I recently read on this site that the latest Food and Wine magazine has a Patricia Wells article on the newest restaurants in Paris. Since I'm planning a trip there in October, I rushed out and bought it. While at the bookstore I browsed the travel mags to see what other venues of current interest for my trip plans might be featured and started wondering if there is some easy way to keep up with this plethora of information without becoming a permanent fixture at my local Barnes and Noble. <BR><BR>So, I have several questions. <BR><BR>Are there others like me who would appreciate a quick guide to travel-related magazine contents so you could go and buy a copy of those with info on places you're currently researching for planned travel?<BR><BR>Is there someplace on the internet you can go to learn the contents of selected magazines as they are published each month--i.e. a list of websites for travel magazines where you can get the urls to check out this info?<BR><BR>If this kind of info is readily available can we on this board find some easy way to assemble it those of us who may be interested to check each month to keep ourselves updated? <BR><BR>If the info isn't readily available would others be willing to join me in routinely researching a couple of assigned/selected magazines and reporting the info on this site for easy access by the rest of us?

Julie, You are obviously a seasoned and knowlegable Euro traveler, as are many others on this forum. Every time I read one of those travel magazine articles it occurs to me that the writer may not be as well versed as the accumulative wisdom you can find right here--and other good web sites. Just my opinion, but I often question the writers ability to be objective--especilly in the more up-scale " boutique" publications. There--I am wide open !

Nowadays, most magazines do have a web site where you can go to check contents every month (and often get some articles) if you don't like going to bookstores. All the major ones I can think of that I ever read do, and you can find them easily doing a search on Google, for example (ie, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic, Conde Nast Traveler, etc.). I don't read food and wine magazines, much, but they're out there also, like the one you mentioned. <BR><BR>Higher-level search engines like Yahoo have done this for years, and they are pretty good at it. Just go to media, magazines, travel on Yahoo and you'll get what you want. I think these are called "portals" (search engines that offer a directory of categorized sites) but I'm not sure of the internet lingo Yahoo is best for that, in my experience, and Google is best for searches. I used to like Altavista for searches, also, but Google seems better

Julie,<BR><BR>I just discovered a site called tripadvisor.com where you enter just what area you would like info on, and then they E-mail all of the current writings to you. Of course, they also do the "getting there" part, if needed.<BR><BR>I asked for information on Montecatini Terme in Tuscany. Very little information has been written by Fodorites and just about every travel book that I picked up, had no mention. Just a week after entering their site (while researching a vacation in the U.S.), I got more info on Montecatini than I had read anywhere. Check it out and see if it is useful to you.

This may be stating the obvious, but most public libraries subscribe to specialized databases which provide access to periodicals not indexed in search engines like Yahoo or Google. In many areas, you can use these databases from home.<BR><BR>My library subscribes to InfoTrac OneFile, which is a file of eneral interest periodicals. Just to check, I entered "Montecatini Terme" and it came back with 14 articles.<BR><BR>Time to reacquaint yourself with your public library. You don't need to become a fixture at Barnes and Noble, and it won't cost you a cent.<BR><BR>

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm off to work on them.

Kent,<BR><BR>I'm glad you were able to give Julie some advise. I'm sure there was a put down in your answer to me re researching the public library data bases and just thank you anyway.<BR><BR>The public library is one of my favorite sites; I use it often to find my audio books, reserve and renew and it is magic! <BR><BR>Have not used data bases, but I will NOW. Thanks.<BR>

Roco, there was certainly no put down intended in my previous post . I just selected Montecatini Terme because I was unfamiliar with the place.<BR><BR>A lot of people don't realize that there is a big differences between websites that anyone can access with search engines like Yahoo and Google, and proprietary databases, to which organizations like businesses, schools and libraries subscribe. A general interest periodical database like Infotrak, includes all sorts of travel information.

i picked up a time out travel guide for paris- seems like real good info( local and inside type of info)not found in other travel guides. i have also found the unoffical guides to be really good also for info not just telling you about all the big tourist traps.

I AM at the library and check out what's on InfoTrac. Good suggestions!<BR>