Don’t times change? The Lonely Planet goes middle class.

I’m about to hit the road again, so I thought I’d grab myself the latest copy of the Lonely Planet for where I’m going..  and my, haven’t times changed!  When I first started using them, a guest house would be rated well if there were no bedbugs and there was hot water..  Now guest houses have 32″ plasma tvs!  What made me really laugh were the listings for gyms and shopping malls – gym listings are certainly new and the shopping recommendations have certainly gone upmarket!

You can’t say travel planning hasn’t moved with the times and widened their audience.

The only tip I have for using them when planning your trip is that when you look at the accommodation recommendations you also do a web search for the place – Trip Advisor is a good place to start, just be careful of any glowing reviews by a one time poster, apparently Trip Advisor (along with almost all ratings websites) have a problem with hotels trying to up their rating by getting people they know to leave a review.  It’s also worth looking at the visitor type who left the review as experiences can be coloured by the way the hotel treats you (solo travellers usually get manky rooms, unless you’re female and then you may get an upgrade), solo travellers usually get crap tables in restaurants..  you know the drill.

Now if only I could work out how to get across the country without ending up in a shared taxi with a goat in my lap.