REVIEWS BY TIFFANY SPEAKS AND MICHELLE JONES
Remember when getting there was half the fun? Neither do we. These days, it's the planning that's half the fun of travel, as illustrated by the following guidebooks.
Can't get e-nough of Europe
DK offers a new approach to "old Europe" (and NYC) with its e>> guides ($15 each), a series of Internet-synched books. It may sound gimmicky, but the books are useful even if you never use the included password to access companion websites. If you do venture online—and let's face it, checking the Internet when planning a trip has become de rigueur—you'll find direct links to places mentioned in the books, and you can read the comments of other travelers or post your own. Clever design elements underscore the connection (no pun intended) between the books and the website. Thin rules emphasize horizontal elements, text runs along the page bottoms, and the >> symbols throughout imply movement and create a sense of constantly changing information. Even the gorgeous photographs contribute to this feeling of immediacy.
London e>> guide focuses heavily on the city's design savvy. Unfortunately this slant means that the book ends up giving some of the city's best museums—the London Transport Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms—rather short shrift. Still, there are plenty of helpful tips on avoiding crowds, special opening times and little-known gems.
Paris e>> guide does a much better job of covering museums and sites, which is to say it's more inclusive, while handily distilling the city's dining and shopping options. Of course the
Rome e>> guide swells with architectural and cultural entries and gives Paris a run for its money in terms of shopping and dining.
These guides are packed with fascinating places to shop, eat, sleep and be seen. The "streetlife" chapters are particularly good at providing suggestions for experiencing the cities as locals would, visiting outdoor markets and fairs, for example. Meanwhile, the "havens" chapters highlight places to unwind or relax—spas, tea rooms or quiet parks—a nice touch for those of us who tend to need a second vacation to recover from the first.
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Fabulous foodie favorites
If travel for you is merely an excuse to try out new restaurants, tuck into
Langenscheidt's Insight Guides Eating in Paris and Eating in London. At $10.95 each, the guides are stuffed with descriptions of eateries ranging from quick bites on the street to multicourse dining experiences. Written by people knowledgeable about both food and their respective cities, the restaurant profiles are organized by category within neighborhoods and include a bit of area history, notes on atmosphere and clientele, and tidbits about chefs as well as descriptions of menu items.
Eating in Paris starts with an overview of the state of French cooking and definitions of the city's main types of eateries. France is associated with good food; England, not so much. Eating in London aims to set the record straight on British cooking, while discussing the city's "colonial" offerings. Both guidebooks include tantalizing photos; the cover of Eating in Paris is almost temptation enough to book a flight.
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Stars of the East
The vivid descriptions in Fodor's insightful Beijing & Shanghai transported me back to the rich history of the Forbidden City, Great Wall and Ming Tombs, while whetting my taste buds for the regional cuisines of this giant country where I once lived. Like the streets of China's major cities, this guidebook is jam-packed, so the print can be on the small side. Don't miss the orange stars highlighting favorites and the helpful numbered maps. Although both cities are gearing up for major international events, with Beijing hosting the 2008 Olympics and Shanghai the 2010 World Expo, why wait until then to visit when you could be dazzled by Peking Opera and the Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe right now?
Vietnam is a country of great beauty, its floating villages and markets seemingly resting on water.
Let's Go Vietnam introduces the reader to this land's war history and delves into its traditions and culture.
Lacking photos but full of facts, sidebars and maps, Let's Go Vietnam includes itineraries for sightseeing trips, and even lists opportunities for volunteer work. There are also great tips on avoiding faux pas—check out the various pagodas, temples, mosques and churches throughout the land, but dress modestly and don't offend by pointing the sole of your foot at a person or Buddhist image.
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Travelogues take readers a world away
REVIEW BY LACEY GALBRAITH
Michael Konik's Ella in Europe: An American Dog's International Adventures is in many respects a love story. A white Lab mix, Ella is just about the smartest dog around, hip enough to wear snazzy red bandanas yet gentle and sweet-natured enough to volunteer in nursing homes and hospitals. She's a true original, and in an effort to show his gratitude for her companionship, Konik arranges to take Ella on a canine-friendly tour of Europe. The Europeans are more than welcoming, and together Konik and Ella experience everything from a rowdy Belgian beer house to the tranquil canals of Venice to the legendary haute cuisine of Paris' Le Grand Véfour.
Long ago Jamaica Kincaid proved herself to be a writer of enormous talent with works such as
Annie John, Lucy, My Brother and The Autobiography of My Mother. She tackles the travel memoir with
her latest, Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya. In writing that is gracefully evocative, she describes trekking through the Himalayas of Nepal in search of seeds to collect for her garden back home in Vermont. With her small yet eager band of botanists, she encounters Maoist guerillas and a natural world where the sky looms large and brilliant blue, where fruit bats hang from trees and butterflies suddenly appear in a swarm. To read Among Flowers is to follow Kincaid into this other world, to fall into that state where, as Kincaid writes, it is "so dreamily irritating to be so far away from everything I had known."
J.R. Daeschner knows more than a little something about participatory journalism.
In True Brits: A Tour of 21st Century Britain in All Its Bog-Snorkelling, Gurning and
Cheese-Rolling Glory, he travels the United Kingdom in search of all things eccentric and extraordinary. With little regard to safety or sanity, Daeschner squares off for a shin-kicking contest in the Cotswolds and snorkels bravely through the murky muck and cold of a Welsh bog. He makes his way to every village festival and small-town celebration he can, knowing that such events survive "because they reinforce a sense of identity, community, and continuity." More importantly, he understands that "people take an inordinate pride in the local idiosyncrasies that distinguish them from a thousand other places: they're proud to be peculiar." In Daeschner's world, this is certainly cause for celebration.
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