My longterm readers all know I have a love-hate relationship with Lonely Planet. It’s the guidebook that best reflects my need for budget adventures, hostel stays and local transport. But to be honest, the more I get into blogging, the less I use guidebooks. I’ve found that a lot of the information is inaccurate and out of date, even in the new editions!

I know that the writers of Lonely Planet and other guidebooks are good people, and I’m sure they work really hard, but I can’t begin to tell you how many times Lonely Planet has screwed me over. Let’s talk about the time I was stranded in a middle-of-nowhere town in Chongqing trying to attempt an “easy day trip”, or that time I tried to hike 10 hours down Emei mountain in Sichuan not knowing the entire thing was one big flight of stairs. That post is titled “The Stairway to Hell” for a reason.

The more I travel, the more I use blogger advice to plan my trips. A few months ago I talked about how I use Pinterest to organize blog posts and do trip planning. I also follow a ton of bloggers on Bloglovin’, which is an amazing website that sends you a simple email every day with all of the new posts from the bloggers you follow. It’s fantastic because I never miss a post, and my inbox isn’t cluttered with emails from 50 different bloggers.

I wouldn’t have known about this beautiful island

I love using blog posts to plan trips, but sometimes it isn’t enough. Having everything in one place can be very convenient. While I didn’t purchase a guidebook for Cambodia, I did break down and buy one for Taiwan. I know a few different bloggers based in Taiwan and I read all their posts, but without a guidebook I wouldn’t have known about Orchid Island or river tracing in Taroko Gorge. Also, looking at routes in a guidebook really helped me plan my circular trip around Taiwan.

So we’ve established that guidebooks can be helpful in conjunction with blog posts, but what if the two could come together?

Who knew there was a Bangkok snake farm?

When Chris from One Weird Globe announced he had guides for South Korea, Laos and Thailand, I jumped at the chance to check them out. Since I’m heading to Thailand in less than two weeks (?!) I requested to see his “7 Days in Central Thailand” and “3 Days in Chiang Mai” guides.

Check it out: 7 Days in Central Thailand

Check it out: 3 days in Chiang Mai 

To be honest, I was expecting a very basic travel itinerary with some sights and routes, but what I got was a combined total of more than 80 pages of fantastic material on the main sights as well as places I had never even heard of! Who knew there was a hidden amulet market near the Grand Palace in Bangkok?

This monkey agrees

Reasons Why Blogger Guides Are Awesome:

1. They’re Cheaper

I was shocked by how much I got out of One Weird Globe’s guides for the price. 7 Days in Central Thailand is only $9.99 for a 57 page guidebook, and 3 Days in Chiang Mai is only $4.99! For comparison’s sake, Lonely planet publishes a Pocket Bangkok guide. Originally $13.99, it’s now on sale for $9.99. One Weird Globe also has a Bangkok City guide, which sells for $4.99. That’s half the price of Lonely Planet’s sale!

Check it out: 3 Days in Bangkok – a One Weird Globe itinerary

2. More User Friendly

Since One Weird Globe guides are designed as e-books, there are colors, photos and large text. I can’t tell you how helpful it is to see a photo of the destination next to all of the information. I don’t want to have to go and find wifi while I’m traveling just to be able to see what something looks like. I also really appreciated that the history and information behind each destination was all on one page, making it very easy to read. I can easily see myself taking a screenshot of the page before I head to a destination, or whipping out my kindle at a cafe.

3. Trustworthy and Accessible

When you buy a blogger’s guidebook you know you’re getting the same reliable information you do in every blog post. If a blogger is writing a guidebook, you can be sure he or she has posts on a lot of the locations featured, so that you can get more information about the places you’re visiting.

Most guidebooks are also unnecessarily long. My China Lonely Planet Guide is over 1,000 pages. It’s bigger than a dictionary! Honestly, I really can’t believe I used to travel with that in my backpack. It probably weighs 10 pounds. They also have a kindle version, but it must take forever to find anything on it. I’ve never sat down and read a whole guidebook before, but these guides were easy to read in an hour or so. Now I feel completely prepared to take on Thailand, and I’m not overwhelmed by a ridiculous amount of pages.

GPS route yourself to the amulet market

A Few things I loved about One Weird Globe Guides

I have to say, Chris is kind of a genius. He came up with so many amazing ideas for these guides that I never would have thought of myself.

1. A Link to Google Maps

Chris has GPS coordinates listed under all of the destinations in his guide. These GPS coordinates are hyperlinked to Google Maps so you can get directions from your location. How cool is that?! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been completely lost trying to find something out of a guidebook. This will be a lifesaver for me in Thailand.

The GPS is even better than just looking something up in Google Maps because it’s exact. No more wandering around on a corner, trying to figure out which building it is. I’ll know exactly where to find things by using GPS coordinates.

Chris even has a large google map towards the beginning of his guides, so that you can see where each location is on a city map. This is much more helpful than the hand-drawn city maps in most guidebooks because the street names are clear and everything is to scale. You can even click on the map and get directions that way as well. I’m actually obsessed.

2. Easy to use icons

I really enjoyed the icons One Weird Globe Guides use. Each destination displays a few icons so you know what you’ll be getting out of the site. Some icon examples are: child friendly, bring your camera, free, no English, easy to reach, and adults only. This is especially helpful for planning your day in advance.

Touch the elephant poo. You know you want to

3. Offbeat Destinations

Things may have been off the beaten track at one time, but large guidebooks tend to make their suggestions mainstream. Chris from One Weird Globe specializes in crazy sights and offbeat destinations. Don’t believe me? Just check out his blog. Where else will you find a guide telling you to visit an “Elephant Poo Paper Park”?

In Conclusion…

So far, Chris of One Weird Globe has written itineraries on South Korea, Laos and Thailand. He even has a full Thailand Travel Guide coming out this spring! If you’re interested in traveling to either of these countries, I definitely suggest you check out his site. I know I’ll be using his itineraries religiously for my upcoming Thailand trip. I’m pretty excited to impress my travel friends with my off the beaten path suggestions. Elephant Poo Paper Park anyone??!

Think these guides sound awesome? Buy them on Amazon!

7 Days in Central Thailand
3 days in Chiang Mai 

Or check out the rest of his guides here.

Here’s a photo of a monkey eating watermelon

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of both “7 Days in Central Thailand” and “3 Days in Chiang Mai” in exchange for an honest review. These guides are awesome, buy them now. Also, some of the links above (aka the Amazon ones) are affiliate links. This means that if you buy the guides off my website I make a small commission. 

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