(I wrote this on my
blog last Friday, thought I'd post it here to get other thoughts/comments):
I’m on a plane in transit to Panama City, Panama now with 2 college friends. None of us have been to Panama before, and our collective knowledge of Spanish probably won’t be enough to even order a full meal or negotiate a taxi to our hostel. The legwork we’ve done prior to this trip amounts to the 10 minutes it took us to book our tickets, followed by a 5 minute discussion last night about what we are going to do once landing. Enter the travel guidebook.
I used to be a religious adherent to guide books, trying to follow suggested itineraries and mapping out each day to ensure I was seeing all the key sights and not wasting any time. Back in college, being a travel writer even seemed like a dream job. Now, I view guidebooks in an entirely different light. My key issue with them is they standardize travel experiences by turning people into “tourists.” I don’t like the connotations associated with “tourists.” Maybe this is because the image I associate with the word is a 40-year old couple, cameras around their neck, guidebook in left hand, map in right hang, fanny pack with the “weird foreign money” on their waist, all while trying to order a cheeseburger at McDonald’s from a clerk that doesn’t speak English.
When people travel, they should be experiencing something more authentic by breaking free of their comfort zones and preconceived notions about whatever culture they’re visiting. Try having a discussion in broken English/Spanish/Turkish with locals. Order food you’ve never heard of before in restaurants. Get lost walking through the city streets, heading down whatever road looks most interesting. Actively seek out new things that aren’t available in your home country. Needless to say, these are not the kinds of activities often mentioned in guidebooks.
Most guidebooks (Frommer’s, Lonely Planet, Rick Steves, Rough Guides, etc.) map out the exact same key sights/restaurants/hotels/tours in each country. Consulting any one of them for a rough outline of what to see is fine, but this is easier done on the Internet. As far as dining/hotel/tour recommendations—avoid them like the plague! A great way to know if you should avoid a restaurant in a foreign country is if it has a “Recommended by _____ Guidebook” hanging in it’s window, as that’s a sure sign the authenticity of the restaurant is gone and they are now in the business of catering to foreigners.