Brilliant minds think alike, or, Why so many guidebooks share the same listings: part 1

By Terry* and Lara
Sometimes when you visit a restaurant or stay at a hotel recommended by a guidebook, and it’s either nothing like you expected or you’re wondering what the fuss is about, don’t worry, the problem probably doesn’t lie with you. It’s quite likely the fault of a lazy reviewer. When we recently revisited an Italian city we’ve written extensively about, we dropped into a couple of bookshops to thumb through the latest guides to see what insightful new content had been created on the city. Our little test is to look for reviews of places we know intimately and see whether the writers know their stuff and/or whether we are simpatico with their thinking.

In this particular city (which shall remain nameless), we know one hotel extremely well, having had several lengthy stays there while researching the city. So we know about this certain hotel’s marketing gimmick and claims to being an “eco-friendly” hotel, which have little foundation. We mentioned this in our review of the property for a book on the city several years ago. Indeed, we wrote the review from our room there! But in an updated edition of that book, the new review by another author essentially reflects the hotel’s press release rather than the reality - that would have been revealed by a quick inspection and a couple of well-chosen questions. In the same guidebook, flicking through to the eating section, we noticed that a couple of well-known restaurants we were told we “had to” include in the book now get glowing reviews. One, we’d been able to convince the editor to leave out of our edition, as our meals had been ordinary and stupidly expensive. The other, we gave an average review; we had to include it because it had such a high profile. On both counts, we argued our case strongly. By doing so we felt we were doing the right thing by the readers.

This is how we approach our reviewing. If our readers are going to a destination and only have a couple of days to spend there, we obviously want them to have the best experience possible. If we’re going to send them to a so-called “eco-friendly” hotel that isn’t very eco-friendly at all, we’ll tell them why: because it’s a clean, decent-value hotel in an expensive city, despite its disingenuous eco-claims. If we think a restaurant doesn’t warrant inclusion, we’ll leave it out. And if we think another restaurant is very average but has to be included because of its high-profile chef and famous investors, we’ll reluctantly put it in, write a critical review, and leave it up to the reader to decide whether they want to spend their hard-earned cash there or go to another restaurant we wholeheartedly recommend instead. When writing reviews and labouring over these issues, we always ask ourselves: would we recommend the place to our friends? And would we be happy to go there with them?

The photo? It's the funky lobby of Qamardeen Hotel again, in Dubai. And no, they're not paying us, we just love this property and think it's one of Dubai's most stylish, best value, and yet, bafflingly, most underrated hotels.

* Terry is my co-author and husband, who occasionally blogs for Cool Travel Guide.

10 things that annoy us about hotels # 4 Surly faces at check-in

I’m sure there's a reason for the long face. I’m sorry about your dog, your relationship, your working conditions, that rash that won’t go away, but we’re paying for you to welcome us to your hotel. Whatever your problems are, we might have been travelling for 24hrs to get to the hotel, been trying to follow the poor directions to your hotel for an hour in peak traffic, and lost our baggage, our sense of humour, or perhaps the will to ever travel again. It’s your job to make it all go away by welcoming us to your hotel. With a smile. And that includes actually saying “welcome to the hotel”. It’s not hard, write it on a piece of paper and keep it behind the counter. Don’t like greeting people? Go and work in the kitchen.
A general manager of a large multinational five-star luxury hotel responds: "There’s simply no excuse for reception staff to not give guests a warm welcome. And I am always sad when I hear from a guest that the check-in process was not a memorable experience and that they were left standing at the counter for a long time. There’s simply no excuse for a poor standard of service, no matter how busy the hotel is. There is never a valid excuse for lack of attention and assistance. Apart from being responsible for the check-in process, the main role of the reception staff is to receive guests – warmly."

Pictured? The reception desk of Qamardeen Hotel in Dubai. This, and its sister property Al Manzil, are two hotels where the welcome is always warm. And with the smile we get a refreshing little welcome drink and a fragrant cold towel. If they can get it right, why can't all hotels?

The Guardian summer holiday travel writing competition: a lesson in the harsh realities of travel writing

The Guardian's travel section is running a Summer Holiday Travel Writing Competition which for its runner-ups will also provide a very real (and for some, painful) introduction to the travel publishing industry and the role of the editor. Readers are asked to submit 500 words about their holiday and what made it special, providing as much detail as possible. The Guardian's travel editors will then choose the five best entries across five different categories, each of which will win their authors one of five holidays. And - lucky them! - they'll get their stories published in their entirety in the Guardian's travel section. No such dream prize for the runners-up, however... they'll have to make do with a hefty dose of reality. Each of their 500-word pieces will be edited down to 100 words by the travel editors. (Other entries will be uploaded to the readers' Been There tips section.) If you still want to be a travel writer after seeing your finely-crafted words whittled down to one fifth their original length, then you probably have what it takes to be a travel writer, so good on you. Go for it! If you find yourself in tears over how they've savaged your precious piece writing, then you'd better stick to short stories, poetry or simply postcards. As for the five winners... frame those pieces and enjoy them while you can. Because if you do go on to become a travel writer, rarely will your writing ever be published in its entirety again. Now, that's not always a bad thing either...

