dear reader, can we quickly inform you of all you need to know about a topic in a format that is quick to read and simultaneously entertaining? The end of the year is fertile ground for top 10 lists, providing an opportunity to take a look at the previous 365 days and gaze at the marvelous things that have come to pass. With this in mind, ...Product review - Lonely Planet guides for Nokia mobile phones
Aug 24th, 2008 at 3:00PM: Earlier this week I posted the announcement of a new initiative by Lonely Planet and Nokia to bring the famous travel guides to GPS enabled Nokia phones. One of the big questions I had, is whether these new phone based guides could actually replace your trusty paper Lonely Planet. So, in this review, I'm going to give you a closer look at how the Lonely Planet guides work, how they can help you ...Nokia and Lonely Planet team up to bring guides to your phone
Aug 19th, 2008 at 1:40PM: Nokia has teamed up with Lonely Planet to bring their travel guides to select Nokia Mobile Phones. Nokia phones with support for the free "Maps 2.0" application can purchase and download Lonely Planet guides directly to their phone. Each guide costs $13.99 which is slightly cheaper than their paper versions, which normally sell for around $18 each. Lonely Planet currently has 100 different guides ...Lonely Planet Joins The Hotel Booking Game
Jul 20th, 2008 at 3:30PM: Since it was sold to the BBC, everybody's favorite guidebook company has had uncertainty looming in its future. The brand took a step away from its paper-and-binding roots recently by signing a deal with Expedia and Hostelworld. The trio will join forces to provide an online hotel booking service. Lonely Planet will put all those hotel reviews it has in its vaults to good use, while Expedia and ...Lonely Planet opens first brick & mortar store
Jul 10th, 2008 at 11:00AM: The ubiquitous Lonely Planet guides have finally outgrown the dusty shelves of your local book store and have evolved into their own brand. Sydney International airport will be the new home of Lonely Planet's first concept store, hosting a wealth of guidebooks, LP branded gear and other hobnobbery catering to a travelers whims. I suppose this location does make sense: Australia is home to the ...Talking travel with the notorious Thomas Kohnstamm
Jun 22nd, 2008 at 9:00AM: Thomas Kohnstamm is the author of this year's most talked about (i.e. controversial) travel memoir, Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?,The book centers around his recent days as a Lonely Planet writer on assignment in Brazil--shortly after its release earlier this year, press reports surfaced all around the world that he supposedly admitted to plagiarizing large chunks of his Lonely Planet write-ups ...GADLING TAKE 5: Week of 4-18-2008
Apr 18th, 2008 at 5:00PM: I suppose this week will go down in travel-writing history as the week of the TKA. In case you've been at the South Pole all week, that would be the Thomas Kohnstamm affair. The whole fiasco prompted all stages of grief in the travel-writing world: shock, denial, anger, despair, and, finally, acceptance -- sort of. Aaron, Jeffrey and Justin covered the scandal, and if you'd like a play-by-play, ...Does Thomas Kohnstamm deserve an apology?
Apr 15th, 2008 at 8:00AM: In an interview posted late yesterday at World Hum, Lonely Planet author Thomas Kohnstamm explains how he's unwittingly found himself at the center of an unexpected controversy.
The author, who was quoted by dozens of newspapers over the weekend admitting to all kinds of guidebook-writing malfeasance, says that the situation has been "blown way out of proportion." In fact, Kohnstamm claims, he ...Thoughts on the Lonely Planet scandal: Guidebooks are a sham
Apr 13th, 2008 at 10:00PM: So, Lonely Planet writer Thomas Kohnstamm, 'author' of the guidebook giant's Colombia title, turns out to be a fraud. That's one of the big stories today, as dutifully reported and followed by Gadling's Aaron. Of course, the travel world has a right to be outraged by this, and that's including the numerous LP writers out there who simply do what is expected of them and produce honest work. But I ...Lonely Planet writer admits he never visited country he wrote about
Apr 13th, 2008 at 8:20AM: Most people who have taken guidebooks on the road realize that they're bound to contain a few inaccuracies. But did you ever consider that the guidebook's author had never even been to the place he wrote about?
An Australian newspaper reported this weekend that a Lonely Planet guidebook writer named Thomas Kohnstamm has admitted to fabricating large parts of his books. The writer even copped to ...5 ways NOT to find a travel companion online
Mar 17th, 2008 at 9:00AM: Some people like to know that, when they land at their destination, there will be someone else there waiting for them. Thankfully, more than a few websites exist to increase your chances of finding a travel companion. If you look through the listings though, you'll find that very few of them receive responses.
Here are a couple tips to ensure that your listing will likewise go unanswered.
1. ...The Frankenguide: Make your own DIY guidebook
Feb 23rd, 2008 at 11:00AM: Whenever I travel somewhere new, instead of dropping $30 on the newest Lonely Planet Wherever and lugging it around in my already-small pack, I'll create what I call a "Frankenguide": a mishmash, do-it-yourself collection of torn-out pages from an official guidebook, printed websites, Wikitravel guides, pages from history books, and anything else that might come in useful when I'm on the road. ...Lonely Planet's Burma guide called unethical
Feb 22nd, 2008 at 4:00PM: Traveling can be political, and as reported by the BBC last September, guidebooks even more so. The current political situation in Burma is so highly charged that Britain's Trade Union Congress (TUC) is asking travelers to stop buying Lonely Planet's guide to Burma in order to encourage the company to withdraw the book from the market. The TUC along with Tourism Concern, Burma Campaign UK and the ...
