My new favorite travel book

Lonely Planet's Trip Builder by Lonely Planet
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My better half and I enjoy travel, and I enjoy travel books, whether it's travel narratives that take me places without leaving home or travel planning books from Lonely Planet, DK, Fodor's, Frommer's, Rick Steves or others.

With that said, I don't just like this book. I LOVE it. It takes an approach to travel planning and idea generation that's quite interesting and helpful. Each section of this massive book is just two pages. Rather than provide an exhaustive list of places to go in each area, city, etc., with details on how to make reservations, where to eat and other minutiae, it gives very broad strokes and lets you fill in the details if you plan to go. For example, one 2-page section, A Literary Tour of England, suggests London to the Lake District. In the broadest of strokes, it guides you from London to Oxford to Bath to Stratford-upon-Avon to Haworth to The Lake District. There are some details, but not a lot. To give you a better idea, the entirety of the Stratford-upon-Avon part says,

William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer ever, and his medieval hometown sees crowds that attest to his continuing popularity. Seek out his birthplace; pay your respects at his tomb in Holy Trinity Church; and enjoy one of his plays at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

That's it. The rest is left for you to fill in. Nothing on how to get tickets to a play or any number of other things most guide books would throw in.

For me, this is perfect. I want ideas. I can figure out the rest on my own. This massive book gives many such ideas--concise itineraries you can review to find what looks like fun for your next trip--and that's why I love it!

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