Beijing insider guides

If you are considering a trip to Beijing after being inspired by the Beijing Olympics' Opening Ceremony (or my own Cool Travel Guide to Beijing), then check out these insider guides to the city:
* The Beijinger is an excellent Beijing-based, English-language magazine and website with a weekly what's on guide including listings for every kind of arts and entertainment venue and event, from hip-hop clubs to Chinese opera performances. Check out their links to websites for hundreds of arts galleries, bars, restaurants, clubs, and more. They also produce local guidebooks, such as The Insider's Guide to Beijing, available online, including tips from 40 resident contributors, and indispensable immersion guides, such as a Mandarin phrasebook with a section on Beijing slang to a guide to using taxis (trust us, this will become more valuable to you than your Lonely Planet).
* Beijing Notebook is a blog by Suzie, an Italian-based German who until recently lived in Beijing for three years. Take a look at her 5 things to do when in Beijing, Beijing Shopping Where and How, and Beijing de Luxe: Cool Visits, Sees & Tastes. Suzie also has helpful links to sites such as the Beijing Weather Forecast and Daily Air Quality Report.
* 'After the Gold Rush: 20 ideas for your Beijing visit' in the Guardian's Travel section is by resident travel writer Damian Harper and includes superb suggestions ranging from hiring a bike to cycle the hutongs to doing a self-guided Maoist slogan tour. (You'll need that Mandarin phrase book for the latter of course.) The Guardian Travel also has Beijing insider tips and guides to top 10 shops and top 10 places to eat in Beijing.
* The Beijing Guide, the site of an American-operated, Beijing-based travel agency mainly exists to sell its tours, however, there's tonnes of other useful stuff on here, from restaurant and shopping reviews to practical tips like activating your mobile phones.

Point and shoot: is a spoiled photo opportunity a spoiled vacation?

By Terry Carter*
When we were last in Beijing a few summers ago and were visiting the star sights, including the Great Wall of China, the air was filled with a thick grey-brown smog, making decent photos impossible. But we still had a great time. In Italy recently, it also seemed like every significant sight in every city was covered in scaffolding, again making good photos impossible. It became a running joke between Lara and I that to find the duomo (a town's central cathedral, usually situated in the main square) we just had to look for a crane, scaffolding, or men-at-work signs. When you’ve been commissioned to shoot photographs of these sights it becomes more than a little frustrating. Instead of sending the book editors beautifully framed images of important attractions, we’re going to be sending way too many small detailed shots, to get around the scaffolding. Or sending snapshots from Lara's point-and-shoot camera to show the construction carnage with a suggestion that the editors procure a stock image for the sight if they want a wide-shot. As travellers (rather than travel writers), while we love doing the sights, we’re much more interested in exploring fascinating local neighbourhoods, seeking out bespoke shops and local artisans, and visiting restaurants that serve authentic regional foods and wines. But how does it affect your trip? What if you went to Paris and the Eiffel Tower was covered in scaffolding? Or Big Ben was having its clocks repaired? Or the Leaning Tower of Pisa was being propped up by engineering teams? How much does seeing - and photographing - the key sights matter to your travel experience? Do these things simply spoil your photo opportunity or can they spoil your trip? While holding the Olympics in Beijing during its smoggy summer period didn't seem to bother the International Olympic Committee, would you change your schedule if you knew a city's star attraction was invisible or out of order? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

*Terry is my husband, co-writer and a professional travel photographer.

Beijing's 2008 Olympics and its cinematic Opening Ceremony: spectacle and its power to inspire

Mesmerized, I marveled at the jaw-dropping spectacle of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, enjoying it more than any other opening ceremony I've watched before. Surely this feast for the imagination was the most arresting, audacious and innovative yet? With its epic scope, theatrical scale, dreamy atmosphere, and experimental film-like form more at home in a cutting-edge gallery of conceptual art than a popular sporting event, it was completely involving and entrancing. The lavish costumes, clever choreography and acrobatics, thousands of extras, innovative use of multimedia, and enchanting soundtrack by Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon composer Tan Dun were, for me, constant reminders of the qualities that have made contemporary Chinese cinema so compelling. Indeed, the creative director behind the extravagant show was none other than China's most gifted and celebrated filmmaker, Zhang Yimou, who made such captivating films as Raise the Red Lantern and House of Flying Daggers among others. The event was inspiring. It made me wish I was there. And it made me want to return to Beijing. It also reminded me of our summer in the city a few years ago. While a heavy smog clouded Beijing for the whole of our stay - as it will the sporting events during these coming days - we still had an amazing time. It was one of those trips where, while having our expectations continually met - from eating the most delicious Peking Duck we've ever eaten to seeing Pekingese dogs in the hutong alleyways - we still found ourselves being constantly dismayed (the time we stumbled across a charming traditional performance of Chinese opera by amateurs at a simple teahouse in the basement of a modern shopping mall) and delighted (our afternoon spent piloting our own boat around Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace). Pictured? Costumed staff at the Summer Palace. It was very Raise the Red Lantern. So, did the Opening Ceremony inspire you to book a ticket to Beijing?

