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.Thailand (Country Guide)

by: China Williams, Aaron Anderson, Brett Atkinson, Tim Bewer, Becca Blond, Virginia Jealous, Lisa Steer

August 01, 2007
As always, the book contains a wealth of practical information. I've used lonelyplanet guides to plan my travels to New-Zealand, South-Africa and Kenya in the past.
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Used Price: $17.58

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.Australia (Country Guide)

by: Justine Vaisutis, Becca Blond, Lindsay Brown, Terry Carter, Lara Dunston, George Dunford

November 01, 2007
good book that will be great assistance in planning trip to Oz, as well as during my journey
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Used Price: $19.75

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.Lonely Planet Washington, DC

by: Aaron Anderson, Becca Blond

April 01, 2007
Being a travel junky I found this guidebook very valuable. Some points:

1. It has color maps all located in the same place (back of the book). On the backside of each map is an index with a page reference! So you see the map, you flip and find the attraction/restaurant/whatever, and you go to the referenced page for more info. This is invaluable since the last thing I like doing is flipping through maps embedded throughout a book only to not get any information on what's around me.

2. Did I mention the maps? There is also a subway map overlay on each map so you can plan getting there and getting back. There's also a complete map at the very back.

3. It's a compact book. This is a BIG deal. Lug around a monstrous ... Read More:
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Used Price: $9.99

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.Lonely Planet Madagascar & Comoros (Lonely Planet Madagascar) (Multi Country Guide)

by: Becca Blond

March 15, 2008
Writing a review of a travel guide that one has not yet used presents fundamental difficulties in judging the usefulness, accuracy, and validity of the information given. Nonetheless, I have lots of experience using guides and, further, I have the 2007 edition of Hilary Bradt's Madagascar book to compare with the Lonely Planet publication. To begin with, the Lonely Planet guide is of a smaller format and shorter in length than Bradt. It covers an additional subject, the Comoros. The net effect is a more surface treatment of the sights and regions of the country, but a heavy emphasis on such practical aspects as where to stay and eat and how to get around. There are excellent maps of towns and small local areas. Lonely Planet authors give opinions about destinations that ... Read More:
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Used Price: $13.99

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.Lonely Planet Thailand

by: Joe Cummings, Morgan Konn, China Williams, Becca Blond, Matt Warren

September 30, 2005
I've used a lot of lonely planet guides in my travels, but I found this one a bit less useful than other LP country guides. It just seemed like the detail was missing, especially in regards to beaches and water activities. It almost seems like you need to buy this guide for 'most of Thailand' and then the seperate guide for beaches which is just asking too much. Could have more detail on major attractions like the Grand palace (how about a map?) and more detail on things like snorkelling / diving / surf spots on maps like they do for the Hawaii guide
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Used Price: $9.40

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.Southwest USA (Regional Guide)

by: Becca Blond, Kim Grant, John A Vlahides

October 01, 2005
There don't seem to be many all-encompassing guides that address travel in the Southwestern US. However, I was excited to see that Lonely Planet was among them. After reading some of the reviews on this site, I was a bit apprehensive about purchasing it, but a combination of my high regard for Lonely Planet and the alternative of having to purchase several books convinced me to buy it. After spending the past month trying to use this book as a resource for planning a week long vacation in the Southwest, I have to agree with the critical reviews.

Perhaps the editor of this text had a trigger-happy finger with the delete key; whatever the reason may be, this text is missing a good bit. There are many generalizations and few applicable insights. I found myself having ... Read More:
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Used Price: $6.95

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.Tahiti & French Polynesia (Country Guide)

by: Becca Blond

May 01, 2006
Lonely Planet guides have been my guide of choice for some time but this one was not up to snuff. It just wasn't detailed enough. Two areas that bothered me was nothing about the weather and I could not find the specific snorkeling information I wanted and that was one of the prime reasons for going to Tahiti and purchasing the book.
A general warning - the dollar will now only get you 75 polynesian francs instead of the 100 when the book was written. Not Lonely Planet's fault - the dollar has just sunk but what used to be expensive can now be almost ridiculous in price!
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Used Price: $3.00

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.Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring

by: Kevin Anglin, Becca Blond, Jean-Bernard Carillet

2004-03
Lonely Planet is the leader in travel books. This isn't just my opinion, I've met many other travelers who won't go anywhere without the appropriate LP book. Africa on a Shoestring is a great guide, with information on places to stay and what to see, for travelers who don't want to spend a fortune and aren't afraid to get out and actually experience the local culture.

That being said, I'm really disappointed in parts of this book. As the market leader, LP should be able to keep its books properly updated. Yet many country sections start with: "We were unable to do on-the-ground research in (country_name), so some information in this chapter may not be reliable". While this is understandable in someplace like Liberia or Cote d'Ivoire where the national security situation is volatile, ... Read More:
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Used Price: $5.04

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.Lonely Planet Central Europe

by: Steve Kokker, Becca Blond, Lisa Dunford, Mark Elliott, Michael Grosberg, Sarah Johnstone, Tom Parkinson, Matt Warren, Richard Watkins, Neil Wilson

February 15, 2005
Naturally, because of the number of countries this book covers, it is far less detailed about any one country than Lonely Planet guides covering single countries or a smaller number of countries. Still, for my purposes--a 15-day motorcoach tour including Frankfurt, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, with just a day and a half or so in each city--it proved adequate. Few people will have room enough in their carry-on or checked luggage to carry a book for each country visited during such a tour, so one is stuck with a single multi-country guidebook.

I don't understand why Lonely Planet included Switzerland and Slovenia in this book. If one is traveling to Krakow or Prague, one usually doesn't travel to Switzerland during the same trip.

My basis for comparison ... Read More:
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Used Price: $3.99

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.Lonely Planet South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland

by: Becca Blond, Gemma Pitcher, Mary Fitzpatrick, Simon Richmond, Matt Warren

November 15, 2004
Just like the rest of the Lonely Planet tour guide books - it's awesome! Everything is the same in this book as the others, except it's about South Africa. So, if you liked their other tour guide books, as I do very much, you'll like this one too. Check it out!
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Used Price: $1.64