Nomadic Amateur-Backpacking 101-Cheap Flights & Guidebooks

"The Essentials on The Road"

Welcome to Nomadic Amateur.
Once a week, or more often if I can get myself committed to it, I will share my tips and information about backpacking/traveling/visiting certain places.

When I started to travel extensively on my own back in 2006, I was the only one among my groups of friends who was doing it. By no means, I am not an expert(hence the title "Nomadic Amateur") but over the years of 3D(dirty, dangerous and difficult) "budget" traveling and working at a hostel, I've picked up some very useful tips and information from people I've met on the road as well as developing some of my own.

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Don't expect me to cover somewhere really well-known because I'm sure there is a plenty of information available out there, way better than what I have to say.

Do expect to read about relatively unknown places and how to get there, things I wish I had been told before I hit the road, some lessons learned from personal anecdotes, etc.

So the long introduction aside, let's start from the beginning.

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"Where do you find a cheap plane ticket?"
I know, I know. This question is so trite but it is indeed the most common question I get asked.

I'm sorry to say that there is no one specific place where you can look up to find the cheap ticket.

Like most good bargains, you have to do some research but here are some sites that I usually frequent:
Cheapoair (lately it's been the cheapest from my personal experience); Travelocity; Momondo;Expedia

I used to use Student Universe and STATravel a lot for my international travels several years ago, but lately they haven't been as cheap.

From Latinoamerica:
Despegar *note that different price might apply depending on your nationality

I usually find that search sites have better deals than the actual airline websites, but airlines have exclusive deals on their sites from time to time so check to compare.

Nowadays, Twitter has been an excellent source for exclusive deals so follow some airlines' Twitter and watch out for those deals.

Internet normally finds the cheapest deals for me, but I noticed that it was cheaper to book a ticket through a travel agency in Asia. (you may also get to haggle a bit)

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"What is the best guidebook for _____?"
This has been an ongoing debate question whenever I come across seasoned backpackers. While we have different preferences, we all shared the same opinion: There is no one perfect guidebook.

I personally use a mixture of Lonely Planet; Fodor's; Footprints; and have used 100배 즐기기(I found it very helpful for finding excellent lodgings) for India.
Time Out is excellent for traveling in general but not necessarily for budget backpacking.

Guidebooks often provide a convenient snapshot of information, but it will very much limit your experience. Over the years I grew increasing unsatisfied with guidebooks for a number of reasons:

-Guidebook are not updated on a timely manner.
Although some guidebooks update more frequently than the others, it is still not up-to-date. While some cities might boast restaurants and shops from the days of yore, in other cities it is here today, gone tomorrow.

When I first visited Peru with a friend back in September 2007, we spent about an hour circling the same few blocks looking for that perfect ice cream store described in the guidebook. Imagine my surprise when we finally learned that it had been out of business when the guidebook was only five months old.

While my ice cream misadventure might not be so devastating(it was), think about this happening to you when you plan your travel around visiting a well-known landmark, only to get there to learn that it is closed.

-Being listed on the popular guide book is a huge advertisement for business.
Many foreigners will have the same guidebook as you especially when you share similar budgets, which means running into them everywhere you go. While this might be excellent for extending your international friends range, this means running into them at the same hostels, the same restaurants, and the same travel agencies etc. This can translate into thousands of steady tourism business for those listed on the guidebooks. You will actually see some places asking the visitors to recommend them to the guidebooks and rightfully so, offering their excellent services/products. Unfortunately, some listed places take advantage of this and charge a higher price for poor service because they know the tourists will keep on pouring in.

-Not every information listed on the guidebook is accurate
There have been controversies involving well-known guidebooks such as Lonely Planet, that the writers are poorly paid and that the writers don't actually visit the places.

Have you ever wondered why your favorite guidebook recommended this awful restaurant where food tastes like card boards? One of my favorite anecdotes to tell fellow travelers regarding the defects of guidebooks is the story I read a few years ago-I don't remember exactly where I read it (it might have been from Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm)-A travel writer wrote that the restaurant has a "good table service" for a guide book after having sex with a waitress on the table.

Apparently writers sometimes get bribed by the place in hopes of getting listed(for the fore-mentioned reason)

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"I don't have a guidebook, now what do I do?"

• Speaking a local language will be a huge advantage. I'll spare you the lengthy lecture on obvious virtues of learning a new language but know this-hospitality business that boasts English-speaking staff knows that they are dealing with many tourists who cannot speak the local language, therefore afraid to head elsewhere. Yes, there is such thing as "charging for speaking English," which is not a bad thing on its own but sometimes it comes with bad services at a higher price.
  
• Talk to your fellow backpackers, ask them for recommendation. There is no better source of information than your fellow backpacker who just visited the place a few days ago. Ask them for recommendations on where to visit, where to eat, where to sleep, what to do, etc.
  
• Stop by the official tourism office and pick up a map and ask for information. Often times, the official tourism office will be very helpful and can make some suggestions for you. Maybe there is a parade happening in the main square in a few hours. Fortunately, many official tourism offices will have pamphlets in English as well as an English-speaking staff so don't be afraid to go in even if you don't speak the local language.

If you have to buy a guidebook, The best you can do is pick up a guide for the city, the country in that order.
DO NOT, by all means, buy a guidebook for the entire continent. I was horrified at how poorly written they were.

I ended up carrying at least 5 guidebooks and countless maps on my extensive trip to South America on top of checking the Internet regularly for new information and asking around.

Which one of the guidebooks I have listed above do I recommend?
I'm really reluctant to say it, but I use Lonely Planet the most, despite of all its flaws because I like the writing and the layout style. However if there is a new guidebook coming out tomorrow, I'd rather try that than buying another copy of LP.

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Next Nomadic Amateur will cover the most crucial part of backpacking(at least for me): Packing.