The Rough Guide to Kerala

The Rough Guide to Kerala will guide you through India's tropical southwest tip, with reliable information and clearly explained cultural background. Whether you're looking for great places to eat and drink, inspiring accommodation or the most exciting things to see and do, you'll find the solution. Discover Kerala with stunning photography and information on everything from the best beaches and lagoon resorts to treehouse hideaways on tea plantations in the hills. Plus, you'll find extensive coverage of attractions in the region, from the tranquil beaches, backwaters and rice barges to elephant processions, kathakali dance drama and temple festivals. Accurate maps, backed up by full-colour sections showcasing the state's vibrant theatre traditions, make The Rough Guide to Kerala your ultimate travelling companion.

Make the most of your trip with The Rough Guide to Kerala.

Excellent! The Times

Dave Abram is author of several Rough Guides, including Goa, Corsica and the original India in 1993. He's been a specialist in India since the early 1980s.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Bad Research, Inaccurate Maps, Good Restaurant Tips
By Jonathan
I'll start off with the good which is the amazing restaurant suggestions. In every city it guided us to hidden little gems that were delicious and that we would never have found otherwise.

That being said, on a few occasions the guide listed activities that flat out didn't exist. In Kochi it described a new mall and how amazing it was, listing it as a "must see" destination for foreigners. Problem was, the mall hadn't opened yet and won't for another six months (as of December 2012). So, the writers of the book never visited the place (unless they have a time machine) and pretended they did. In my opinion doing this even once is completely unacceptable for a travel guide and immediately removes them from consideration for use. Additionally, the suggestions on how to book a backwater cruise were completely misguided. It listed addresses of reputable companies and advised going to their offices to book a tour. Problem was, 4/5 places they listed didn't exist and/or had disconnected phone numbers. The only one that did was over 20 minutes away from Alleppey (the backwater hub). We wasted three hours going to places that didn't exist. We ended up winging it (something the book strongly cautioned against) and it worked out perfectly. Again poor research.

Another mark against them is the completely inaccurate city maps whose only purpose was to confuse us; missing roundabouts and side streets = useless. I do blame them for one fight with my wife because I insisted we were following the map correctly (we were, the map was just wrong).

Overall, in the future I might buy the Rough Guide as a supplement to other guide books but I would never rely solely on it again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Solid guidebook
By S. Bowman
Much better than LP's South India guidebook. It has lots of good info and decent maps. I should note that some of the maps on the kindle version are hard to read though.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Good basic reading
By S. Patel
Got this book for a trip. We have good experience with Rough Guide books. This one was pretty good as well.

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Switchbacks: True Stories from the Canadian Rockies

In Switchbacks, Sid Marty draws on his own memories and those of friends and former colleagues in relating a series of true mountain tales. Among his subjects are: the old guide who built a staircase up a cliff; the stranded snowshoer who was rescued between rounds of beer in a Banff tavern; the man who catered to hungry grizzlies; an opinionated packrat with a gift for larceny; and a horse named Candy whose heart was as big as a stove.

Along the way, Marty tries to answer the kind of questions that all of us must face some day. Do we really have to “grow up” and abandon adventure as well as youthful ideals? Can the mountains draw old friends back together, when politics and life styles have set them apart?

Sid Marty writes gracefully of the land he loves and lampoons a few bureaucrats whose policies sometimes threaten its integrity. His portraits of the people – and creatures – that make their lives in the mountains are affectionate and respectful. But, above all, this is a collection of engaging, surprising, funny, and superbly told true stories by a gifted writer.

“In prose as clear as the mountain air, Marty relates one marvellous story after another, drawing on his more than 25 years experience in the Rocky Mountains.”
–National Post

“Marty’s artistry is such that the stories in Switchbacks seem to have emerged from the mountains themselves.…Some chapters will have your adrenalin coursing and your heart pounding; one or two others may make you weep. All of them will thrill you with the concrete vitality of landscape and language.”
–Globe and Mail

In Switchbacks, Sid Marty draws on his own memories and those of friends and former colleagues in relating a series of true mountain tales. Among his subjects are: the old guide who built a staircase up a cliff; the stranded snowshoer who was rescued between rounds of beer in a Banff tavern; the man who catered to hungry grizzlies; an opinionated packrat with a gift for larceny; and a horse named Candy whose heart was as big as a stove.

