Not So Very Lonely Planet

Posted by Peter on Dec-21-10

Another Costa Rican Lonely Planet travel tip

I have now discovered that Lonely Planet guides are so plentiful the company should consider removing or at least changing the word “Lonely”. However the hold that words have over us and the already established market position the company has would prevent a change to a more accurate naming such as “Ubiquitous Planet Guide”. I am sure I am now in ubiquitous thought territory because not only do Lonely Planet provide very good guides from the compactness and accuracy perspective for the budget traveller but in Central America they go one step further. In their current Central America edition you get a full seven countries worth. To be exact six and the two southernmost provinces of Mexico. This means that virtually wherever you go in this part of the world you have it covered with the latest green-fronted tome “Central America on a shoestring” appropriately titled “Big Trips on Small Budgets” in its sixth edition published in November 2007 and if my hunch about Lonely Planet is correct probably imminently to appear a seventh edition.

Perhaps the only downsides to the book are that it is 788 pages and if you like to be different from the crowd, forget it, because there are not many budget hotel breakfast tables where it cannot be seen. However on the huge upside the book is stuffed with… well, exactly the information you would like to have at your fingertips.
My own copy came to me in a round about way. As you may recall I found myself in San Jose, Costa Rica almost by chance and in the same way, by chance, I was walking down Calle 5 on the north side of town when I spotted a second-hand bookstore. I wondered, as chance is recognised to work in threes, if by chance they had any second-hand travel books? The very helpful attendant, Felicia, pointed without hesitation, but also without any mockery regarding my obvious doubts, straight away to the shelf behind me. They could not have fitted any more second-hand travel books on the groaning shelves! Not just Lonely Planet and not just Costa Rica. I could have travelled the world with what they had on offer and yes for $12 plus a friendly $1 discount I became the owner of the ubiquitous green-backed central America on a shoestring.

PS Laptop Owners Travel Tip
If you are not travelling so extensively you can buy limited select chapters for a reduced fee by downloading them in pdf file format from the internet. For example 46-pages on San Jose for less than $4 and you wouldn’t notice any additional weight – unless you print it out.