The Cool Travel Guide to Beijing

Just in case you're now wishing you were at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games after seeing the spectacular Opening Ceremony, and are inspired to book a flight... check out my Cool Travel Guide to Beijing. By no means exhaustive, it's simply a list of favorite things to do in the smoggy city.
What to do: The main main must-see sights are the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall of China (a day trip), and Temple of Heaven. Once over the disappointment of finding out the Forbidden City has a Starbucks inside, and it's almost always smoggy out at the Great Wall too, work your way through this list:
* Kick back at Houhai Lake - stroll around this lovely leafy lake, shop in the stores in renovated old buildings (you'll find everything from 'antiques' to Indian hippy clothes), or simply hang out and do some people-watching at the al fresco lakeside cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs. There's no denying it's touristy, but it is fun. Whatever you do, don't join one of those silly rickshaw tours.
* Explore Beijing's last remaining hutongs - few of the city's hutongs (historic neighbourhoods of narrow alleyways with traditional low-rise courtyard houses) still exist; many were bulldozed as part of a 'urban makeover' for the Olympics. Those that remain are fascinating places to explore, whether gentrified, their renovated buildings turned into hip hotels and private clubs, or remaining authentic, their gritty alleys home to tiny grocery stores and hole-in-the-wall eateries, where kids play in the streets and old folks sit and watch the world go by. Give the organized hutong tours a miss and explore: see this list here and images here for inspiration.
* Shop for Communist kitsch at Panjiayuan Market - this fantastic market is one of our world favorites. Not only is this the place to shop for communist-era trinkets and propaganda posters (sure, they're replicas, but who cares), 'antiques' (ditto) and bric-a-brac, as well as Chinese handicrafts, including vibrant tribal textiles, but it's also great for people-watching.
* Browse the galleries at 798 Dashanzi Arts District This hip neighbourhood of art galleries, artists studios, art supply shops, tea houses and cafes is a delight to explore. Decorative calligraphy brushes and contemporary art make cool souvenirs.
Where to eat: Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant for a quintessential Beijing experience. Everyone has eaten here, from celebrities to visiting dignitaries (from Fidel Castro to Yasser Arafat!), and after working our way through a whole succulent Peking Duck (pictured) we understood why. The Quanjude family claim to have been serving duck at this location since the Qing Dynasty. A digital clock ticks over each time a duck is served and while I'm know it didn't exist in Emporer Tongzhi's time, the clock records how many ducks they've served since they started in 1864. As our succulent bird was brought to our table to be carved in front of us, it ticked over to 115,081,852.
Other memorable dining experiences included stunning, contemporary Asian cuisine in a chic and sleek setting at Jing, at the Peninsula Beijing; intriguing dishes that were favorites of Chairman Mao's at the atmospheric Red Capital Club; a fascinating meal at the much-written-about Green T-House where the decor and diners were arguably as interesting as the cuisine; and delicious meals at a dozen other no-name plastic tablecloth eateries that dished up some of the most mouthwatering food we've ever eaten.
Where to stay: We'd wanted to stay at the much-talked-about Red Capital Residence, but as it was booked up we checked into the charming Lu Song Yuan hotel, listed in all the guidebooks. A warning: while our stay was fine, the hotel attempted to draw upon our credit card months after our trip. A glitch perhaps? The hotel still gets good reviews on hotel booking sites, as does a similar property, the Bamboo Garden Hotel. We stayed at the tranquil Red Capital Ranch not far from the Great Wall one night, where we ate unusual meals made from garden greens, herbs and flowers.
How to get there: Emirates connects cities in Europe and the Middle East with Beijing via Dubai while Cathay Pacific does a good job of getting the rest of the world there via Hong Kong.

10 things that annoy us about hotels #3 white Wi-Fi lies

Don’t get us wrong, we love Wi-Fi. We use it often. We’d use it more often except that hotels that promise Wi-Fi in every room are generally telling a little white (Wi-Fi) lie. And hotels that promise 'free' Wi-Fi that actually ends up being free are few and far between. It usually turns out that there’s only a signal in room 666 and in the foyer. Except to access the 'free' Wi-Fi in the foyer you have to log on and pay with your credit card. We've lost count of the number of times we’ve wandered hotel hallways looking for a signal. And that's even after we've double-checked that the hotel has Wi-Fi before booking the room and emailed the property to make sure we get a room with a wireless signal. Just last week, for example, we stayed in two five-star luxury hotels with Wi-Fi problems. In one of the hotels, the Wi-Fi router in our room was covered in dust and had never been connected to power. Ever. In the other, we had to stand in our hotel room doorway just to get enough signal to send emails. And these are hotels charging around €500 a night (not that we were paying that figure of course) and then have the hide to charge extra for Wi-FI – another annoyance. Give us good broadband access via cable and we’ll plug in our own Airport Express, thanks. At least we know it works!
A general manager of a large multinational five-star luxury hotel responds: "Wi-Fi is the bane of our existence. At our hotel, we have an outside company that handles it but we just can’t get them to provide a service that consistently works. It’s mind-boggling. We have to try and get out of our contract with them to get it fixed. It’s a nightmare. And we know our guests are not happy, but our hands are tied."
While we sympathise, if the Wi-Fi's not working properly then guests shouldn't be charged for it. Frankly, though, it should be free anyway. We don't know about you, but to us, it's the most essential thing in the room, more crucial than a television or telephone. What do you think?

The travel journalists’ junket: why we don’t do them

By Terry and Lara
When we were in Milan recently we had drinks with some hotel executives we’d met in Istanbul while attending the W opening. The PR person of the Milan hotel where we’d met for aperitivi told us how impressed she was that we’d had several story commissions on the hotel, its restaurant and Chef Jean-Georges, and that those had been published already, and she asked if we wanted to be included the next time she was coordinating a press trip. We very politely declined and she understood exactly why. If we’d been on a journalist’s junket in Istanbul we wouldn’t have had the freedom to pursue the stories that we did. And she agreed. But it was our recent visit to Venice where we got to observe the behaviour of one too many tour groups, and a story we read on spas in Thailand (more on that little gem soon), that brought home one of the reasons why we really don’t like the organised press trip. It’s because of its complete disconnect with the kind of travel that ‘normal’ travellers do. In a nutshell, junket journalists are treated like a cross between pampered pooches, 80-somethings on a shore-leave guided tour from a cruise ship, and package tourists whose last independent thought for the duration of their holiday was figuring out how they managed to get their name tag on upside down at the airport. We write for independent travellers, and by travelling independently ourselves we gain a better understanding of the logistical challenges that independent travellers face. Junket journalists don’t have to worry about finding that carpark in Venice, deciding how best to lug those bags to the hotel (do we walk, pay a porter or take a water taxi?), decide whether the exorbitant cost of the parking and ludicrously expensive Internet access means we should be changing hotels, and so on. These decisions are taken away from the junket journalist, who can just concentrate on gushing about how fabulous it is to be on a junket and to be a travel writer. While publications will sometimes state that the writer stayed courtesy of such and such a hotel or was flown in by a certain airline, and that’s great to see, we also believe that travel journalists should declare whether they were on a junket or not, so the reader can judge for themselves how much salt to sprinkle on the tale. We’ve read so many of these gushy stories, we can usually tell by the end of the second paragraph. But can you? And would knowing that the writer had been on a free package tour to the destination affect your reading of the story? What are your expectations of a writer and their travel experience when reading a travel story?

