Customer Reviews

Let's Go Australia 9th Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

it has most of the same loding options and usually a couple more. very accurate on prices. covers some areas better than lonely planet, more of a backpackers book. bad maps though. sometimes tough to get a good idea of a city.

The Let's Go series is fun and irreverently informative. The Australia guide offers many budget insights and interesting facts about this great country.
I have found that the Let's Go books definitely cater well to the rough backpacker, but if you're faint of heart or looking for any fancy frills, this book is not for you.

Snow is rapidly falling down, creating a whiteout storm outside my dorm room window. It hasn't been higher than maybe thirty degrees Fahrenheit for some time now, and the ears and noses of students are bright red as they walk down Boylston Street. With this in mind, my desire to research studying abroad in Australia can't come as much of a surprise. Fortunately, with the help of Jake G. Cohen and his team of Let's Go researcher-writers my dream can easily become a reality.

Let's Go Australia: On a Budget is a guide whose intended audience is unmistakable even at first glance. The cover is designed to look like a cork bulletin board, covered with iconic Australian objects like a boomerang or their national flag, taped up Polaroid pictures showcasing things like Australian wildlife, people playing in the ocean, and a beautiful landscape from Uluru. There is little text aside from the title--which looks like distressed black spray paint--on the front, as the guide mostly relies on the images to draw the eye. The Associated Press quote on the back cover perfectly sums up the target traveler, stating that the guide is "for independent travelers on a budget, with an emphasis on whatever's hip, fun, or free." What makes this different than any other student guide is probably what makes it stronger; it reaches out to any independent travelers who don't want to empty their wallets in order to enjoy a new, exciting place. On top of that, the Let's Go series is "not your parent's travel guide," and is written entirely by experienced student travelers who travel on "shoestring budgets".

The purpose of Let's Go guides, and this one specifically, is to teach newer travelers how to go about a trip in Australia with the knowledge and experience of someone who has almost filled their passport with stamps and visas. One of the guide's biggest strengths is its straightforward style of relaying information. It explains all the ins and outs of any type of trip, whether it is for business, study, or pleasure, and within pleasure for both the leisurely and plan-happy traveler. Travel guides all boast their knowledge of a place, but Let's Go is unique: they break up countries into smaller sections (territories, in Australia's case) and have experienced researcher-writers take on an itinerary, so the places these writers talk about are all places that they have gone on the average student budget or found out about from a native Aussie. In Australia, one of the writers, Molly Faulkner-Bond, grew up in Byron Bay, so she was already familiar with Oz, as the country is referred to in the guide. Because these writers are writing about their own travel experiences, the guide tells readers how to deal with anything that could go awry, like coming across a funnel-web spider in wet places like Eastern Oz, or accidentally bringing food to the airport where customs is very strict.

The language is occasionally descriptive in that alluring way of making my mouth water for some traveling, and occasionally wit-filled and lightly humorous (for example, informing readers that 70,509 Aussies follow the Jedi faith according to the 2001 census, or that the kangaroo to human ratio is almost 3:1), and yet most of its writing is jam-packed with information. In the first several pages, it is an overview of the whole country, with many parenthetical references to the more in-depth sections, such as "To decide when and where to go, read below and see temperature and rainfall (p. 767) and holidays and festivals (p. 768)." I imagine this would be annoying if it happened throughout the entire guide, but it is primarily in the beginning, acting almost as a more detailed table of contents. Let's Go Australia requires a lot of planning to get through because not only do the researcher-writers take great care in their analysis, but also Australia lives a double life as a continent so there's a lot of ground to cover. In the end, however, it results in positive payoff for the traveler who can now choose a great, inexpensive vacation.

This guide would easily fit into a backpack or a larger purse and is surprisingly light despite the 782 pages heavy with information. It is certainly not a pocket guide, and would, in some situations, have to be left in the hotel room, but on the whole it would not be difficult to toss it into your beach bag.

Now, as a budget traveler, nothing would be more frustrating than paying for a really expensive guide trying to show you how to save money once you are on your trip. Let's Go Australia: On a Budget costs $23.99, which may seem a little steep, until you consider the amount of useful information. Tip boxes are peppered throughout, sharing words of wisdom like this gem about jaywalking¬ (which is especially helpful for Bostonians): "Brisbane police are quick to fine jaywalkers $200 or more for crossing without a signal. In this city, it seems, patience is a virtue." The sheer size of the guide in comparison to others is enough to show that it is indeed appropriate for a budget-conscious audience. That considered, it is also less expensive than many other Australia guides, with Lonely Planet coming in at $30 and Frommer's Australia at the only slightly more expensive $25. But, as is made clear by Let's Go and they way they take you around Australia, every dollar counts.

There aren't any pictures of Australia--color or otherwise--save for the cover, which at first glance seems an obvious weakness. But, what this guide lacks in pictures, it makes up for in a great treasury of maps. There are maps from so many different angles, some as close as streets, some showing the whole country, and some that even map out suggested itineraries for travelers based on which section they plan on visiting and different lengths of time. Needing to whip out an additional map often removes you from the traveling experience. With that in mind, I think this book is wise to include so many different detailed maps, because you look much less suspiciously tourist sitting somewhere with a book than you do with an unfolded piece of paper that is almost as large as you are. Besides, it is much easier in our time to have a guide's weakness be its lack of pictures, because that is something that can easily be looked up on the internet, which is free, where any additional maps you choose to purchase are exactly that: something else added to your trip's tab.

I feel that what other guides lack, this makes up for and then some. There is even a "Beyond Tourism" section in each guide that details how to fully appreciate the place you are traveling to through studying, working, and even volunteering. Each writer for the guides is someone who has first hand eyewitness experience with the country in question, so there is little need for interviews, although it certainly wouldn't detract from the guide for some to be included. No matter what type of trip you want to experience, as long as you want to stretch your dollar and have a good time, Let's Go is unlikely to let you down.

I bought this book to use for the month I backpacked across Australia last summer, and it was very helpful! The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because I didn't find it to be AS helpful as the "Let's Go Europe" book I used while backpacking across Europe, but it was still a great book (and way better than my travelmates!). If you are trying to find nice stuff within a budget, this is definitely the book for you!

The Let's Go books are generally pretty useful but this Australia guide is geared to backpackers. Virtually all of the hotel recommendation are hostel or camps... no options or suggestions for other hotels or price ranges. I haven't gone on the trip yet but I suspect that all the restaurant recommendation are also low budget as well. I bascially have to get another guide book to supplement this one.

This was one of the best travel book we've purchased. We planned our trip to Australia for three weeks based on this book. One of our stay was Kangaroo Island. Not that we found the luggage weight requirement for the flight from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island, but also we found out there were onsite lockers available at the Adelaide Airport and the size of the locker. That allowed us to bring the right size luggage from Boston and avoided all the trouble we could have encountered. I also like the book that has the plain paper vs. the shining one. The shining paper is good to look at but heave to carry it with you.

It is very useful for traveling, it can be your bible and your guardian angel, and is very updated, the only problem is that you do not have any photos of the places to visit.A "Must Have!!"