Lonely Planet

lp_01 The internet is fabulous for researching travel material. One of the major plusses is that information is so easily accessible - unless you are way off the beaten track, out of range, or travelling light, minus a laptop.

It's then you need a reliable trustworthy guide book and over the past 35 years Lonely Planet has carved out a huge chunk of the travel guide market. Now they are narrowing their focus yet again with books that deal with just parts of countries. Finally you don't have to sacrifice the binding of a heavier volume by ripping out only the pages you'll need!

Better still, these recent books are able to go into so much more detail. The other day two landed on my desk, both about areas I love.

I wish I'd had the first one, Puglia and Basilicata a couple of years ago when we did our trip that became Just a Little Italian. I certainly used the LP Italy book intensely, but this one, published in 2008, even gets down to not only listing Castelmezzano, the fairytale village pictured on my book's cover, but also the very inn where we ate the wonderful surprise meal described in the book.

This LP book is well-timed as these two amazing southern Italian provinces are poised to become hot tourist spots very soon.

Then there is Devon, Cornwall & Southwest England which we explored a few years back and which I would revisit in a heartbeat. This is Doc Martin territory, and with this book I can easily find my way to Port Isaac (aka Portwenn) not far from Padstow.

And while these books are so portable, they are keeping up with technology, with websites included wherever possible.

Best of both worlds, really.

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