*Terry Carter is my husband, co-author, and a travel photographer

10 things that annoy us about hotels # 2 Fixed Coat Hangers

You know the ones, those fixed coat hangers that don’t come off the rail in the cupboard. We always like to hang a few items of clothing when we get to our room and those stupid hangers are so annoying. We also like to take the hung clothes out of the cupboard and into the bathroom for a quick steam while we have a shower – it helps get out the little wrinkles. Those coat hangers really spoil our evening. Order an iron and ironing board, you say? We don’t want to go to that much trouble if we can avoid it and in some countries (hello, Italy!), they won’t send one to your room as it’s against fire safety laws. And if we’re only staying one night, there’s no chance we’re going to send anything out to be pressed as we may never see it again. Who steals those things anyway? And, let’s say someone does steal one once in a blue moon, why do we have pay for it by being treated like a potential thief?
A general manager of a large multinational hotel responds: “We don’t use fixed coat hangers in our hotel, but we do ‘lose’ several hundred of our good wooden hangers each month. We don’t want to use the fixed hangers as we appreciate they’re an inconvenience to guests. And a little tacky. But it’s strange to think that several times a day people are checking out of the hotel with our coat hangers in their bags! But that’s the price we’re willing to pay to keep our guests happy.”
The hotel may be happy to pay the price, but we're not. Does this drive anyone else nuts, or is it just us?

10 things that annoy us about hotels #1 Minibar Sensors

Sure we could just ask for an ice bucket for that nice bottle of crisp white or bubbly we bought at the airport duty free. But we want to put it in the mini bar in the room that we’ve paid for. And that's not always as easy as it should be. Those sensors that automatically charge to your account anything that you move in the mini bar are a little too ‘big brother’ for us. Just what are people doing to the mini bar contents that has made this so necessary? And they're even doing it in five-star luxury properties? They sure are.
A general manager of a large multinational hotel responds: “Scotch bottles filled with tea, vodka replaced with water, beer cans opened every-so-slightly, emptied, then put back in the fridge... The list is endless! And we just don’t have time to take out every item in every mini bar everyday to check if it’s still intact. But at our hotel we still don’t use the sensor system - despite it obviously being more efficient - because it treats the guests like criminals. However, when we do refurbish the rooms it will be hard not to consider installing them because we lose a lot of money each day through people tampering with the contents of the fridge.”
Well, you know who you are. Will you please just give it up.
So, what annoys you about hotels?

10 things... an introduction

I'd like to introduce you to the first in an ongoing series of short travel industry-focused posts about the things worth celebrating and those that we can do without when we travel. Terry* and I want to start by sharing with you the little quirks we find annoying about hotels. As we spend some 300+ nights a year with a number on our door, we’ll warn you now: we have some strong opinions. But then hotels are an important (and an expensive) part of travel, right? Rather than make you simply read our gripes, and partly to satisfy our own curiosity, we’re putting our complaints to respected hoteliers in the industry to find out why hotels persist with some of these irritating practices that drive us crazy. As you’ll see, we’re allowing the hotel staff to remain anonymous so they can feel free to tell it like it is. First up… 10 things we find annoying about hotels...

* Terry is my husband, co-author, photographer and room-mate

Our latest travel writing: in print and online

When I updated you yesterday on our latest writing in print and online, I forgot to mention one new piece you might enjoy, especially those gourmet travellers out there who take your food seriously. Have a read of my partner Terry's article 'Perfect Balance' in Gulf Life, Gulf Air's in-flight magazine. The story is based on an interview we did with Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten during the opening of Jean-Georges' new Spice Market restaurant and Istanbul's W hotel. Terry also took the gorgeous photos. You may remember me telling you about our trip to Istanbul for the opening of the W hotel. It was a hectic few days of interviews and shoots, which, as exhausting as they were, reaffirmed our love for this work - how many jobs allow you to go to such cool places and meet so many cool people? A few stories resulted from that trip, including a review of the W hotel for Jazeera Airline's J Mag. Now, it's not often I post happy snaps on Cool Travel Guide, but I couldn't resist popping up this pic of Terry with Jean-Georges. We meet a lot of chefs - during this last trip to Italy, we got to interview a constellation of Michelin-starred chefs, shoot their dishes and eat their food - and we find chefs to be fascinating people. The best chefs are thoughtful, philosophical and passionate about food, travel and culture. Jean-Georges was all of those things, but he was also an endearing, down-to-earth and considerate guy. He also has his own blog. Very cool indeed.

Making connections: the lock of love

The more I travel the more I make connections. Between people, places, cultures, countries, and all kinds of kooky things. The more connections I make, the more everything and everyone seems the same. In a heartening kind of way. And the more this crazy planet and my even crazier life seem to be like one big magical game of connect the dots. A puzzle I'm working on that I hope will never end. Sometimes the way things connect across the globe, between seemingly disparate points and things, surprises me. Other times it just makes so much sense. Uh-huh! Oh I get it! Right... And sometimes, the connections, those similarities, those little quirks, habits and customs we all share... well, they just make me smile. As we've been travelling a lot recently (well, pretty much constantly for 2.5 years to be precise!), I keep seeing a strange but wonderful custom everywhere... the habit of fixing these locks of love to a romantic place. Locks clamped to big old iron gates, fixed to fences that look out over a stunning landscape, and locks joined to beautiful bridges all over the world. From Syria to Cyprus, Turkey to Italy, everywhere people are fixing locks to places and throwing away (or giving to their loved-one?) the key. Locks carved, scratched and painted with messages of love: be mine forever, marry me, I'll love you 'til I die... that kind of thing. These locks were on a bridge in Verona, Italy, the home of Romeo and Juliet. Could there be a better way at a better spot to declare your love for someone then throw away (perhaps swallow?) the key? I'm curious to know, in my eagerness to make connections... where did it all start? Where does it end? How many locks of love have you come across in your travels? Have you ever left a lock somewhere? What did it say? And what on earth did you do with the key?