Along the way, Marty tries to answer the kind of questions that all of us must face some day. Do we really have to ?grow up? and abandon adventure as well as youthful ideals? Can the mountains draw old friends back together, when politics and life styles have set them apart?

Sid Marty writes gracefully of the land he loves and lampoons a few bureaucrats whose policies sometimes threaten its integrity. His portraits of the people ? and creatures ? that make their lives in the mountains are affectionate and respectful. But, above all, this is a collection of engaging, surprising, funny, and superbly told true stories by a gifted writer.

“In prose as clear as the mountain air, Marty relates one marvellous story after another, drawing on his more than 25 years experience in the Rocky Mountains.”
–National Post

“Marty’s artistry is such that the stories in Switchbacks seem to have emerged from the mountains themselves.…Some chapters will have your adrenalin coursing and your heart pounding; one or two others may make you weep. All of them will thrill you with the concrete vitality of landscape and language.”
–Globe and Mail

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Good history of the Rockies
By Colin Van Tol
Once again, Sid Marty has produced another 'must read' about the beautiful Canadain Rockies. His first book "Men for the mountains" is still a classic adventure and environmental tale about the Rocky Mountain Parks, with this as it's somewhat continuation. It differs however in that it reads as more of a climbing/historical acount of the pioneers of the Lake Louise, Banff and Jasper areas rather than of the park system and how it is managed and sometimes mismanaged. For an Albertan and a frequent visitor of the Rocky mountain park system, this was a great book in that the names of the places I visit now have greater significance and meaning.
I give it only four stars instead of the five "Men for the mountains" received only because the narrative is less engaging and is more of a history lesson, but still a great mountain book.
"Leaning on the wind" is another great choice if you enjoyed either of these books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
My kind of Stories
By Linda Jo Hunter
A Canadian friend gave me a copy of this book to read and I enjoyed every bit of it. Even though I am not familiar with the area Sid Marty's stories take place in, I was glued to the book until I finished. The stories are so fantastic they could only be true and so entertaining I read many of them out loud to who ever was around at the time. Here is a small sample: "This woman had a terrible sunburn. She was lying naked in her tent, covered with cold cream, when a black bear walked through the tent door. The lady froze, played dead, and without much preamble, the black bear began to lick off the cold cream - all of it. Then he wandered off in search of dessert, leaving his victim uninjured, though emotionally debilitated - to say the least." Yup, that is just a small sample of the stories in the book, some of which made you laugh, some cry and some just downright bigger than life. The mountain descriptions were complete enough to get the picture, as well as the rescues and the helicopter techniques like being transported through the air from a sling under a helicopter for rescue purposes. Sid Marty's life experiences are lessons to us all from patrolling on horseback to recalling the history of climbers who went before him. If you like outdoor stories, or Marty's other books you will enjoy this one as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Switchbacks: A Must Read
By Mel Rivers
I've just discovered Sid Martys' books this year. I'm finding all his books are spellbinding. What makes Switchbacks so remarkable is that the adventures recorded are true stories. I could not put this book down. If you love the great outdoors, if you love to learn more about the history of North American parks,in this case, the Canadian Rockies, this is a must read.

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Lonely Planet Romania (Country Travel Guide)

Nobody knows Romania like Lonely Planet. With our 5th edition you can discover the gruesome truth about the 'real' Dracula at Poienari Citadel, escape to Marmures where horse-drawn carts transport you to villages steeped in local customs, or experience the spectacle of mass migration on a Danube Delta bird-watching tour.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Essential color highlights show you the very best of Romania
Dedicated activities chapter pinpoints the top hiking, skiing and cycling spots
Unique Green Index to help make your travels ecofriendly

In 2003, Leif Pettersen was 'Kramered' by an unbalanced friend into abandoning an idiot-proof career with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and embarking on an odyssey of travel writing. He has since visited over 40 countries and lived in Spain, Romania and Italy. (He speaks all three languages in descending order of fluency). Leif's Lonely Planet work has appeared in Romania 5, Tuscany and Umbria 6, Eastern Europe 10, Italy 8, The Europe Book, Bluelist '07 and the LonelyPlanet.com features section. Leif writes an almost award-winning, "slightly caustic" blog, KillingBatteries.com, read by literally tens of people each month, where he dishes on travel writing, Romania, Italian internet, his grammar deficiencies, Berlin, the Baby Jebus and his remarkable-gift-for-hyphenation.

