Guide and other travel books can come in very handy when trip-planning, wouldn’t you agree? The internet is great, but it can be exhausting having to look through website after website for information on things to see and places to go. Exhausting and overwhelming!
There are so many great travel guidebooks out there. You probably know our favorites because we’re telling you about them all the time, but perhaps you have some favorites too that become more like a bible to you on your journeys. Tell us about your favorite(s) in the comments below the poll, please.
We’re curious: How often do you use physical books to fully plan or partially plan your trips? As always, thanks for voting.
To be clear: We’re NOT talking about atlases here.
We use trip advisor, GPS and hard copy books/ maps for our trips…electronic is wonderful BUT what if…
When we started “most timing” (on the road about 9 months a year) about 4 years ago we used printed materials about 50%. Now we’re maybe 10%. We have several books that we still use to plan or reference, and a couple on Alaska as we plan our 2024 trip. We also stop at visitor centers and pick up the “what to do in the area” brochures etc.
I like to double check the GPS and make sure that the roads are the ones I have marked. If they are different, I check the mileage and take the shortest route. I still try to stay off of the Interstates and take the scenic way to the destination.
Same route Summer and [Fall, winter and Spring] have multiple RV parks in same areas, plus have friend recommendations. At 80 now, been RV’ing for 30 years, like the old comfortable places I’ve been to.
Never “books.” Do use the free state travel guides.
We have the COE campground book and use it regularly.
Nothing better than a book for finding information on campgrounds. I do like to look at the internet after finding the places I might want to stay by using Google maps to look at the topography and surrounding areas. Internet alone doesn’t find all the places in a given area.
I like to stop at travel centers upon entering each state to get maps and guide books. The people there can give some good tips about the area. The guides are also useful for writing notes and additional information from the Web sites. You can refer to them later if you don’t have internet service at your destination. It’s fun to just browse through the guide books, too.
I also stop at State line Travel centers, local city/county visitor centers and city chamber of commerce to get free maps and guidebooks for the state or area. I have found real hidden gems this way.
I keep an older hard copy that I keep in my RV, but I do everything online and have for years.
Me too, on-line so much quicker.
I’ve used “Ultimate Campgrounds” series of books for years. I have the whole collection (BLM, NF, NPS, and COE) I use them a lot! I also use their UC APPS. I really like the UC Public CG and UC Military CG apps.
Ditto
Just finished ‘23 Great Drives in New England’ and ‘Acadia, the Complete Guide’ for this fall’s upcoming trip. I use both hard copy and digital travel sources to plan our trips. There’s a lot of info out there…maybe too much!
When we travel we always have a destination but the route can change from day to day. If we wish to be in California on a certain date we may leave 4 to 6 weeks in advance, each night going through guide books and the road atlas to find places of interest and the best route. One year when leaving our daughters house in Texas on our way to California we decided to go north into the Dakotas and spent two weeks exploring using travel guides to locate interesting sites. Then our travels took us throughout the northwest and south to our California destination. We love to travel this way, it always an adventure.
I find the state provided tour guides are the easiest and most informative about their state and locales. I have a GPS and a road atlas both of which we use. The state books are free and informative. I do my own planning and use a large square calendar for daily stops etc and provide that to my granddaughter so she knows the trip plan by day. We also have cell fones (believe it or not!)
Perhaps if one has no idea of where they want to travel to, a book would provide guidance. We always know where we are going, just use our cellphone map, check for RV Parks that are about every 300 miles, and make our reservations. Never a problem reserving, and never a problem using our map or Satellite radio app to listen to whatever we want to hear. No, we never have had any desire to use such books or guides.
I like 4-wheeling/off-road, so I will pick up books about the trails in an area, and check out the local forest service for road conditions and hiking maps. And visit tourist stops about local attractions/food service. I also check on-line if other people found interesting spots to visit.
Books, no, but all the pamphlets and brochures that I can find.
I have to admit that I am addicted to the digital resources. This surprises many younger people because I am almost 70 years old but I was using computers before many of them were born.
When we plan a trip, I use a variety of resources. I have for many years clipped articles from RV and other travel magazines and file them in 3-ring binders by state. I also get AAA guides and buy guide books (my favorite is Moon). I also have online info I store on OneNote. We review these, plan our route, use apps and reviews for campgrounds. Then I create a tentative plan with options in case of bad weather, etc. It is time consuming but we end up finding some great gems such as Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, the Russian museum in Minneapolis, great hikes and small interesting stops for breaks along the way. We pack a lot into our trips.
I get AAA books and look up stuff to see what’s in the area to help me to see what i want to see or do.
I use to use AAA books years ago, but they’re terrible anymore. AAA services in NEPA is lousy. Don’t recommend them.
NEPA?
NE Pennsylvania, maybe? Have a good night, Lee. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
AAA travel books are being phased out and being replaced by online ones. Our old books are like gold to me but eventually will be obsolete as new information comes about.
We like to look at several sources when trip planning, which is to me an enjoyable part of the adventure. Where do we want to go and what is there to see and do there? AAA Tour Books are a go-to source for finding GEMS (highly rated attractions), books that provide best State Park, National Park, etc. in each state are useful, a book on Tourist Train attractions is consulted as well. Much, if not all of these things are available on line these days, but online isn’t always as quick and easy to navigate to find what you’re looking for (I know – blasphemy! lol). But truly most of the nitty gritty planning is done on line,
Never for the travel, but we still use physical hiking guidebooks to plan hikes. I haven’t been that impressed with the quality of the online sites yet.