Our latest travel writing: in print and online

Aside from our new Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook hitting the shelves, we had a couple of articles appear on the web recently. Check out our "Off the beach in Crete" piece on the NineMSN Travel website. Yes, it is a Greek Island and it is summer, but there is life beyond the beach resorts and this is one island where we strongly believe that getting off the beaten track is more rewarding than staying on the well-trodden sand. Likewise, avoiding the throngs of tourists and thousands of groups that stream through Rome's Vatican Museums each day by doing a private after-hours tour is the only way I'd recommend you visit the museums and Sistine Chapel, having now done it both ways. Terry and I road-tested one of the private tours offered by Viator when we were in Rome a few months ago (as you know, we don't recommend or write about anything we haven't tried ourselves), and this is definitely the way to do it. You can read why I think so in my post for Viator, Why Lara loved her after-hours Vatican tour (sorry, not a very original title, I know), and also here in my own post. A few readers have asked where they can buy our books... well, if you don't have a good travel bookshop near you (or any bookshop for that matter, but travel bookshops are much more fun, aren't they?), you can always buy our guidebooks online from Amazon.com via my Cool Travel Guide Shop where I've compiled our titles. I haven't updated it in a while, so a couple of titles are missing, but I promise to do so soon. You can also go straight to Amazon or other online bookshops, but obviously if you buy a book here I get a little commission. The photo? A young Italian couple kissing among the columns at St. Peters, Rome.

Our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook: the challenges of guidebook research and other considerations

Our research last year for the Syria chapter of our recently released Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook required that we visit everything already in the book, along with many more sights that weren't in the guide. And while we loved visiting all of those "out of the way castles and ruins", when making decisions as to what to include and exclude in the manuscript we have to think about how much other readers might enjoy what may appear to be merely a pile of rubble to anyone but the most avid archaeological enthusiast. In some cases, the ruins of a castle may be rather spectacular (like the one pictured) and may well be worth the effort to get to. But most readers, who are staying in Syria for an average of five days, might not want to spend a long day travelling (or indeed several days) to get to the site, especially if the journey involves long waits between buses in the middle of nowhere and perhaps even a spot of hitchhiking to get there.

The other consideration we have is word count. We can't just keep adding sights to books, and therefore adding paragraphs and pages. In fact, for almost every book we ever worked on for Lonely Planet we were required to reduce rather than add new text. So, in order to add a few paragraphs to include some of those off-the-beaten-track places some readers would love us to include, we'd have to remove sights elsewhere. When it comes to making those decisions we have to ask ourselves whether we should cut a popular site that might be visited by thousands of travellers to include an out of the way castle that may get visited by only a few hundred people? And with a country like Syria (and, now, under the current political climate, also Lebanon), we have to give this serious thought. How many people are actually using our book and visiting these places? When we did our six week road trip around Syria we only bumped into around 20 other travellers. We were alone at most major sights.

It would be heavenly to write a book with an endless number of pages and complete freedom to include everything we wanted to. But it would also have to have a fee to match. And that's another interesting consideration. How many publishers are going to pay us to go to all those out-of-the-way sights that might only ever get visited by a few hundred travellers at most? Not Lonely Planet that's for sure. And probably not many other publishers either...

Our Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook has hit the shelves!

We've just received our author copies of our recently released Lonely Planet Syria and Lebanon guidebook and I'm rather excited to see it in print as we put a lot of hard work into it. Admittedly, seeing a book for the first time is not as thrilling these days as it once was, especially as we've now written, contributed to and updated around 35 guidebooks. And it's even less exciting when Lonely Planet sends you a few mangled, well-thumbed copies, rather than issues that are hot off the presses and smell freshly printed! The fact that we researched it over a year ago, from April to June 2007, also takes a bit of the edge off it. Just thinking that some of it is already out of date makes me cringe. But such is the nature of publishing - books take forever to get from research through writing to manuscript submission, then through editing and author queries until they finally go to print...

I went online to see if there were any reviews of the book yet but unfortunately all I could find were a few Amazon.com reader reviews which, while attached to this edition, are actually for the last edition. Some were written 8 years ago and so apply to an ancient edition while one 2007 review applied to an edition we wrote that was already 4 years old, so obviously some content was out of date when the reader used it. Interestingly though, we used that edition when we were on the road last year and it was in pretty good shape. The way we research is to methodically check everything in the current book as we're travelling from town to town, retaining anything that's still open and is worthwhile, deleting or downgrading anything that's closed or is not as good as it once was, and then looking for places to replace any deletions. One reader writes of that edition: "It only gives you the most popular sites and then a few it claims are "off-the-beaten-track" but really aren't. It misses some of Syria's best out of the way castles and ruins." What he fails to consider is that we all travel differently. Some of us are more intrepid than others, and what might be a well-trodden sight for one reader might be well and truly "off-the-beaten-track" for other less adventurous travellers. And let's face it, Lonely Planet guides are mainstream books aimed to appeal to a wide cross-section of people. As someone who has been to Syria many times, when I next visit I won't be using a Lonely Planet or any other guidebook. My own well-thumbed and rather ragged version of Ross Burns' Monuments of Syria will be enough to guide me.

Pictured? My co-author/husband Terry at one of those out-of-the-way sights that may not be off-the-beaten-track enough for everyone. The first person who can identify the site gets the most mangled copy of the new guides that Lonely Planet sent me! How's that for incentive?

