How to pack light and bring tour books
 

How on earth do I decide what reference material to take with me to France.(22in. suitcase..7weeks..yes we will do laundry)

I have Frommer, Fodor, Rick Steves, and have 5 Green Michelins I am using now, plus notes from Underhill's paper and Stu Dudley's itineraries.

. I shudder at the thought of tearing out pages, but I am open to that. Can anyone advise me? Unfortunately, the library is sending me a few more I may fall in love with. Oh yes I forgot.. I have a phrase book, and the Marling Menu Master.... I will let my dh carry the maps.

Can someone help me decide. I have some time.....but it's going to be a problem.

Take the green Michelins with you. Xerox pages from the others.

We normally travel for only 2 or 3 weeks and don't visit so many sights so don't need so many books. Aren't you also the poster who wants to take books to read? A dilemma. I would take one or two guides and a map or two and make notes in the guides from other guides of things you want to see and do. We like the Michelin Green Guides for the touring part. The others are more useful in planning but once that is done, the Green Guides are very detailed and informative. Good Luck!!

I pretty much agree with that. It is tough if you are going to a lot of different areas, but I could never rip up books. I keep my books a long time and reuse them, or give them to others to use.

I also Xerox a few pages from something other than the Michelin if it's a place I plan to stay a while and it has a good section on a walking tour in the city or shops or something. I then make double-sided copies to reduce all my xeroxes in half.

A lot of the stuff from guidebooks is most useful in planning, I've found, and I don't need it when I'm there. Also, if I have a guidebook for an entire area and am only in one city or part of it, carrying the whole book is a waste.

Loisco: I've been faced with the same dilemma. Much as I love books, I've had to resort to tearing out the relevant pages from the guidebooks.

First I decide which information from which book is most important to me. (Just like with your clothing, you CAN'T bring it all.)

I tear out the restaurant pages I am interested in. And I pick the sightseeing and practical information that I feel will be most useful.

I staple pages together according to city and subject.

I also carry a phrasebook and sometimes the Marling Menu Master. But these take up very little space.

If I am using an airline that weighs carry-on luggage, for checking in at the airport, I put a lot of stuff in my shoulder bag...which doesn't get weighed. It makes the shoulder bag a bit heavier, but once you get through check-in, you can re-arrange things in your luggage. I keep my reading material in the outside pockets of the luggage.

For daily sightseeing, you only have to bring with you the pages you've stapled together for that day.

I'm sure you will be able to manage with a lot less than you think. I've found that while travelling, I don't spend as much time going through the guidebooks as I think I will. I hate walking around with my head in a book all the time.

While I dislike mutilating books, I figure that if I travel again I would want an updated guidebook anyway.

Have a wonderful trip.

Tear out the pages!!!

Excuse me; I feel the need to lie down in a darkened room:)

When we travel we make copies of important sections, restaurants, etc. and throw away as we go (gives you more room in the luggage for things you find along the way).

We also take one or two guidebooks if there are good maps or multiple sections that we will use frequently. Have fun!

Either tear out the pages or photocopy them...keeping those old guidebooks is a temptation but they eventually go out of date anyway. On your next trip you'll probably end up buying a new set anyway.

I have torn out pages, but I also type up index cards with the relevant info on the places we will be visiting (attractions, hotels, train info, etc). I keep track of confirmation #s and itinerary info this way, as well as simple directions, costs, open hours and such. I have this on my computer for reference this way, too. And I have shared my computer files with friends. Hope this helps.

<b>http://www.passportinfo.com/gbooks/fodore.htm</b>

Thought I am usually a stickler for packing light, in your situation you may want to give in &amp; take a slightly larger suitcase?

There's no way you can take 6+ paperback novels (see other thread) and a bunch of guidebooks and clothes/shoes for 7 weeks in a 22&quot; suitcase. It's simply not possible, I don't care how you stuff your pockets on the plane -LOL.

Personally I don't carry any guidebooks on the trip. I may or may not research ahead of time but then leave them home. I xerox a few pages for each city, and definitely have one good map (even these I more often pick up for free after arrival in a new city).

I love the idea of double-sided Xeroxen for just the pages you need. And being now in the process of forcing myself to throw out guidebooks from 1996, I suggest that tearing out pages isn't that bad a desecration of some books.

What it's going to take, Loisco, is quite a bit of time before you leave to cull the information you want, AND quite a bit of pre-planning so you know where you want to go or at least can narrow it down.

As to leisure reading? I take one or at most two pprbacks and then look very much forward to puttering around a bookstore at whatever destination -- there's always an English-language section and I've found some wonderful if obscure things along the way.

I read several travel/history books for information and then cull together what I am most interested in. I type out an itinerary with all the places I want to go see, in the respective areas/cities (i.e. ROME: Pantheon, Piazza Navona, etc). I also add names of recommended local restaurants, etc. It can be just 1 sheet or double-sided (even 2 sheets, dependent on how much info you have), but sure beats lugging around several travel guides. I don't want to carry all those books with me as extra weight in my carry-on suitcase. Maps are light-weight and can be brought along. I put everything (itinerary, maps, mini dictionary) in a clear zip-up pouch (similar to those pouches for pens, pencils) or alternatively, in a clear pocket holder. This goes in my large purse with my airline ticket, passport, for ready access to information.

