<Interested in taking a year out from your busy, hectic schedule? Bored with your day-to-day life? On the run from the law? If the answer to any of the above is yes, then you can’t go far wrong picking up a copy of Lonely Planet’s ‘The Big Trip’ travel guide.
Crammed full with massive amounts of general tips for traveling, with information on health and safety, insurance, work visas, etc, it answers any question about preparing to travel, through to when you’re actually on the road. A more specific guide to locations can be found in the second half of the book, broken down roughly by continent, giving you the information you’ll need to make the most of your time away, all interspersed with plenty of stunning pictures and handy maps.
If you’re undecided on where you want to visit and you don’t mind a few clichés here and there, the ‘Traveler’s Tales’ segment, towards the end of the book, provides a few short accounts of other people’s travel experiences, each one accompanied by a ‘Top Tip’ which are, on the whole, quite nifty.
If I had one small criticism it would be that because of its condensed format, some topics are raised but are perhaps not given the detail they should, e.g. the ‘Being A Good Traveler’ and ‘Issues’ segments. However, these parts do provide an excellent starting platform for your own research into the cultures you’ll be visiting.
Having travelled during a gap year myself, I read my share of gap year books and even lugged around a hefty beast of one, so it makes me mildly jealous that none were as compact with vital information or as reader friendly as “The Big Trip”. This book really is one of the best backpacker guides I’ve come across and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Eliott Fellinger
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