The Cool Travel Guide to the Italian Lakes

We were surprised during our recent research trip in Italy to find that after Venice and Rome the country's next most popular travel destination seemed to be Sirmione, a small walled town on a tiny peninsula, accessed by a drawbridge across the moat of a castle on gorgeous Lake Garda. It's a place you rarely read about in travel magazines and yet its cobblestone streets, hotel sun decks and narrow beaches were crammed with sunburnt tourists. While the rest of Italy may have seen far fewer Americans than usual (due to the devalued dollar and stateside recession), the Lakes weren't feeling the dramatic drop in numbers of US visitors that other parts of Italy were. The Clooney factor played a part on Lake Como of course (more on that later), however, the waterfront towns and mesmerizing villages on the other lakes, especially Lakes Maggiore, Lugano and Orta, were buzzing with foreign visitors. Irish, Australians and Russians in particular descended on Italy's most romantic of destinations. Want to find out why? Here's a quick cool travel guide to Italy's alluring lakes:
* Lake Orta (pictured) - the most enchanting and our favorite, it's also one of the smallest lakes, and one of the most exclusive, with elegant private villas gracing its shores and only wooden row boats to cause ripples on its tranquil waters. Three reasons to visit: the magical fairy-tale hotel Villa Crespi and its sublime Michelin two-starred restaurant, the pedestrian-only medieval village of Orta San Giulo, and pretty postcard-perfect Isola San Giulo opposite.
* Lake Como - aside from George Clooney, other handsome stars include the city of Como itself (very elegant with great restaurants and good shopping), pretty Bellagio at the end of a peninsula, with an array of grand hotels and superb restaurants, including Villa Serbelloni; the elegant waterfront village of Menaggio, Grand Hotel Tremezzo, and lush lakeside botanical gardens such as those at Villa Carlotta.
* Lake Garda - known more these days for its fishing, watersports (especially windsurfing) and theme parks (Gardaland), Lake Garda was once more infamously known as the home of Salo, the capital of Mussolini's puppet-state. Boasting its fair share of genteel lakeside towns (namely Salo, Gardone Riviera and Sirmione), elegant villa hotels (Villa Feltrinelli), and sublime Michelin-starred restaurants (Villa Fiordaliso), it's also home to one of the whackiest house-museums around, Il Vittoriale, which once belonged to eccentric and flamboyant writer-poet Gabriele d'Annunzio.
* Lake Maggiore - a massive lake (as its name indicates) that's famous for its islands, Isola Borromee, Isola Madre, Isola Bella and Isole di Brissago; while not as pretty as the other lakes, it's still enormously popular with Italians and northern Europeans; the beautiful village of Cannobio with its waterfront lined with restaurants and cafes is the highlight, followed by Verbania with its breathakingly beautiful gardens at Villa Taranto.
When to go: summer is when the lakes are at their most beautiful and is the most popular time, but it's also the most crowded; spring and autumn are also lovely periods; in winter the lakes are misty and moody, but many hotels and restaurants are closed.
How to get there: fly into airports at Milan (Malpensa is closest for Como, Orta and Maggiore and is served by most major international airlines) or Bergamo (served by myriad low-cost airlines and situated between Lakes Como and Garda) then hire a car. Your own transport is essential to really explore the lakes.
What to do: spend your days driving around the lakes (they're enormous so allow a minimum of 2-3 days for each), taking boat trips around the lakes (public ferries run frequently and are affordable; car ferries less affordable but handy; taxi boats expensive but memorable); strolling elaborately landscaped botanical gardens; reading a book in the many lakeside parks; enjoying apertivi at a waterfront bar as you savour the sunset; and lingering over a long dinner as you watch the moonlight reflect upon the water.
Where to stay: the lakes are home to some exquisite and often opulent waterside hotels; we stayed at Albergo Terminus at Como; Villa Crespi at Lake Orta; Villa Serbelloni at Bellagio; and Grand Hotel Gardone on Lake Garda.

Tips for travelling Italy's autostradas: thank god for Autogrill

We recently finished a four-week research trip driving through Northern Italy. As we've spent a lot of time on Italy's autostradas (motorways, freeways), here are some tips to travelling the autostrada:
WHO: Every man and his dog drives the autostrada, from Italians doing the daily commute to work to truckies doing long-haul trips between countries. During holidays you'll be joined by campervanners and caravanners, who can be the most bothersome, generally driving well below the limit and slowing everyone down. Followed by drivers on their cell phones of course!
WHAT: Italy's autostradas are mostly dual carriageways and offer few places to exit, turn around, stop, rest, and refuel than freeways in many countries we've driven in, so always know where you're going, stay focused, fill up, and plan ahead. Or hope you see an Autogrill. Attached to fuel stations, these excellent one-stop-shops are a stand-up cafe, panini stop, book and music shop, delicatessen, and gadget heaven in one. You'll find anything here from a beach towel to a phone recharger.
WHERE: Autostradas criss-cross the country, connecting all major cities (see this list), the handiest being the A1 taking from Milan to Rome and on to Naples, the A4 from Milan via Venice to Trieste (although the area around Venice is almost always clogged), and the A14 running along the east coast from Bologna to Bari, which is picturesque.
WHY: The autostradas are fantastic for zipping between cities. Sit on 130 kph (the legal limit, although most Italians do 160 kph) and no sooner have you left one city that you realize you're already approaching another. Don't dare blink or you may miss a hilltop town or castle worth a detour. For cash-rich time-poor travellers the convenience and (mostly) smooth ride makes taking the autostrada worthwhile, however, budget travellers should be aware tolls are expensive and can add up. But these days, with the high cost of fuel, buses aren't cheap either, trains never were, and no other form of transport gives you the flexibility a car does.
WHEN: During some periods motorways can get just as clogged as the highways, so there are times to ditch the autostrada in favour of quieter country roads or simply staying put: on Friday afternoons in the warmer months avoid driving in the direction of beaches and lakes when Italians go away for the weekend; avoid travelling anywhere on a Sunday afternoon when everyone is returning home; and avoid any road during Italy's August vacation month, when everyone in the country is going anywhere they can as long as it's away from home and in the sun.
HOW: Make sure you're prepared:
1) carry lots of notes and coins: tolls are expensive, costing us anything from €1.60 to up to €14 for our most expensive trip
2) use the best quality maps you can find; the Italian Touring Club maps are excellent
3) know the route numbers you need, destinations along the way, and the city at the end of the line because Italy's road signage is terrible and the only constant is their lack of consistency: one destination may appear on one sign, but you may not see it again until it's time to get off and then it may be too late
4) know which exit to take to get to the part of the city you need (check with your hotel); some cities have two or three exits, generally a 'centro' (centre), sud (south), nord (north), oeste (east) or ovest (west)
5) stay alert - the autostrada exit and entry roads can be a nightmare, twisting and turning around, up and over each other like a tangled spiral (this is where you'll find bottlenecks, especially if it's anywhere near a port or industrial area); one wrong turn and you can waste an hour or more
Have I put you off? If you think the highways and back roads are better... well, that's another post!

