I have kind of a love/hate thing with travel books…I love the fact that they give me inside info on where to stay and eat and great advice on cool (and no so cool) places to visit. What I hate is that so many others read the same books and show up at the same darn places. When I traveled recently in Morocco I was humored by the fact that practically every other tourist I saw (or at least the ones I identified with somewhat) were carrying the same Lonely Planet guide, with it’s lovely babouche-colored cover. These were in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese, but offered the same advice to all, and we all accepted it eagerly.
When I first came to Algeria, back in the early 90’s, I was able to buy travel books and read up a bit before I arrived. When I returned, after things settled a bit, in 2002, there were no such books to be found, reflective of the removal of Algeria as a travel destination for all but hard-core travelers.
No more. Lonely Planet is publishing its new tome on Algeria this August, with a whopping 304 pages. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon (doesn’t even appear yet on the LP site). Sign of the times...
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