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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
Disappointing
By a reader
Lonely Planet, why have you foresaken us (inquiring- and budget-minded travelers)? The guidebooks seem to be trending towards mediocre, and this is the worst one I've come across. It's short on both practical info. and historical/cultural context.

The maps are largely useless. I would say that on average, about half of the streets go unnamed (not even in the tiny print). Another failing is the pronunciation guide, i.e., there is none for the consonants. One can infer a rule for the sound of, e.g., the letter "c" before the different vowels (s- or ch-sound) by looking at the phonetic spellings given, but there is no reason to make the reader do so much work.

It would have been helpful to know more about business hours ("orar" or "program" in Romanian). LP says that "'Western-style' supermarkets and shopping malls are common in much of Romania". Well, if they say so; such are not common in the pedestrianised city centers where tourists otherwise have the most reason to be. I found that "non stop" convenience stores are abundant, so it is much easier to pick up necessities at odd hours than in, say, Germany or France. But it would have been very helpful to know that, e.g., there is a supermarket (Carrefour) in the Orchideea mall in Bucharest that stays open late. More generally, this LP has virtually nothing to say about what the old LP's called "self-catering". It would have been useful to know, e.g., that the "Angst" chain stores in Bucharest are groceries (wouldn't have guessed that from the name). And I wish I'd known sooner that Piata Amzei in Bucharest is the site of a nice produce market.

It would be useful for vegetarians to know whether the ubiquitous ciorba (soup) is made with meat stock. (I'm guessing it is.)

LP tells you that one can buy train tickets at the stations or at CFR offices, but doesn't specify where you can use a credit card to pay for them (not everyplace, I've learned). Also, trips on the line from Bucharest north to Brasov take about 2 hours longer than the times listed due to construction that's been underway since at least the summer of 2010.

The introductory sections failed to answer some basic questions. For instance, who was Nicolae Balcescu, namesake of so many streets? (Leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution, according to Wikipedia.) Under the heading "Women in Romania", we are told about domestic violence and rape laws. Those are certainly important. But there is nothing about abortion policies, about which those of us are curious who have seen the film "4 mos., 3 wks. and 2 days" or who are old enough to remember the Romanian orphan crisis of the 1900s.

But I bet we're not the market for this book. In place of information like this, we get a comparison between Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) and Dracula on such parameters as "Bi-curious" (apparently Vlad's "handlebar moustache" is a giveaway) and "Legend has it that Iasi's street system was plotted by a blindfolded, three-legged donkey. OK, we made that up, but look at the map--it's plausible". Not a great use of space, in my opinion.

My irritation with this volume only increased when I read that a co-author's "weakness for pretty girls brought him to Romania in 2004". (The most generous interpretation I can put on this is that it is an obscure reference to the legend that the Romans stayed in Dacia because they found the Dacian women beautiful.) I guess obtaining useful information wasn't his priority in chatting up the locals.

Post scriptum: I found the Rough Guide to Romania much more useful, although also more bulky and heavier.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
If I could see the small print
By travelingbesties
I bought this book for $16.00 and it might be a good book if I could actually see the tiny tiny print and no color maps and tiny maps as well save your money..If you want to carry a magnifying glass with you when you travel this is for you.Do yourself a favor and check out your libary before buying this book..

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A must for travelers to Romania.
By Janet W.
Well written and full of necessary information for Romania.

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Lonely Planet Discover Switzerland (Travel Guide)

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet Discover Switzerland is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Ski through fresh powder in the Swiss Alps, listen to cowbells while enjoying a picnic in a mountain meadow, or feast on fondue in Gruyeres; all with your trusted travel companion. Discover the best of Switzerland and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet Discover Switzerland:

• Full-colour maps and images throughout
• Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests
• Insider tips save you time and money and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots
• Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices
• Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss
• Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including customs, history, art, architecture, politics, sports, spas, cuisine, wine, and more
• Over 35 colour local maps
• Useful features - including Month-by-Month (annual festival calendar), Travel with Kids, and Trains, Ferries & Cable Cars
• Coverage of Geneva, the West, Bern Jura, Mittelland, Bernese Oberland, Central Switzerland, Valais, Zermatt, Zurich, Lake Constance, the Northeast, St Moritz, Graubunden, the Southeast, and more

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet Discover Switzerland, our easy-to-use guide, is perfect for travellers who seek the most popular attractions a destination has to offer. Filled with inspiring and colourful photos, this guide focuses on the best of the best.

