I have been travelling since ages. And for the most part, I have been accompanied by Lonely Planet guidebooks in my travels. I am proud of my substantial guidebook collection at home, it's one of the few categories of books that I don't either resell or give away. But sadly, it seems that Lonely Planet has been going downhill ever since, and when I saw the latest incarnation of some of its books, I felt sad and heartbroken, as it definitely didn't feel like the Lonely Planet guidebook that I used to know.
I was browsing the bookstore recently, when I was leafing through the latest editions of the Lonely Planet guidebooks for some European destinations, like Italy, Andalucia, Greece, and many others. The lay out is now different. The information contained in them are now presented differently. It became less of a guidebook and more of a magazine. Lonely Planet used to have superb guidebooks, where it really was your travel bible, since it contained almost every information you needed, including the practical ones, such as information about travel connections, how frequent the buses or trains were, among others. Nowadays, it felt like the guidebooks were simply sources of inspiration, and the reader nevertheless needs to do their own independent research somewhere else when trying to figure out how to get from A to B.
I understand that guidebooks are a challenging endeavour. It's one of those things where the moment you publish it, it automatically is outdated already. I also understand that the modern traveller is also changing, and there are now plenty of alternative sources of travel inspiration. It definitely feels like the end of an era, since I cannot imagine myself doing the fantastic trips I have done in the past with the current state and quality of the latest guidebooks. It is sad.
But perhaps this is also a good sign. It's an opportunity to diversify, and perhaps try something else. There's plenty of other guidebooks out there, and perhaps it's also worth trying them out. Perhaps this also allows one to discover other destinations, who knows. We shall see.
