Tuesday’s Travel Essentials: Travel Guide Books

Jonny Blair's travel site has Tuesday's Travel Essentials

Tuesday’s Travel Essentials – Travel Guide Books

Today’s Tuesday’s Travel Essentials is on Travel Guide Books – I live by them!! I always carry at least one of them at any given time, and yes, it is normally Lonely Planet – though I also use local guidebooks (especially in China) and have bought Rough Guides and Berlitz guides before.

Jonny Blair living a lifestyle of travel reading travel guide books in Vietnam

Just checking my travel guide book while backpacking in Vietnam.

Despite loving the internet and being online as much as I can to update Don’t Stop Living and my social networks, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to stuff like books. I’d much rather have a physical book in my hand than read about it online on a laptop or a phone. I make my own notes in my books and I get really good use out of my travel guide books. I’ll highlight the advantages and disadvantages  of carrying travel guide books, but if you take my lead – just get yourself a cheap copy of the Lonely Planet and off you go – the world is your oyster, and more, don’t forget I have been living a lifestyle of travel for 10 years now!!

travel guide books for Fujian and Kaiping

These Chinese Travel guide books for Kaiping Dialou and Fujian Tulo were essential for my trip to those places!

Advantages of carrying travel guide books:


– a constant source of information and inspiration on your travels
– contains all the information you need in one place
– you don’t need internet access to read them
– you can plan ahead while you’re travelling
– you can read them on buses and trains
– you can pass them on to other travellers when you finish with them
– you can make your own notes in them
– you can tick off where you’ve been in them
– you can make adjustments to them (price changes, bus timetables etc.)
– the maps in them are excellent
– if you get lost, you can show a local person the map in them

travel guide books for China with a Guinness

How to travel in China 😉 A can of Guinness and a travel guide book!

Disadvantages of carrying travel guide books:
– they are bulky

– they weigh a lot

– they use up valuable space in your bag

– the information goes out of date very quickly (especially with regards to prices)
– you might leave them behind in hostels and bus stations

Tips for buying cheap travel guide books – head to Asian cities such as Bangkok and pick up cheap fake or second hand travel books, especially Lonely Planet ones. A good place to get them is at the stalls on Khaosan Road. The Hong Kong to China border (on the Shenzhen side) also has a great cheap shop for buying them. That’s Tuesday’s Travel Essentials for today!

Tuesday’s Travel Essentials is a regular feature on here containing items that myself and global travellers use and recommend on a regular basis. If you have an item or product you feel is beneficial to travellers and my readers and could feature here, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – you can contact me through my contacts page or via any of these means:

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Jonny Blair

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