For every traveler who has any taste of his own, the only useful guide-book will be the one which he himself has written. All others are an exasperation…. Their practical information is invariably out of date. They recommend bad hotels and qualify good ones as "modest." In a word, they are intolerable.
– Aldous Huxley, Guide-Books, 1925
Travel guides are hardly new, but they are increasingly popular amongst young backpackers who are looking for food or lodging abroad. For a stranger in a strange town, the first instinct is often to fumble in their bag for a book to seek guidance in finding good restaurants, worthy sights and hospitable lodging for the night.
They will generally find what they’re looking for. But the problem with travellers who whip out the big fat travel guide upon arrival is that their journeys become scripted and predictable, so they lose out on many things a place has to offer.
As Huxley noted 80 years ago, travel guides don’t stay fresh for long. There are new restaurants and hostels opening all the time, and since most guides are published every couple of years, these establishments are often not in the books.
For some businesses – especially hostels – this can be a problem. If they start up right after a popular guidebook for their area is published, then they have to wait two or three years to make it into the next edition. Until then, they don’t have the benefit of being in the travel bibles that many sojourners look to for guidance.
In Oaxaca, Mexico, the owners of the year-old Hostal Pochon have dealt with this by handing out flyers to let people know they exist.
"For us, it’s about word of mouth," says Ilan, the hostel owner. But when the beds are empty, Ilan and other hostel employees approach stiff-legged and bleary-eyed travellers who stumble off the bus looking like they need a good bed for the night.
The hostel certainly offers a good deal: for 70 pesos a night (roughly $8 CDN), travellers get free Internet, clean beds and use of a kitchen, as well as cheap long distance phone calls and bike rentals. But if someone is set on seeing Oaxaca according to Lonely Planet or other guides, they’ll miss out on Hostal Pochon. And most of the hostels listed in the books charge upwards of 100 pesos a night.
Ilan and the other employees don’t spend as much time nabbing people at the bus station as they used to, but they do look forward to being listed in the guides.
"We do like to be in the travel books," says Ilan. "It’s publicity, and publicity is good. Everybody wants to be in the books, because it’s another way of letting people know you’re there."
To discover the best dining and lodging spots in an area, it’s often smart to ask the locals or other travellers. Even those who write travel guidebooks say it’s not necessarily best to see the world according to a book.
"Word of mouth is a traveller’s best resource," says Jay Cooke, an editor for Lonely Planet, one of the most comprehensive travel guide publishers. "There’s no better way to find out what’s happening than that bulletin board in the hostel."
Lonely Planet publishes new editions every two or three years. That’s a fairly large window of time in which businesses can rise and fall, but Cooke says they’re always keeping their ears pricked for new traveller-friendly businesses for new editions.
"One of the things we do is we always tell our authors to look for new hostels," says Cooke. "And we send them out with a whole stack of suggestions and e-mails from our readers about new places."
For new businesses itching to get into the guidebooks, Cooke says the best thing they can do is e-mail all of the book publishers and let them know about their business. For travellers who want the most up-to-date information, Cooke suggests using the Internet.
Most guide publishers, including Lonely Planet, have online forums where travellers can share and look for information on the best places in town. Hostelling International also has a website that lists all of its member hostels, and many allow you to make reservations online.
There are numerous options for curious and adventurous travellers, and there’s none better than speaking face-to-face with someone who knows the area. But when all else fails, don’t be afraid to pull out the travel guide – it is, after all, a good backup. |
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