• Looking for a comprehensive guide that recommends a wide range of experiences, both popular and offbeat, and extensively covers all the country has to offer? Check out Lonely Planet's Switzerland guide.

Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Kerry Christiani, Sally O'Brien, Damien Simonis, and Nicola Williams.

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.

TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Ryan grew up in Santa Cruz, California, which he left at age 17 for college in the Midwest, where he first discovered snow. All joy of this novelty soon wore off. His first job was in Chicago at a small muckraking publication where he had the impressive title of Managing Editor because he was second on a two-person editorial staff and the first person was called Editor. After a year of 60-hour weeks, Ryan took his first trip to Europe, which lasted for seven months and confirmed his long-suspected wanderlust. Since then his byline has appeared in scores of publications and he has covered everything from wars to bars. He definitely prefers the latter. He wrote Lonely Planet's Chicago and Moscow, co-wrote Texas, Canada and Western Europe, and coordinated Russia, Ukraine & Belarus, Great Lakes, Out to Eat - London, Netherlands, and Britain. In the future, Ryan hopes to add more warm-weather destinations to this list, although covering places filled with pubs is a novelty that never wears out. He currently lives in San Francisco and works as author liaison manager at Lonely Planet's Oakland office.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Lonely Planet does it again.
By Moose Man
This lonely planet book is very useful and full of tips and facts. Couldn't have planned my trip to Switzerland without it!

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Great addition to the Lonely Planet Discover series.
By P Garcia
This is a great Switzerland version of the Lonely Planet Discover series. It lives up to the standards of previous books in the series that I've used on previous trips in regards to suggesting important major landmarks and attractions to check out, etc. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because I felt like it did not cover Zurich as much as I feel like it should have, given that Zurich is a major city in Switzerland. For example, the map included for Zurich in the book did not cover all of the neighborhoods they described in the text (i.e. the hipster/young/night life neighborhoods behind the major train station). So it was a bit of hassle to find another map to carry around and figure out what areas the book was talking about on another map. Otherwise, this book was great for figuring out what lakes to check out, what areas of the Alps to hike, and small towns to visit.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Worth the Money
By Bob
Book has plenty of info and is helping with planning trip! True test will be when I am in Switzerland putting it to use I guess.

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Parents' Travel Guide - Rome: All you need to know

Family vacations are fun! Both parents and children are excited, and memories from the vacation last for life. But we all know that traveling with kids is never easy, and it is hard to find those fun family moments in between all the challenges and logistics. With Parents’ Travel Guide - Rome, let all your worries about how to travel, and what to do disappear! We provide everything you need to know to pack up your suitcases and see the majestic sights of Rome - with the entire family. This practical guide takes away any surprises traveling with a pack of children may present. Parents’ Travel Guide provides a seven days itinerary that caters to parents and children, including visits to the most important monuments, how to explain their significance to the kids, and how to avoid the long lines—so you don’t have to worry about planning a single moment! Get the most out of your family travel! More from FlyingKids • Kids’ Travel Guide – The Special Series for your kids. Your children will have their very own kid-friendly tour guide, Leonardo. He will give your children fun games, fascinating activities, important tips, and “did you know” information. Kids’ Travel Guide – Cities series: Paris, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles and more to come. Kids’ Travel Guide – Country series: France, Italy, USA and more to come. • Looking for more tips how to best plan your next family vacation? Looking for ideas how to entertain the kids during the long drive? Would you like to join our forums in various family travels issues? Visit us @ www.theflyingkids.com

We are a group of parents who have enjoyed traveling all over the world with their kids for many years. A few years ago, we started to share our experience with more parents everywhere. We have gathered many great materials, solutions, and ideas, so we decided to share it with other parents around the world. So, we can’t make hotel reservations for you, but we can definitely help making your next travel more fun, educated, smooth and meaningful, so you will have lots of great family memories for long years. Join us - www.theflyingkids.com