I love to take travel books and guides, but like the others said, it's too cumbersome-tear out the pages. Especially of the Rick Steves books. If you want to reuse them, you can mail the remaining book and the torn out pages back to Rick Steves and he will send you a new book-at least for the Mona Winks they will-check it out with them. Also, as was pointed out before, you will nedd a new one if you return that is up to date. Also make photocopies.

I have a tendency to gather tons of resources and have found, for myself, that the best way is to go with double-sided xeroxing. That's mostly because I have access to a terrific copy machine and because over the years I found I was taking my &quot;library&quot; with me and resenting the space it took up. Very liberating.....

i agree with st-cirq and mail the guidebooks home when the day before we fly back.

I write my own little guide book, in the smallest spiral bound I can find. I keep a running list of things I want to see, address, hours, tube/metro stop etc then put them all together in a sensible order so I don't end up backtracking. It's a little anal I guess but it's one of my favourite things to do.

I usually take my Michelin Green Guide, but otherwise I do sort of what Huitres does-- I make my own guide. I keep files on my computer of restaurants, etc. for the places I'll be visiting, then I print them out before the trip.

It's amazing how much of a file you can gather in a short time here on Fodors. When someone mentions a good restaurant, hotel, or a place to visit that sounds interesting to me, I just copy and paste the name into my file for that city/country.

The nice thing about making your own print-outs is that you can throw them out after you've been to each place, but you still have your file on your computer for reference, or to print out again for another trip.

I use a program for the Pocket PC called Microsoft Pocket Streets.

Before you leave home, you locate your objectives and plant software &quot;pushpins&quot; on the map. Each pushpin has a one-line description that shows up on the map, plus there's a text area that will hold several hundred characters of your notes on opening times, tariffs, subway stop, and other data.

You can also pull up the pushpins by name and the program automatically zooms in on one you select.

About $10 on eBay.

Along the lines that Tully mentioned, I realize I do the reverse of what is being talked about. I go in without much information, but gather it along the way.

I always carry a small spiral notebook and write down street names, gather restaurant business cards, stop in to hotels that look appealing. I use the plastic zip pencil cases as mentioned above, one for each city. So though I may go unprepared I come home with a wealth of information (to post here or for future trips).

I like all your ideas. Pushpins, xerox, pencil cases..I now have some direction.

Thanks.

I have had your dilemma. I now have my first palm pilot but I am indeed a &quot;rookie&quot;. I am hoping that it will replace the need for so many guide books, a novel to read on the plane, and etc. I am going to England in early March, and Enland/France in late April. I am hoping that I am up and running well by one of my trips. Will let everyone know how I make out. Hope someone reads this and offers some helpful tips!

When I lived in Holland and had my car there I would fill the back seat with books. When traveling by train I would rip out the sections I needed and leave the rest at home. I have a number of old &quot;Europe&quot; books still being held together with rubber bands.

Nowadays you are better off getting city or regional guides rather than huge &quot;Europe&quot; or &quot;Country&quot; guides. You get more detail on where you are going and you don't need to rip them up.

Michelin Green are still the best IMO. Also DK and Fodors are good, but forget the rest.

What about the red michelin...do I have to have that too??? I have a friend who says she can't travel without it.

I only use my Red Michelin for planning, but I take a Green Guide if its appropriate. I just ran into a series of books that I love. I am in bed with a sprained ankle, and can't go get it, but I think it is called
CITYNAME: ART;Shop;Eat.... with Art being the most important part, followed by the eating and shopping. We bought the Florence guide. I am going to review it in an upcoming newsletter. I don't know if it is ok to talk about the newsletter here, but if anyone wants to email me, it's
[email protected]
and I'll send the newsletter's email address.

Back to the guides and books issue: for leisure reading, I usually choose something that will take awhile. Things along the lines of Nickolas Nickleby, Barnaby Rudge, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair. Nice, really thick Victorian Era novels that will last awhile. Trollope has good ones that fit the bill; I'm thinking of something like The Way We Live Now. Or War and Peace would do the job. ;-)

I also take printouts of the pages I've culled of recommendations. Why take thick guide books with hotels in them? We've already done that part at home.

In my printout folder, I have directions, phone numbers, a copy of our itinerary, and things like that. I don't usually use that much of what I take. And I don't take that much. I can always get tourist info from the Internet and Tourist Offices if I need it.

<b>smacknmo</b>,

Here's a PDA thread that might suggest some possibilities to you:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34474486

The best subway navigator for Palm is M&eacute;tro, available at

<b>http://nanika.net/Metro/index.html</b>

Also: do a search on <b>&quot;palm pilot&quot;</b> (including the quotation marks).