Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Unpacked

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Despite the promising title and concept the book is very dissapointing, bland and boring. It is hard to believe that Lonely Planet authors did not have more engaging stories to tell. I think Lonely Planet has lost its edge trying to be all things to all travellers. I mean who needs $300 a night hotel listings in the "backpackers' bible"? Most of the stories in this collection are tame and uninspiring. If you are looking for "disaster" travel stories, check out the collection of twisted travel writing Fortune Hotel (ed. Sarah Champion) available through Amazon's UK website. That is a fantastic book!

While travel "disasters" may be a stretch of things, this is still a good collection of stories. This book accomplishes what any travel anthology ought to: it intrigues and interests the reader, making one want to travel.

I sure was expecting more from a Lonely Planet publication. As other reviewers wrote--most of these stories were boring and not well written. I gave it one shining star for the story by Ryan Ver Berkmoes! He wrote an interesting story with a few snide remarks scattered thru-out. His was the only story, really, fun to read.

This is a new book from Lonely Planet,and is an anthology of incredible travel stories written by contributors of their regular guidebook series. In short, this is an excellent read! I could not put this book down! All the tales are well-written, but the one that left me in stitches was the story by Brad Wong.

This 250 page book consists of travel disaster short stories that will make you laugh out loud at times and at other times totally gasp. It's evident that some of these travelers have different viewpoints from me, but many of the writers are very gifted. I always thought being part of the Lonely Planet team would be totally cool, but I don't think I would be into it all the time. They have a job to do that can certainly be not so relaxing at times. I do appreciate their guidebooks and never travel to a foreign nation without one. From 2001 to 2006 I used the following editions - Japan, China, London, Central Asia (for use in Kyrgyzstan), Korea, Thailand, Southeast Asia on a Shoestring Budget (for use in Singapore and Malaysia), Kyoto, and Vietnam. Thank you Lonely Planet. The overseas traveling has stopped as a result of two little girls. :-)

LONELY PLANET UNPACKED, one of the first in LP's line of Journeys travel stories, is a collection of reminisces by twenty-six Lonely Planet travel guide writers about disastrous experiences on the road, from getting robbed to waking up with a scabies infection in a bed and breakfast. The idea may sound interesting, but the book isn't much fun at all.

The first thing that hits the reader is the low level of much of the prose. While these travel guide writers may be experts at compiling a useful list of monuments, restaurants, and hotels, but many are not very good story-tellers. Ironically, the more interesting tales are written incoherently or repetitively, while some of the most insubstantial are penned with literary flair.

And this reviewer also seconds reviewers who have pointed out that the authors seem overwhelmingly concerned with getting drunk or--in the case of one contributor about Cambodia--completely stoned. It's understandable that a traveller might have some rage against a nation after a bad experience, but few of the writers were seeking much contact with the local people before their unpleasant turn of events. They jaded go through a country to add another one to the list and write a book, but they ignore the language and common people, spending a lot of time in bars for tourists and ex-pats.

I can't really recommend this book at all. If you are an independent traveller, think about how far the cover price of this book would get you towards your own (hopefully more sunny) adventures.

There are two aspects to this disappointing book.

Firstly, it is sad that Lonely Planet, which started as an honest guide for independent travellers, now turned into a money-making machine which sells everything but extended warranties on domestic appliances. This book is a collection of leftovers which were left out not because they don't fit in any of the guides but truly they do not belong anywhere.

Now, they thought, we will put some crap together and never mind that it's really poor writing the suckers will buy it 'cause we've got the BRAND!

This book can be educational: it shows, quite graphically, how tedious a journey can be if you are an immature good-for-nothing whose major (and sole) cultural experience is getting drunk with any foreigner in a third-world country who is happy for you to buy him a drink, and whose sole criteria for picking out a destination is whether you can get to a suitably exotic-sounding country cheaply so that you have stories to tell when you get to your next cheap destination and get drinking there.

Oh, and don't forget, for most of the dramatic personae in the book the highlight of any trip when you wake up in a Russian monastery with a bad hangover from Mongolian intestine vodka (or whatever) that you had with Malaysian ex-convicts last night and then you miss your plane because you are two hours late for your onward flight. This is, like SOOOO hilarious. What to do then? Why, you get drinking with a blind Ukrainian pilot's mate and eventually they get you on a military plane and get you out of there. Never mind that, you get REALLY plastered on that plane! How's that for fun?

These are not very good stories from people who less than accomplished writers. Ordinarily, you can get that sort of narrative at a local bar at around 10:30 p.m. The book is an absolute waste of money.

I am a regular reader and user of the Lonely Planet guidebooks for several Asian countries, and I love the way they are written and all the funny little comments and horror tales.

I expected this book to be full of hilarious stories from around the world, but it isn't. Most of these stories are boring and lame. The good ones don't justify paying money for this book. Several of the stories are poorly written.

While purportedly a collection of travel horror stories, I couldn't help but think that I've routinely had worse encounters on my trips, and I'm not exactly an LP reviewer. Some of the stories are amusing, a few shocking, but most are quite mundane. My sense is that Lonely Planet had some content that they thought they could cram through their publishing channel. Don't get me wrong, I love their guides and enjoy reading about travels, but this book is not a particularly good value. The upside is that you do get exposed to many various cultures from far-flung locales in one short book.

I was really looking forward reading the book, as the cover promises the reader some disaster stories from "the people" themselves. Well, after reading the book I can only say: if you guys call that disaster stories you have a boring live and how in the hell can you write such a good guidebooks?! For example: Tony Wheelers story about Mt. Kailash is entertaining and its great to read about Kailash as a destination, but the disaster he experiences is what I call not very impressive. Lonely Planet should stick to updating their fine guidebooks more regulary instead of putting their brand on inferior stuff.