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
The Ultimate Traveling Companion Guide
By Emily Roller
Much like the Kids' series, the Parents' Travel Guide is exceptionally helpful in showing parents how to navigate the troubling twists and turns of traveling with children in tow. With useful maps, information to interest the kids, and lots of tips and tricks available, the Guide offers the most exhaustive and complete collection of sights and cultural experiences that no parent or child will want to miss out on. Any vacation can be improved by understanding the how-to of traveling with kids, and this series is one of the best for making that possible.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
... I must say my husband and I were very happy to have it
By Dana
A friend offered me this book just before we left for a trip to Rome with my 10 years old boy and I must say my husband and I were very happy to have it. Main attractions of the Eternal city and nearby are very nice and efficient structured in daily visits, with great tips for kids to enjoy it as much as parents. Highly recommend!

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Great parent guide for a family travel
By Anima
I purchased this parents travel guide together with the kids travel guide. As Rome is so reach with places to visit, this guide has been a great help to us when we planned our family trip. The book is full of ideas and useful information that is relevant to the traveling family at a very reasonable price!

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Frommer's 30 Great Drives in Great Britain (Best Loved Driving

9th Edition

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Super-Organized Travel Book
By AZ Reader
As you might expect from Frommer's, 30 Great Drives in Great Britain contains a wealth of information. In this case, it's about experiencing the British countryside as _you_ want to. Besides the to-the-point descriptions of pertinent sites along the drives, there are sidebars for "Back to Nature," "For Children," "For History Buffs," "Recommended Walks," "Special to...," and "Scenic Routes." The terrific photos whet the eyes' appetite, and pointers to tour and accommodation information in the back of the book coordinate everything.

Very different from Karen Brown's England, Wales & Scotland (a cozy book if I ever read one), but between the two I'm planning a "uniquely me" experience of Britain.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Quality
By Jorie sanders
This is a beautiful book. Well made for travel and quality paper. It breaks driving tours down in areas and sections of GB. Many suggestions that will launch you on your way. Highlights of here and there without a lots and lots of details but, if you find yourself going in a direction of a particular area or region...you might like to open to those pages and see what's around you.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Frommer's Great Britain
By Roger Keller Celeste
Very good, indeed, you will need a good plan e plenty of time to see all the things in it.

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The Rough Guide to Laos (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

The Rough Guide to Laos is like having a local friend plan your trip.

Jeff Cramer has spent most of the last decade travelling and working in Southeast Asia.Steven Martin lives and works in Bangkok.

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Rough Guide Laos 3 -- just a very rough guide
By Stuart McDonald
Four and a half years of change have washed through Laos since the excellent second edition of Rough Guide's Laos was published. If you expect the new edition, released in February 2007, to be in the same league, prepare to be disappointed. Where Laos 2 was easily the best on the market, Laos 3 falls into the "read before departure ... and leave at home" category.

That The Washington Post describes this title as "...the best guidebook available..." is more a reflection of a lack of other options back then. Now with the new Lonely Planet hot off the press, Rough Guide's Laos 3 is worth buying for its background section only as for facts on the ground it's just a well, very rough guide.

One of the highlights of Laos 2 was the detailed background information, and in the new edition this highlight remains, with some tweaking and expansion. A comprehensive history is accompanied by a catalogue of cultural habits, religious beliefs, environmental issues and a short but good reading list. A snappy language section brings up the rear.

At the other end of the book, the introductory section, covering everything from getting a flight to the difficulty of buying nappies is informative, well organised and easy to digest. There's even a very brief overview on the border crossings. Some sections get more than their fair share -- four and a half pages on getting to Laos seems excessive, as does almost an entire page on opening hours and public holidays -- lists anyone? Nevertheless, it's decent so far.

Listings
For many, accommodation is the prime purpose of a guidebook, yet Laos 3 sometimes fails to deliver. Don Dhet and Don Khon form the highlight of southern Laos for many, and there's in excess of 40 places to choose from across the two islands -- ranging from $1 a night shacks to tasteful $30 a night retreats. Laos 3 sums it up in two paragraphs and suggests just six places. Vang Vieng boasts more than 80 guesthouses and hotels to choose from but Laos 3 rustles up just 15. Admittedly in both places some offerings are similar, but one can't help but think the authors just thought "Ah, they're all the same -- I just couldn't be bothered to look at any more". I guess you'll have to check Travelfish.org to find the rest.

