I Hate Lonely Planet

Or well, at least I have stopped using them as my main source of info when I check out a new place. In fact, I often recommend that people skip them entirely, except for info on things such as customs and their maps, both of which are well written.

This blog offered a few great reasons for not using them, my favourites being that he doesn't trust the authors. Frankly neither do I.

So I have decided to throw up a few reasons of my own, though I am going to steal a bit from this blog, as the author beat me to it by several years.

1- The Authors

This blogger writes:

Do the authors actually know what they are talking about? How well do they know the country and culture? Did they even visit the place?

One former Lonely Planet authors, Thomas Kohnstamm, actually admitted that he did not always visit the places he reviewed. He states that he wrote about Colombia home in San Francisco, without ever visiting the country. Furthermore, he reveals that during his visit to Brazil he was going to review a restaurant. The waitress suggested that he should come back after she had closed down the restaurant, around midnight. When he came back, they had sex, reviewing in the guidebook “the restaurant ‘is a pleasant surprise … and the table service is friendly”.

Moreover, I have a friend that visited Bolivia for a couple of weeks. She did not know Spanish, was unable to communicate with local people and just visiting a few places in the country. Based on this she got a contract with a publisher to write a guidebook about the country. I am not sure if this qualifies for making a guidebook?

Along with his reasons, I will add that going through the few LP books that I still do have, the authors all have something in common. They are white, liberally educated westerners. Now admittedly that is who they are writing for, but the fact that they never employ locals and rarely employ expats to do their writing says a lot about the sort of "expert" advice you are getting.

2- Holy Judgement Batman!

These same authors have lots of wonderful things to say about tour groups, luxury travel, expats and, well anyone who isn't a backpacker. I did my backpacker thing when I was 25. A hostel in Bangkok where the shower was a garden hose zap strapped to the wall. Cost me $10 a night. However, sucked in by the LP mantra that backpacking is the only real and authentic form of travel I stuck with it.... for about three days. Then I checked in to a place that, for $30 a night gave me a shower, BBC News, free breakfast and aircon. I have never figured out why showering everyday and getting a good nights sleep makes for less authentic travel, but apparently it does. I also don't get how staying in a hostel is more "authentic". How does drinking cheap beer with two guys from Sydney make for a more authentic Thai experience? Seriously, I've never been able to figure it out.

They also love to pass casual judgements on teachers in Japan and Korea, expats in SE Asia, anyone in a nice hotel and anyone on a package tour. Now personally I hate package tours, but if your only language was, say Korean, you would not be able to communicate with too many people outside of Korea without help. Thus you have Hana Tour. As to expats. Well I have a dog in this fight I guess, so I'll state up front that I have worked abroad for years and am with a woman who is not Canadian. I chose to work abroad because I wanted to see the world but didn't have a trust fund to cover it. Again these authors. Bryant is a journalist from L.A who has written for Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Morocco and Spain. Must be wonderful to be able to just fly all over the world whenever you want to, especially as a journalist. Which news outlet do you work for again? Thus the LP guide books are full of comments about drunk English teachers or sexpats or bitter expats. Now admittedly there are more than a few of them out there. They suck. They are also a minority. However the overwhelming majority are a far, FAR better source of information on a country than the LP writers. Who knows more about Seoul, Steve who lives in Seoul and has been married to Kim Soo-Min for five years or Trent from Melbourne who likes ultimate frisbee and surfing brah?

Also, the fact that I no longer stay in hostels (Tokyo being the exception) doesn't mean that my experience is less valid. As I said before, drinking with two guys from Sydney in a dorm room is not more authentic than watching BBC News in a hotel room when you are in Bangkok. Frankly, I think part of it is the simple poverty of youth. I make enough that I can afford to spend money on a real hotel room. You don't yet. When you do let me know where you choose to stay.

Besides, if you really wanted an authentic (whatever that means anyway) experience, you would have thrown your LP book away, left the hostel world and joined couchsurfing.org or AirBnB a long time ago.

