The Books: Travel Guides

A good travel guide goes a long way. My buddy Friar Dave started me off on the Let's Go series after my first overseas trip in '03. Let's Go does good work, but their scope is geographically and thematically limited to backpacking and tourism in areas frequented primarily by students. During my recent trips in the Persian Gulf region, I tried the Lonely Planet guidebooks for the first time. Lonely planet seems to cover a wider geographic range.

This time around, my travel goals are focused mostly on the British Isles and Europe, so I've purchased the following guides.

Let's Go: Europe 2012

Let's Go: Great Britain with Belfast and Dublin

Lonely Planet: Ireland

While I'm overseas, I'd also like to make another run at Oman, possibly for some research for my dissertation. Earlier this year, I used the Lonely Planet guide to the Arabian Peninsula. A couple of months ago, during an expedition to Powell's City of Books, I picked up a copy of The Rough Guide to Oman, which is smaller and focuses only on Oman, so I plan to take that instead. In a day or two, I'll post my list of travel goals.