Then there's what they missed altogether. In Savannakhet, "the Mekong Hotel is the only place that views the river". Actually, it's not -- the Nong Soda, a couple of hundred metres up the road, does as well. And it's a great place to stay. There's also no mention of any of the trekking opportunities from Savannakhet. Heading north, there's no mention of the Gibbon Experience. Head north again, trekking out of Phongsali gets short shift for anything more than a stroll to outlying villages (5+ day treks are available).

It's not all bad though. The guide is strong for the key drawcards. Luang Prabang is well covered, as is Vientiane. Activities around Tha Khaek and Vang Vieng are treated pretty well. Further south, Champasak, Wat Phu and especially Don Khong are covered comprehensively.

Transport
Rough Guides have an odd way of handling transport -- rather than it being listed with each town, it's listed in a summary format at the end of each region -- but there's no prices! Sometimes cost is listed in the body of the text, but not often enough. Matters are confused further by shaded boxes that list transport information. These sometimes include price, sometimes don't, sometimes list destinations covered in the summary section, sometimes don't. Not all destinations have these shaded boxes, and not all destinations are covered in the summary. The result is a confusing, hodgepodge mess.

Confusing again are border crossings. Some, such as Boten to China and Chong Mek to Thailand, are covered in the shaded boxes, but the Nam Phao / Cau Treo crossing (with opening hours) is in the body text -- as is the Dansavanh / Lao Bao crossing (without opening hours). Veun Kham to Cambodia gets neither -- just a footnote to the Don Dhet and Don Khon practicalities section. For the Na Maew / Nam Xoi border crossing into Vietnam, you have to make do with "It's not usually hard to find transport up to the border at least but you'll need to have a Vietnamese visa in advance to use the crossing." -- Transport details? Opening hours? Onwards travel? Lao visa on arrival? The Nam Can / Nam Khan crossing is similarly vague. A vital portion of the book reads like an afterthought.

Text and design
Rough Guide designers know what white space is and they make liberal use of it. This makes the title's single-column, well-spaced layout far easier on the eyes than the dense-as-sardines Lonely Planet.

Organisation is a little unfortunate. Sections within some regions are ordered in the reverse of how many would actually use it. The Far North commences with Udomxai (the first sizeable town you'd hit if coming from Luang Prabang) while I'd expect most would arrive in the Far North from Huay Xai (which is covered in the middle of the section).

Maps
I like Rough Guide maps -- they're not glamorous but are easy to use. The maps in Laos 3 are no exception. They eschew the hi-tech approach witnessed in the latest Lonely Planets (which has delivered near unusable maps). They're clean, with easy lines and shading, and are straightforward to follow. I did find the revised numbering confusing though -- legends are listed alphabetically, but keyed according to where they appear on the map. Some of the regional maps mark roads where nothing more than glorified goat tracks lie -- perhaps one of their mappers should go and try Route 18 on something bigger than a goat.

Photos
Compared to other guides, the Rough Guide is light on colour pics, though there are some very catching grey scale shots. Colour is restricted to the introduction, and two inserts -- one for festivals, the other on hill tribes. The pics are good -- not fabulous.

Conclusion
While Laos 2 was oh so good, Rough Guide's Laos 3 is oh so ordinary. If you're planning on a bit of straightforward touristing, taking in Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, you'll find it adequate -- and it does get a lot of brownie points for its background section. But if you're planning on extensive off-the-very-beaten track travel, you'd be well advised to look for an alternative -- the new Lonely Planet is excellent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Use the Internet and Forget This Book
By K. Richards
One of the few travel guides for Laos so that's why I guess it sells. Many of the recommended business no longer exist and practical advice for travel within the country is nearly non-existent. Maps are poorly drawn and often incorrect. Hotel prices quoted in the book were nearly always incorrect.