The Navigli: Milan's hippest neighbourhood

You may not read about it in travel magazines or newspapers yet The Navigli has long been Milan’s hippest and most happening neighbourhood. It was when we wrote Lonely Planet’s Best of Milan four years ago and having just spent a month there again renting an apartment on Ripa di Porta Ticinese overlooking the liveliest part of the canal (navigli means canals, and there are in fact two), we can say with some authority that it still is the place to go for aperitivi (early evening drinks and snacks) and, boasting some of Milan’s best ristorantes, trattorias and enotecas, it’s also the neighbourhood to head for dinner. Curiously, however, most of the major guidebooks leave it out or give it little coverage, and very few review its restaurants. Yet the streets are buzzy every night of the week. While mid-week sees local art students, aspiring models and bohemian types filling the tables at the pavement bars and eateries, on the weekends the streets heave with Italians from other parts of the city, along with foreigners (expats and travellers), although very few compared to the Brera. There’s no other area in Milan that has an atmosphere as buzzy as the Navigli nor has the density of excellent eateries and bars. And it’s not only an after-dark destination. The canals are lined with myriad bookshops, art galleries, antique shops, and vintage clothes stores (pictured). In a sprawling car park at the end of the main drag there’s a grungy clothes market every Saturday that sees the city’s Goths trekking here, while on the last Sunday of the month there’s an antiques fair that lines both sides of the canal. Save a visit until late afternoon when you can browse the shops, have an aperitivo overlooking the water, listen to some jazz, and then stay on for dinner.

Random musings from the road: Italy

Some random thoughts and observations after a couple of weeks on the road in Northern Italy (and two and a half months in Italy in total) from my traveller's notebook:
* Italians are the most cultured people in the world - barely a conversation passes with the Italians we meet without mention of a great composer or musician, of an art movement or artist, of architecture and photography, of food and wine. Caravaggio is much more likely to to come up in conversation with an Italian than Kate Moss, grapes more than gossip. The only celebrity name to cross any lips has been George Clooney, but then he's an honorary Italian anyway.
* Italians are the most civilized people in the world - the more we observe and compare the everyday life of the locals with the behavior of tourists on holidays, we're convinced of this. While the Italians drink wine with meals, including lunch, tourists sip cans of Coke. While the Italians order several courses and savour a meal slowly, tourists stick to one dish or settle for a slab of pizza. While the tourists wander the streets at night in Birkenstocks and shorts, the Italians dress up or, even when they're dressed casually, look as if they've dressed up. While the Italians sit on a park bench and read a book, the tourists text messages home on their CrackBerries.
* Nobody knows how to live like the Italians - they start work late (compared to most Western countries), they take several hours off in the afternoon for a long lunch and siesta, they return to work in the evening for a couple of hours, then they head out to meet friends or family to socialize over dinner or drinks. They work to live rather than live to work. What's not to love about that?

Inspiring Italy and The Grand Tour

We've been on the road in Northern Italy for a couple of weeks doing guidebook research and we're both utterly exhausted and yet completely stimulated. How can we not be inspired in a country like Italy where we're surrounded with such history and culture, art and architecture? Wherever we drive, it's not long before we come across a Medieval tower, a Renaissance palazzo, or a Gothic church. Poppies and ruins may have moved the 19th century travellers, but for me it's lakeside geraniums and leaning towers. As I write, the bells are ringing in the 12th century tower of a church I can see out our window. It's easy to understand why The Grand Tour-ists treated the country as their finishing school. There's no better place to be stirred by the beauty of the surroundings and be motivated to learn. And that was what The Grand Tour was about after all - just take a look at this wonderful Getty exhibition on The Grand Tour. While the term may be hip once again (and perhaps we played some tiny part in that when we started writing our travel blog Grantourismo two years ago for Charles and Marie?), these days it seems to be thrown about and attached to any extended sojourn or backpacking trip without any real understanding of what it means. The New York Times' Frugal Traveller, Matt Gross, claims his current 12 week jaunt across Europe is some kind of reimagining of the classic Grand Tour, and as interesting as Matt's posts can be, his main concern seems to be staying within his €100 budget each day. His trip's link to The Grand Tour is tenuous and he seems to be coming away from his experiences of destinations having learned little more than how to hitchhike or find the best budget eatery or pensione. The Grand Tour was about so much more. It was about being inspired by history, beauty, art and literature, but most of all it was about learning, about becoming cultured, civilized, cosmopolitan, about getting to know the world.

On the road again... in Northern Italy

After a few days regrouping (oh, and researching of course) in Turin, we're hitting the road again this week in Northern Italy, to explore the country's beautiful lakes, mountains, valleys, and vineyards, as part of our guidebook research. While we're staying in some exquisite hotels, unfortunately they don't always have great internet access - even when their websites say they do! - so if you don't hear from me, you know where I am. I'll get back to you with some more tales from the road and give you more of a taste of our experience of Italy as soon as I can.

