Well, if we're counting...

I came in at 99, although some are missing bits, not counting the VERY old kept as curiosities in closets, or the library copies borrowed for the next trip. Plus another 101 books in the "travel essay" category. Then I have several folders with articles torn out of newspapers and travel magazines, a shelf full of maps, and another shelf of folders with odds and ends from previous trips.

I can't imagine not using guide books, both for planning and traveling. I have tried downloading Lonely Planet chapters, but still prefer actual paper. If I ever buy a smart phone that might substitute, but I won't be relying on the web alone any time soon. Especially as wifi is not a given everywhere.

Perhaps I should also mention that I sometimes use one of those guidebooks <i>to answer a question on Fodors</i>.

I recently gave away all my guidebooks as part of our effort to simplify our lives and de-stuff our house :) We had a bunch, but we gave them away with most of the paperback books we had amassed over time. It was quite liberating.

I have a bunch of old text books to give away too - anybody want them? LOL.

thursdaysd,

Ok, so far you take the cake. However, I think you would love having a "Smartphone". Wi-fi is becoming available in a lot of places one would not normally think about.

However, like cellphone the technology is simple. No lines to run like a traditional phone system or internet. Just towers or satellites.

Like "NovemberMoon" you might find getting rid of all thos books liberating but then you would have to give back the cake :(

November-moon,

Any of those old text books on the subject of curing lack of "common sense" and "insanity"? I might be interested :)

Glad your house is destuffed and you are liberated!

LOL DMB - no, unfortunately they are mostly math and engineering books...I think they do as much to increase insanity in the world as anything else ;)

I too have been doing a bit of unstuffing, and got rid of all of the paperbacks... Except the guidebooks, just couldn't do it yet. I too enjoy reading through the pages.

As I said I don't travel with them but surely wouldn't go without my smartphone!

November-moon,

I guess I am stuck with my life of "insanity" :(

Neuman605,

I like traveling with my "Smart" a.ka "Insanephone" too. Very liberating :)

And as a slight change of subject I have been home three weeks and I am itching so bad to go I think I need to go buy a new guidebook! Lol

Neuman605,

You don't need to buy a guidebook just let the experts here guide you for free :)

Where are you scratching to go?

Three weeks is too long to be at home. Hit the road, fly the friendly skies, sail across an ocean or two :)

I am currently thinking about New Zealand or Easter Island. And yes I always get the best info here. But I still love the guidebook to flip through be for I leave, and then again when I get home.

And look at this da_n smartphone.... She dorsn't seem to know be for is before, one word! Lol

Neuman605,

Thought you had visited New Zealand before.

I visited there in mid-late October a few years ago and in some places the scenery was like living in a postcard.

Also don't forget that 2 + 2 B4 :)

I have all those electronics, but I love my hard copies! And you don't need to spend $20, because they don't have to be this year's book. Even the most current guidebook will be out of date by the time it's published in terms of hours of operation, prices, etc. BUT--the history, the art and architecture--those kind of things last. You read your guidebook, decide what you think you want and then you look up hours and costs online. And as for hotels and restaurants, you get a MUCH greater range of choices by looking on any search engine than you will in any guidebook!

I read my guidebooks ahead of time, then take my iPad for looking up things while there.

I do have to say, though, that the last time I took a hard-copy guidebook, it took us to the Sibillini Mountains when we decided Spoleto wasn't what we wanted. Not sure I would have found that online at the last minute and it turned into one of the highlights of our trip!

I too love the guide books...
:)

The best of both worlds, guidebooks and electronics find with info from the net!

Oops sorry, that would be filled with...da_n Smartphone messed up again!