Customer Reviews

Make the Most of Your Time on Earth (Rough Guide Reference)

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

 

 

If you're looking for a reference book on travel ideas, look no further! This book is beyond excellent.

I am currently researching for an extended round-the-world backpacking trip with my son. I spend a lot of time in bookstores taking notes. This book, however, was so full of excellent info that I actually bought it, despite my strict budget. It is one of the best travel investments I have made so far.

It is arranged in chapters, each dealing with a specific region, such as the Iberian Peninsula, Southeast Asia and even the Polar Regions! For each region, there are plenty of fantastic and interesting things to do. There is a great variety: from walks on castle walls in Wales to walks on hot coals in Greece, from Christmas shopping in Kutch India to sampling wines in Liechtenstein, from turtle watching in Costa Rica to tracking rhino in Namibia. There are, literally, a thousand things to do. And they're of all varieties - relaxing, adrenaline-pumping, cultural, outdoorsy, athletic, lazy, cheap, pricey - there is truly something for everyone in here.

At the end of each chapter, there is a "Miscellany" section with little tidbits about each region, such as the best places to dance or dine, trivia, unusual hotels, best souvenirs, etc.

At the end of the book, the activities are listed alphabetically by country. Then they are all listed by number, after which there is vital info for each entry, such as a website or directions.

Each entry is well-written by its respective author, condensed but informative and interesting. The photographs are numerous and fabulous - they get you excited about the place. I suppose even armchair travelers will get their kicks from this book!

In short, this book is a bargain, a must-have for anyone who plans to travel anywhere. Or even for those who like to pretend! Hold me to it, you won't regret it.

P.S. Rough Guides has been cranking out some great books lately. I also highly recommend World Party, similar to this book, but with a focus on festivals and other celebrations both wild and tame. Awesome.

We have both books, the 1000 Places to Go Before You Die and this book. This one is much better, because it focuses much more on experiences rather than shopping and staying at fancy hotels. The other book seems like half advertising. Sure, the experiences might not all be my cup of tea. I won't be doing any extreme sports, and I won't be partying now that I am a mom. However, there is something for everybody, the pictures are compelling and the descriptions are opinionated, evocative and short.

I buy a lot of books from Amazon, especially books on travel. This is hands down the best purchase I have made in that genre. The descriptions are great, there is lots of valuable information, and the photography is wonderful. I would say that this is a book that will give you many, many good ideas, but you will need to depend on other more specific guidebooks for the actual planning (Lonely Planet and Footprint are what I prefer).

As an aside, I also purchased the "World Party" book that too is published by Rough. There is some repetition, but on the whole I think that the two books compliment each other quite nicely. If I were choosing between them, I would probably select this volume. After all, there is more to life than parties...or so I've been told.

This book is amazingly gorgeous. The photos will have you salivating like a foodie looking at a gourmet cookbook. If you have even the tiniest travel bug in you, this book will inspire you to see more places and dream a little bigger.

Because it's organized by destinations, you simply can't resist going through it and saying to yourself, "Been there. Seen it. Done it. Oh, this looks interesting...I haven't been here."

Also, I looked at all of the places where I've lived to see how accurate the book was. Were these places really worthy of the moniker of ultimate travel experience? They were! Excellent choices by the editors.

I guarantee you won't make it through the first hundred pages of this book without feeling inspired to add another destination to your "must see" list.

The book's title comes from the company motto for Rough Guides. Yet, compared to the alluring photos and graphics of the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides' Where To Go When and Lonely Planet's The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World, this response from the editors of the Rough Guides is somewhat lacking, even though it may be the best researched of the three entries into a field I like to call global travel enticement. The challenge comes from the way the methodology is presented - "1,000 ultimate travel experiences" gathered by their over the quarter century since the travel series first started with 1982's Rough Guide to Greece. It's daunting to pore through such a voluminous text simply because the regional breakdown doesn't really do much to help the reader traverse the four corners while exciting the senses.

Each travel experience is lightly described in a single paragraph with only a chosen few warranting an accompanying photo. While the regional breakdown may be logical enough, the lack of attention to the timing of such adventures can get frustrating. For example, the camel fair in Pushkar, India or the La Tomatina tomato fight in Bunol, Spain are treated in the same way as more permanent attractions when it would have been more helpful to present them in a calendar format. In addition, the quality of the writing varies quite a bit from adventure to adventure since these accounts are culled from at least a couple of generations of travel writers. However, there is no arguing the variety that the world presents if one is committed to exploring beyond defined comfort zones. In that regard, the editors of the Rough Guides have provided a reasonably entertaining inventory even if the result would challenge the patience of even a true wanderer.

This book is filled with 1000 places to travel to. It includes what you may eat, places you may stay, what type of activities you may encounter, and what wildlife you do not want to miss out on! In the back of the book, it lists websites that have been referenced though out the book or important information you need to know like park times or costs. Great overview on 1000 unique experiences worldwide!

Inordinate amount of description and praise for high priced food wine and clubs. Alas for us retirees who want to travel within a budget but still see beautiful sceneries, local events for the general public, this is a complete waste of time.

I simply bought this book to remind myself that there is so much to see around.......
The recommendations of the book are really good. I've been to several of them, and those are worth it.

That pretty much sums this book up.

When dedicated shelf space for a book like this, it might be nice to keep it next to or near your atlas, but the synopsis' are really too brief to be helpful, since the user will almost immediately go to the web to search for additional information anyway.

Also, the sheer number of places listed here, is enough to set a person with ADD, head spinning. Since a lot of people, don't even venture more than a 50 mile radius from where they are born, I just think this is a overly ambitious to list all these places, in a single resource.

Very nice photos, and as I said, would be a nice compliment to an Atlas, or a cursory "day dream", but not a in-depth resource in narrowing down where you might want to travel.

Don't get me wrong, this is a nice book, but based on all the factors, price, content, and shelf space, I just think the web is a more practical research tool.

Lots of stimulating ideas for unusual things to do and unusual places to visit, 'off the beaten track' in many instances. A great book to browse for travel ideas.