Friday, July 24, 2009
Count Down in Drum Beats
Each day feels like a staccato in time drumming to the flight to Buenos Aires. August 4th, I'll be in the U.S.; August 5th, I'll be seeing my new home in San Telmo, Buenos Aires for the first time.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The Snazzy World of Guide Books
Guidebooks are magical. I didn't even consider getting one when I studied in France...there were so many guides and historical references offered by the university, I probably wouldn't have had time to plop a guidebook on top of the stack. But now, I've sat in bookstores, perusing different guides, comparing, and feeling out which ones would work best for me during my move to Argentina. Here's what I've found:
Guidebooks are written to a niche. It didn't originally occur to me, but now it seems obvious. Frommers, for example, is written for vacation travelers looking for upper-echelon restaurants, accomodations, and entertainment. There are a LOT of ads inside, and it seems geared to consumer America.
Lonely Planet is geared towards middle- to upper-middle-class Americans that want a broader experience. Sure, there are still some pricey places on the list, but the articles are more down-to-earth, and "budget" is certainly not a bad word. Plus, it offers much more by way of city maps and bus maps than the other guide books I looked at. I was sorely tempted to get this one.
But the one that really caught my heart was Let's Go! It had a similar range of entertainment, shopping and lodging listings as Lonely Planet, but it was geared far more for the adventurous and Earth-conscious at heart. It was, for example, the only one to offer charitable volunteer options, locations to work in a supportive manner abroad and other ecotourism advice. It seemed, all-in-all, to encompass the kind of passion for travel that I feel.
As a side note, a friend of ours stumbled across an older (2008) version of a travel book called Time Out, which he gave to us for our trip. It seemed geared more for British travellers, but it had an inordinate amount of lovely color photos - a rarity among travel books. It was also full of fantastic sidebars and a surprisingly in-depth look at the volatile past of Buenos Aires.
Guidebooks are written to a niche. It didn't originally occur to me, but now it seems obvious. Frommers, for example, is written for vacation travelers looking for upper-echelon restaurants, accomodations, and entertainment. There are a LOT of ads inside, and it seems geared to consumer America.
Lonely Planet is geared towards middle- to upper-middle-class Americans that want a broader experience. Sure, there are still some pricey places on the list, but the articles are more down-to-earth, and "budget" is certainly not a bad word. Plus, it offers much more by way of city maps and bus maps than the other guide books I looked at. I was sorely tempted to get this one.
But the one that really caught my heart was Let's Go! It had a similar range of entertainment, shopping and lodging listings as Lonely Planet, but it was geared far more for the adventurous and Earth-conscious at heart. It was, for example, the only one to offer charitable volunteer options, locations to work in a supportive manner abroad and other ecotourism advice. It seemed, all-in-all, to encompass the kind of passion for travel that I feel.
As a side note, a friend of ours stumbled across an older (2008) version of a travel book called Time Out, which he gave to us for our trip. It seemed geared more for British travellers, but it had an inordinate amount of lovely color photos - a rarity among travel books. It was also full of fantastic sidebars and a surprisingly in-depth look at the volatile past of Buenos Aires.
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