112. Rough Guide First-Time Around the World by Doug Lansky
Publication: Rough Guides; 2nd edition (March 20, 2006), Paperback, 336pp / ISBN 1843536617
Genre: Non-Fiction, Travel
Rating: 
Read: May 3-4, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:
Planning a trip around the world? Let “First-Time Around the World” get you started. Loaded with the very latest travel information, including all you need to know about round-the-world tickets, this pre-departure guide will help get your ultimate journey under way. This guide begins with a 16-page, full-colour, things not to miss photo section with suggested itineraries, details on what to bring, when to go, how much it will cost and which vaccinations will keep you healthy. The individual country profiles highlight the best places to visit with country-specific websites and necessary budget information. There are plenty of useful tips to help save you money, keep you safe and maximise your time on the road. This guide comes complete with concise regional information, with overland maps and details on weather, major attractions and unmissable festivals.
Review
I had actually forgotten that I had this book until I found it under a pile of school papers earlier this month. It’s the previous edition– the newest one came out in February– and I’m entirely sure what’s different from one to the next, but since I used it mostly for moral support and general tips instead of specific travel information (like hostels/money/etc) I didn’t particularly care that I had an older edition. So!
The Rough Guide books are really fabulous. I’ve been reading some of the guidebooks as well and I just find them so friendly and matter-of-fact, without being intimidating like the Lonely Planet books can be sometimes. This one, written specifically for people who are planning to travel long term and in multiple locations, was especially nice– it covered everything of importance plus more. Money, health, visas, planning, etc., plus in the sections about specific continents there’s very useful information like whether you need a visa or not to get in, and maps, and all sorts of interesting stuff.
Admittedly I did skip most of the stuff about specific continents, since I figured I could just go back and read them later if I really needed to. Plus! Horror of horrors, a page had been ripped out of my copy– I bought it used– and now I’m paranoid that the information on that page was of utter importance and because I didn’t read it I’m going to die as soon as I step foot out of the US. So maybe I’ll just have to get the newer edition after all, and just use that one when I travel!
I do think that I’m going to take SOME version of this guide because I think it’d be really useful as a sort of basic guidebook for the continents I’m going to. I could only carry one book, then, with additions of more specific info written in the margins, maybe, and then I wouldn’t need a specific guidebook for every country I’m going to. Although I did buy a South America guidebook already. Whoops.
Anyway, I really enjoyed reading the Rough Guide First-Time Around the World and I can’t wait to get out there and use it.
And
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Other reviews: CurledUp.com
Looking through guidebooks is fun, but I find that I can’t read them straight through like I can more general travel books. Almost like there’s too much information for me to process? And so I just tend to read the intros to a country/continent and then skim the rest. Shameful.
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