Hotels or apartments: what you'll be choosing when you next travel

Last month I posted on hotels and apartments in Are hotels going out of fashion? My question came about from my experiences on the road these last couple of years and my observations on how people are travelling: what I'm seeing is that travellers are increasingly choosing apartment rentals over hotels, generally with a view to staying longer in one destination and experiencing the place like a local, or simply because they want some of the comfort, conveniences and space that apartments offer over hotels. The subsequent discussions that saw a number of big players in the boutique hotels and apartment rental business responding were fascinating, as were travellers comments. See these blogs. I posted a survey to ask you where you planned to stay when you next traveled and here are the results: 30% of you said you'll check in to a small boutique or design hotel while a close 25% said you'd rent an apartment or villa; another 19% of readers said they'll be staying in a B&B while 13% said they'd bunk down at a hostel or backpackers; 11% were in favour of agritourismo or a farm-stay, while an equal number said they were going to pitch a tent or head for a caravan park, and another 11% said they'd be checking in to a large hotel or resort. Just 8% of you said you'd be staying at a friend's house, 5% were opting for the homeliness of a pensione, while 2% were planning to a stay at a palazzo or locanda. But, despite the rise in couchsurfing, not a single one said they'd be sleeping on a stranger's sofa.

Pictured? The boutique beauty of Beit Al Mamlouka where we stayed in Damascus last April.

5 reasons to love Italy

For all my complaining about getting things done here, I still love Italy and after countless trips, it remains one of my most favorite countries in the world. Here are a handful of reasons why:
1. Italian cuisine: it's hard to get a bad meal in Italy. You can get some very average meals, but if you know where to go you can get truly great food - and at low prices. It's hard to say that about many country's cuisine. And then there's the regional variation, and the variety within regions! Deserving of a post on its own.
2. Italian people: passionate, philosophical and polite sums them up in our experience over the years. They're endlessly enthusiastic and animated, thoughtful about every tiny matter, and incredibly courteous. There's nothing like walking out your door only to have the person who meets you in the corridor say buonjourno! How can you not have a good day?
3. History is everywhere: it's not only in the (very fine) museums, but there are very few places in the country you can go without stumbling across medieval castle ruins or a baroque church or a Roman temple, or more recent remnants of history, such as an elegant Fascist era office block. People who are reminded of such a long history each day, live life with a certain pride.
4. Beauty surrounds you: whether it's the fresh produce at a daily market, the idyllic landscapes of the countryside or coast, or beautifully cut fashion in a store window, Italy is both blessed by beauty and the masters of producing beauty.
5. The Italian lust for life: Italy inspires a lust for life in the way few countries do and its people respond with an appropriate way. They may operate at slower pace than the rest of the EU, start work later and take longer lunch hours, and leave as early as they can on a Friday so they can get away for the weekend. But who wouldn't when there's such great food to eat, such fascinating people to meet, such an engaging life to lead, and such beauty everywhere?

Life of a Travel Writer: Italy and the angels who make life easier than it's meant to be

Our guidebook work in Italy has been continually frustrated by archaic bureau- cracy, old fashioned formality and an insistence on following protocols. Much more so than any other country we've worked in. Sure, we could visit attractions as travellers might and buy a full-price ticket, but we'd need to be discreet about taking notes and would have to sneak photos. But journalists are entitled to discounts and to take photos to be published we need permission. Once we announce ourselves, however, we inevitably waste time in an office describing the books, explaining our intentions, showing business cards, collecting passes, etc. Having said that, it's rare to get permission on the spot. Here, things have to be organized in advance - well in advance - and it's a nightmare. Phone somewhere and you'll be connected to an extension that never gets answered. Call the switchboard and ask for the direct name and number and you'll be told Italian privacy law prevents them from giving it out. Once you reach the right person you'll be told to put the request in writing and fax (rather than email) it. Once faxed, you'll be told it will take two weeks to process. It doesn't matter that it's already taken days if not weeks to get this far and your research is almost over. At a museum in a regional capital recently it took a day to cut through the red tape (with the help of influential locals), including hours waiting to see the museum director. Then, we were informed we could shoot just three photos (at €50 each upon publication) and we had to identify the subjects to be photographed and make a formal request in a letter. As we hadn't visited the museum yet, we chose the most famous sculptures. Once inside the museum, several hours later, Terry became friendly with the guard allocated to watch over us. Discovering we were Australian, he told us he had a relative in Melbourne and loved the place. After ten minutes of small talk and friendly banter Terry was shooting as many photos as he wanted. Half an hour later and he could have walked out of the museum with the sculptures. One hour later and the guy would have carried them out to the car for us! And waved us goodbye. With a message for his family. Which we would have happily taken back for him!

Life of a Travel Writer: Italy and the tediousness of red tape

We've been on the road in Northern Italy since Tuesday when we picked up our Fiat Bravo from the car rental company in Milan. I'm not telling you which company because I don't want to give them coverage. After several problematic rentals with them in Cyprus, Crete and Rome, we gave them another chance after they reimbursed us for the expenses incurred from the last mess-up and assured us this would be a perfect hire. No such luck. Despite the UK customer relations guy re-confirming the booking with the Italy office, we had problems yet again, wasting hours in the Milan office because our voucher looked different to the normal vouchers according to the woman behind the desk. No matter that it was the only voucher that we were emailed, the wording was the same as her voucher, and it said "this is your car rental voucher". Yet still she wouldn't believe it was a voucher and we argued black and blue, wasted over an hour in the office, and we had to call the UK head office to get them to fax our voucher before she'd let us take the car. Italy isn't easy. Italians may have an easygoing nature socially, but when it comes to their professional life, they're sticklers for protocol and processes, and there's more bureaucracy and red-tape here than I've seen anywhere before. The delay at the rental office meant a delay checking out of our apartment which meant it was lunch time when were leaving and we were stuck in Milano traffic for an hour trying to get out of the city. Oddly enough our sense of humor returned and we began to joke about how these people got their jobs. We imagined their interviews: "Any IT skills?" "No." "Interpersonal skills?" "No." "Are you inflexible and a stickler for the rules, even when they make no sense?" "Yes." "Any kind of problem-solving skills or lateral thinking abilities?" "Of course not!" "Do you find that dealing with the public gets in the way of a good coffee break and gossip with your co-workers?" "Absolutely!" "Then you've got the job!"