Among the worst travel books I have ever owned. Wait till you get to Laos to get one. There are plenty of copies of this book laying abandoned in cafes and hostels.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Good resource
By Paul S
I read this guide before and during a recent trip to Lao. You don't see it widely carried about in Lao. I found it very dense and it contained some material not contained in the Footprint guide (and vice-versa). If I had to choose one, I'd go with the Footprint guide for it's maps and what it includes, though it's a less dense guide. Ideally, bring both if you can.
Paul

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Naked in the Driveway: Memoirs of a Motherhood Gone Wrong

Do you know the fastest way to cool down eight chicken nuggets at the same time? If you said, 'wedge them into the air conditioning vents of your car', then you’re sure to find a mom you can relate to in Naked in the Driveway. Find out how one unlikely mother has seized the teachable moment in just about every Disney movie ever made, why you should always check your kids’ shoes to see what they've stepped in and why some days it’s just about impossible to keep them from running around the front yard wearing nothing but a smile. Naked in the Driveway is partly a collection of columns that appeared in Abu Dhabi Week magazine during 2011. It also includes harrowing accounts of giving birth, singehandedly travelling around the world with two small kids, snagging a really cute Australian guy and surviving the childhood club of her own invention called The Bob Whites. It also provides other useful information for parents and parents-to-be including 100 Things to Say to a Woman in Labour Other Than "Just Breathe", how to conduct a successful tequila night and why Barbie is a whore.

Laura Fulton is a full time writer, mother, wife and PTA dodger. The former staff writer for Abu Dhabi Week magazine left her native USA for the United Arab Emirates in 2002 where she inexplicably convinced the tallest, best looking Australian guy at the bar to marry her. She has recently moved to a small town near Melbourne where she spends her time ironing, writing and trying to convince the PTA president that she's much too busy to bake pastries for the next school fundraiser. Before turning to full-time journalism, Laura taught high school English in Dallas, Texas and at an international in Abu Dhabi. While on maternity leave with her first child, she took on her first freelance job, finally giving her masters degree in writing a work out. Laura's forthcoming project One Moment in Time is a collection of firsthand accounts of the lives of grandmothers from around the world, stories that show how - more often than not - the experiences of women transcend time, place, language, culture and religion. Laura is also working on a novel scheduled for completion in 2013. She is still astounded that she's married with children and thinks she was a much better mother before she had kids.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Funny, warm and well written
By Dennis Jarrett
Seems to me it's almost possible to teach parenting skills: you just have to go with what you think will work, or what you think you can get away with, and somewhere between the two you'll probably end up with kids that turn out ok. That's the subtext of Laura Fulton's book, despite the self-deprecating subtitle, and her children are going to turn out just fine if her parenting is as warm, entertaining and (sorry about this but sometimes you just have to use a word you'd rather avoid in a book review) wise as this book, a collection of anecdotes most of which originally appeared in some form in a weekly newspaper.

The thing about writing a column for a weekly publication is that you have to have subject matter that is interesting or entertaining or hopefully both, week in week out, and Laura clearly had very little trouble with that. It's not that her kids or her parenting are especially quirky; but you do need a particular way of looking at life to be a good columnist, to see the diamonds in the dust (and to be able to laugh when they turn out to be glass). Laura has that.

She also has a natural, conversational style which works well for the (generally) short pieces that make up the book. It feels like a series of fun conversations with a good friend, possibly over a glass of reviving Pinot Grigio (or maybe a mid morning latte into which a fly has just blundered to hilarious effect).

Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
wonderful journey
By Roberta Martin
I was amazed at the many things that the world could do to help parents in the world travel with children.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Warm and funny memoir about motherhood, kids and love...
By clairelouisechambers@yahoo.co.uk
I love this author; I recall reading some of her columns while I lived in Abu Dhabi and like this book they were observant, smart and laugh out loud funny. Motherhood isn't easy and sometimes we get it wrong, and what I love about this book is that the author is unashamed about this. Thank you Ms Fulton for making that ok.

I've read that this author is now living in Australia. I really hope she writes a follow up to this book about moving down under, that's a book I would buy!

I bought this book on Kindle, but am now going to buy the hard copy, just so I can laugh all over again!

Buy this book!

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Lonely Planet Discover Scotland (Full Color Country Travel Guide)

Experience the Best of Scotland

Edinburgh Castle, Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye’s Cuillin Hills – we’ve selected the most iconic sights and incredible places so you can enjoy the real Scotland with the minimum of fuss.

