A good guide book can be an invaluable source of information for visitors to a foreign country. Despite the fact that some of the more comprehensive volumes are the size and weight of your average house brick, many travellers swear by their Frommer’s or Lonely Planet guides and wouldn’t dream of leaving Australia without one.
A foreign language phrase book can also be useful, helping to reduce those instances in which you find yourself partaking in a baffling game of charades while trying to converse with the locals.
The problem with these resources however, is that they are really only suited to simple journeys. For an extended round-the-world holiday or fifteen-country European backpacking adventure, carrying several behemoth travel guides and the requisite library of phrase books is hardly a practical option (although anyone attempting to do so will at least be thankful for the ability to say “I think I’ve given myself a hernia” in multiple languages).
Photographs from Justine's recent world trip:
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Fortunately, recent innovations in wireless broadband and portable media devices mean there are now ways for travellers to access as much information as they like, without risking an injury in the process.
Justine Kain, a Melbourne photographer who regularly travels overseas, is an early adopter of these new technologies. Taking advantage of the wide range of travel services and applications available for her 3G mobile phone and iPod, she has dispensed with the guide books and started accessing her information the 21st century way.
“I always carry my phone and iPod when I travel, so being able to use them for information instead of carting around a couple of massive books makes my life so much easier.”
One of her favourite new services is the mobile site from Lonely Planet (m.lonelyplanet.com), an online travel guide featuring information on over 200 countries and accessible using just a 3G mobile phone with global roaming. The site offers information on accommodation, restaurants, places of interest and weather, as well as providing an extensive range of maps and local information to help her on her journey.
She also enjoys the convenience of new mobile accomodation-booking websites, such as Hostels.mobi (www.hostels.mobi) and Hostelworld (mobile.hostelworld.com), that help her simplify the all-important but often time-consuming task of finding a place to spend the night.
“I’ve always preferred to book accommodation as I go, rather than having everything planned in advance. This allows me to stay longer in places I like and move on from those that aren’t quite as interesting. The problem is that, in the past, it always involved getting off a train or bus, usually very tired, and lugging my backpack from hostel to hostel until I found an available bed.”
Now however, things are much easier. While travelling to her destination, Justine can use her phone to access the Lonely Planet site, look up a map of her destination, use the “What’s around me?” (m.lonelyplanet.com) function to locate the best neighbourhood in which to stay, then obtain a list of nearby hostels. Once she has her list, she can log on to a mobile internet booking site, read reviews, check availability and make a reservation. Whereas in the past she might have spent hours looking for accommodation upon arrival at her destination, with the new technology, she can do it all on the way there.
Plus, with Lonely Planet now offering iPod phrase book downloads (www.lonelyplanet.com) in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Czech, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai and Vietnamese, when she gets to her hostel, she can speak to the locals without needing an encyclopedia-sized set of phrase books.
“It’s amazing how much easier things are now. I have access to much more information than I did before, but nowhere near as much to pack. It’s great!”
She’s certainly right. With the equivalent of over 500 Lonely Planet titles in her pocket, travelling for Justine, not to mention everyone else, has never been easier.
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