I love books, but there is one type of book that I cannot decide if I like or not; guidebooks.
I think that reading in a guidebook while traveling easily takes away to much attention from the experience. Surely its nice to get to know things about the place but there are so many ways. It is of course very nice to know someone on the spot and this way of discovering is not possible when going alone, with or without guidebook. Internet offers lots of information and once there the locals and the tourist office will give good information.
Last year when we went to India, we brought a Lonely planet but actually we hardly didn’t open it. India was so overwhelming itself that I couldn’t also read about it, I was so busy just being there.
Even if I’m sure it will be the same this year, I feel more prepared as I know what is waiting for us there. I wanted to read a bit before and as I’m going once more in a few months, I thought I would get a guidebook.
I went to a second hand shop for books in English and I found a Rough Guide to India. It’s from 2003 but the stuff I’m interested in cannot have changed since then. The book is really detailed and I hesitated quite a lot; do I want or not a guidebook?? - I almost read the whole guidebook while deciding :) Finally I bought it, I decided I can always give it back to the secondhand shop when I don’t want it anymore.
Somehow, those kind of guidebooks is a bit too much for me. They give such detailed information that the traveler will know exactly what will appear around the next corner and then the pleasure and excitement with traveling is going I must say. It feels like they already did the travel for you and you just have to repeat. And it must be better to look at place in real life as it is there in front of us instead of in the book...
Anyway, I now I have my Indian guidebook, it has its temporary place at the table next to my bed and it did already offer some interesting reading. And the more I read, the more I realise that I want to learn about this crazy country and it seems like the guidebook is a good start.
So, maybe I can say that I like guidebooks before and maybe after traveling but not during...
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Another way to use guide books are to read them when you come home, to extend the travel and relive some of the places you have visited! Yet another way is to ask someone who lives in the country/city to write a short list of the most important things to see and visit;) JP
ReplyDeletegood ideas.. and it is also very nice for the person who can share the city with visitors :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting question and actually these are two types of experiencing a new reality. It depends what you feel like when you are going somewhere. If you want to be surprised by reality and approach it in a non consumption- oriented way, don't take a guidebook. By 'consuming' a place I mean trying to visit as much places as possible, as many 'interesting' sites as possible, categorizing everything and putting it in a certain historical and ethnological framework. That's usually what guidebooks urge us to do.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a structured and informative visit, take one.
Maybe something in-between would be just a reading a brief overview of the new place in terms of history, politics, economy, architecture, etc. in order to get some positioning in time-space and then leave it all to chance....
:) so as a little conclusion, maybe I can be an " in-between-way" person when it comes to guidebooks; to read a little before and a little after, and I think, keeping eyes and mind open this should still allow to be surprised by reality.
ReplyDeleteThe consuming way sounds horrible - no time for reflection and no time to actually see and live the place.
Surprised by reality is such a great feeling. This makes me think of Albania, the slogan goes: "Albania, a country where reality surpasses imagination.."
You made me laugh with this slogan thing, an in-between-way person :-)
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