Highlights reveal the must-see attractions and unbeatable experiences

Itineraries make planning your trip simpler than ever

Local Experts recommend what not to miss

Pull-Out Map puts the streets of Edinburgh in your pocket

Our Promise

You can trust our travel information because Lonely Planet authors visit the places we write about, each and every edition. We never accept freebies for positive coverage, so you can rely on us to tell it like it is.

Neil was born in Scotland and, save for a few years spent in England and Australia, has lived there for most of his life. When he was 14 he relieved the boredom of a rainy school holiday by leafing through a book about the Scottish mountains. The photographs of mist-veiled ridges, yawning cliffs and distant sea lochs opened the door to a lifelong enthusiasm for the great outdoors, and since then he has hiked, biked, climbed, sailed or snowboarded in almost every corner of the country. Neil has been a full-time writer and photographer since 1988 and has written around 45 guidebooks for various publishers, including Lonely Planet's guide to his home town of Edinburgh.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Helpful Travel info
By Skitt
Lonely Planet Discover Scotland is an excellant book to read and review before traveling to Scotland. I found it to be quite helpful and informative. I am so glad I got it before my travel! Photos were great as well as the maps and other helpful info. I took the book along to refer to during my travel in Scotland.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Lonely Planet Discover Scotland
By Sherrill A. Kuckuck
All of the books that I purchased from Amazon I previewed somewhere else (a friend's copy or in a bookstore); therefore, I knew that the content would fit my needs. All of the books arrived on time or well before time. The condition of the books were all excellent. The content was exactly as represented. I am a very satisfied customer and will purchase from Amazon in the future.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Why never ask about the book we received on Ireland?
By Amy Benedict
All of the used books have been in great shape - WITH THE EXCEPTION of the book on Ireland. It was missing the first 7-8 pages - you know the color ones that give a quick synopsis of best of. Very disappointed with it. Pleased with all others.

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Contact: A Dad's Communication From the Other Side With His

What happens to our loved ones when they die? Can we still communicate with them after they’ve breathed their last? A few years ago, Kimberley Bouchard probably would have skirted this question, not believing it likely—but not wanting to eliminate the prospect, either. But now this ordinary wife and mother can testify that contact is, in fact, possible.

After her beloved father passes away, Kimberley faces the slow, grueling path of grief. How could she go back to a normal life with such a heartbreaking void? Pressing on as best she can, she is astounded when she suddenly starts receiving messages from her late father. What began as a deeply personal communication between them is now a source of wisdom and encouragement that she wants to share with others struggling with the weight of grief in their own lives.

Astonishingly hopeful, Contact reveals an unseen reality and illustrates the unbreakable power of love that connects us even beyond death. You can’t escape hardship and loss, but you can overcome it with an unfathomable peace when you realize you haven’t been left behind.

Kimberley Bouchard is an educator, entrepreneur, and author with a bachelor of education from the University of Alberta. Originally from Canada, she now resides in the Seattle area with her husband and their three children. She is passionate about inspiring real-life stories, so if you want to share your own experiences with her for future publication or simply send her a personal note, you can reach her at author@kimberleybouchard.com.

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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Filled with hope and love.
By m
In each wonderfully narrated chapter, Kimberly gives us hope and inspiration through her recounting of the communications with her father after his passing. I was engrossed and wanted to hear more stories of how his presence has manifested itself in her life and that of her children. The anecdotes filled me with hope as I view my own parents' ageing and leave me with a sense of peace in knowing I will eventually have to deal with their own passing.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Very Moving
By Amazon Customer
Every stage of this book moved me in different way. It brought back memories that made me feel sad, joyful, grateful and wrapped in hope that there is always a way to make amends by saying "I'm sorry", "I miss you" and expressing all our feelings to our loved ones that have already left. There is something special in knowing that there are no last words and that the road never ends - it's just a bridge to cross.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Very moving and inspiring
By Chach
A beautifully written book – it feels like Kimberly is at my kitchen table telling me her story. Knowing that we can continue to feel our parents’ presence after they leave is a great source of comfort to me; to step away from a hectic busy schedule and be still and feel their presence is heartwarming. You will want to read more!

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