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 "rookie". 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 "Europe" books still being held together with rubber bands.

Nowadays you are better off getting city or regional guides rather than huge "Europe" or "Country" 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).