OZtralia.tv Blog

Do You Need A Guide Book While in Australia?

By: Phoenix Arrien

The guidebook industry (especially here in Australia) is buzzing with the release of a book by a former Lonely Planet (LP is an Australian travel guide book company) writer Thomas Kohnstamm. He has written about getting poor pay while researching guidebooks, how he reverted to various shady practices to get by while writing them and how some parts of guide books are researched at a desk, instead of out on the road.

Now I am not going to enter into the current debate about guidebooks, their effectiveness and the ripple - no tidal wave - that has been unleashed amongst the guidebook companies because of this.

What I am interested in is our dependence on guidebooks in the first place. Before travel writers, people simply headed off with perhaps, just a list of recommendations from friends. How exciting!

As a travel writer, I often take guidebooks along just get an overview of what there is of interest, mainly because I lack the time to wander around a place, get lost and find myself again.

Someone else has been there before and has done the hard legwork…most of the time. I have found them useful most of the time and wrong a little of the time and completely useless and a timewaster in just a few cases.

I think that guidebooks are, on the whole, very useful, though I am glad there has been this recent shake-up. I think improvements in guidebooks will arise from this event.

But back to our dependence. Next time you are travelling in Australia, leave the guidebook in your room for a day…or a week. Go out amongst the people and the kangaroos and wander. You will find surprises and challenges that guidebooks often keep out of reach.

You may also get lost and have to actually walk up to someone and ask directions, thereby meeting the locals. What fun!