Yeah, that brings back great memories! Egypt, Korea, Eastern Europe…
Nowadays, as @MustangSal says, it’s all so much easier. Back then, information was so much more limited, and language barriers were more common. You had to be on alert and prepared in case you couldn’t figure out local transport or couldn’t find a place to stay. It took more attention and a bit of savvy. The unexpected was more likely. And so travel was more of an adventure back then! (Also, of course, because it was all newer to us…)
I used to love Lonely Planet because its global coverage was more comprehensive than any other publisher’s. They even came out with an Antarctica guide!
I rarely choose that series now, though, as I find the writing to be anemic. Cadogan guides tend to be gorgeously written, by real experts, and Time Out city guides are usually very witty.
My rule when traveling in small villages in southeast Asia was to go to the first hotel/restaurant/temple listed in the Lonely Planet guide, turn around and then walk to the opposite side of the town. Once it’s published in LP it’s not the same thing, it wasn’t what we were looking for anymore.
My problem with travel books is that everybody had the same two or three for each county, funneling every visitor into the same tourist pipeline. By the mid-Eighties I only used them to figure out how to get from the airport to the city. Phrase dictionaries were a lot more helpful so you could just ask locals (but NOT hotel staff) for directions and recommendations. Now my phone is essentially a universal translator.
Tons, starting back in the 80’s when they had only three books! Now it’s a full market but back then it was pretty much just Euro centred stuff and them. And they were filled with great tips too. It’s been interesting to watch them explode.
We used them through SEAsia, India and Nepal, but when we went to SAmerica we went with “Let’s Go!”, as it had better/more coverage of where we were headed.
The internet age has changed so much, see photos, book ahead, instant contact, fixed prices, def a big change to how it once was. These guidebooks gave us confidence if we arrived after dark and the bus drops you in some vacant spot, you could always look up the name of some local guesthouse to head for.
For us the biggest benefit was the confidence. Once we were on the ground, had a feel for things, we’d just make our own way from one thing to another. And our book would sink to the bottom of the pack! But when you’re flying into some new place you’ve never been, can’t speak the lingo, etc, the guide convinces you somehow it’ll all work out. Especially so when we were just beginning and much younger.