Finally, and it could almost be its own subsection titled "Don't Tell Me What to Do." There is a stream of commentary looking down on people who do things that are not backpacker enough. I want to go to Disneyland in Hong Kong? So what? The write up for Nagasaki is a prime example. There is a Dutch fort there (a replica anyway) from the days when only the Dutch were allowed to enter Japan. I find that period interesting (so does anyone who read Shogun I bet) but the LP writeup simply ends by dismissing it and saying "you didn't travel to Japan to see a European town now did you?" How do you know why I went to Japan Trent from Melbourne and Bryant from Los Angeles (my two fictional and highly stereotypical LP writers)? I find that part of Japanese history fascinating so I will go to Deshima island and see it (one day). Maybe after I play a round of golf in the Philippines. Get off me.

3- The LP Effect

Again from Places People Stories:

I have seen restaurants that have been full every night, due to that it is mentioned in Lonely Planet. While other restaurants that were not mentioned, despite to that they have better and cheaper food, always have space. It is pretty crazy, the amount of money one business get based on one person or authors experience. I usually look for the places where locals are eating. I noticed them to usually be the best and affordable.

Spot on.

Add to that the prices are always jacked up and restaurants pay to keep themselves in LP and you end up eating bad food. This may tie in to mistrust of the authors, but I've never had a good LP recommendation with respect to food, though a few of their mid range hotel recommendations have been quite good. However this may be that restaurants and hotels operate under different rules, and are less subject to subjective tastes (emphasis on less). If you want to know if a restaurant has good food look at the clientele. If they are all 24-30 and western, the food will be very expensive and probably not amazing. Go to where the locals are.

4- Only Western Countries Can Develop

This one kills me and is an editorial stance common to LP. While London and New York are described as vibrant, world class cities, a write up for Singapore begins with "ditch the image of Singapore as a sterile utopia" and then goes on to talk about how it is great despite its modernity. To be fair they are kinder to it than others, but it still fits in with a mentality so common among the backpacker crowd that lament what has been lost now that a (non western) country has modernized. I am sure they did lose something. Anglo-Saxon England had cool stuff that we don't have anymore either, does that make London boring or sterile? Singapore is amazing, and while LP does actually bring up a few great things about it, the commentary on the expats there and the persistent undertone that Singapore just isn't Asian, or is a mix or east and west, leaves one with a bad taste. In fact Singapore is Singapore. Its own thing and amazing in its own right. I would also ask Trent and Bryant which city they would rather raise a family in, Singapore or Phnom Penh? 

5- Don't Be a Mark

Again a title taken direct from People Places Stories. But again spot on.

The first rule I learned when travelling to distant countries was that if you would like to avoid being robbed or tricked, do not stand in the street with a guide book. This is like putting a sticker in your forehead saying “I’m a tourist. I’m new here. I don’t know this place”. By doing so, you become an easy victim. That they do not mention in Lonely Planet, right?

You see a couple of kids with oversized backpacks and their heads buried in a LP book. Man I am tempted to offer them a tuk tuk ride to Big Temple.

6- That Price Was SOOOO Last Year

The second you print a guide book it is out of date. With blogs, wikitravel and maps readily available for download on your smartphone or printed out at work, why would you lug around a huge book? Heck the LP website is actually very good, and because it is facts without the commentary it is actually very useful. That was 40 baht in 2009? Oh, well it is 60 baht now. It is called inflation. Trent reviewed this restaurant in LP? Prices just went up by 40%.

They Aren't THAT Bad

To be fair, as I mentioned above they do have a fair bit going for them. They do have great, if outdated, info. Their maps are spot on too. Actually their website is often my third or fourth choice when looking up new info on a place (out of a dozen or so). I guess what I hate most about LP is Trent and Bryant telling me what to see and do, and offering their snide, often very elitist commentary. I also hate that I did LP Thailand. I decided to boldly go where thousands of unwashed white people had gone before. I contrast that with my time in the Philippines, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong and there is no comparison as to which ones were better, more enriching and more fun. I actually forgot my Japan LP the last time I was in Tokyo. Best mistake I ever made. If you want some info their website is great and up to date, and a great resource when starting your planning. Leave the books, and Trent and Bryant, at home.