Lonely Planet The World

Friday Review: Lonely Planet’s The World

Someone once told me that the guidebooks you start travelling with are the ones you will always return to and for me, ever since I bought my first South America on a Shoestring guide, it’s always been Lonely Planet.

Lonely Planet South America on a shoestring

Well loved

I’m not a person who religiously follows a guidebook, but I do love a Lonely Planet to get an overview of a country before I arrive. And while I’m generally happy to sort out my own food and accommodation, I also find them really helpful for the information about getting from A to B, especially in places like China where I had absolutely no idea what was going on!

Lonely Planet China

A life-saver!

So when I was invited along to the company’s latest book launch I jumped at the chance. Although I was slightly bemused at the fact that it was for a guidebook to The World. I mean, come on, how on earth could you fit every country into a single book?

The launch night was really fun and it was a chance to catch up with other bloggers and put our travel knowledge to the test with a series of trivia tasks. (Turns out I am terrible at guessing the populations of countries!)

As part of our goody bag we were each given a guide to The World, which I dived into as soon as I got on the train.

Lonely Planet The World

Best journey home ever!

The book lists each country in alphabetical order – beginning with Afghanistan and ending with Zimbabwe – and there are also a few popular itineraries at the start of the book.

There are generally between four and eight pages dedicated to each country, with a short overview and map followed by its top experiences.

Lonely Planet The World

One of the things that I like is that while space is tight, Lonely Planet didn’t skimp on the pictures – in some cases putting them across a double page. This means the book doesn’t seem too cluttered and, most importantly, this is what brings a country alive for me.

Lonely Planet The World

There are also small boxes covering topics such as When to Go, Food and Drink and Getting Around.

Lonely Planet The World

While this certainly isn’t a book you’d ever travel with (it would double your baggage weight for a start) it’s definitely the perfect place to start if you want to travel and you’re not sure where – or simply just a guide to daydream over!

Lonely Planet The World

I received a free copy of The World at the Lonely Planet launch. However all views are my own.