When you guys do a RTW and visit different continents/countries what do you do with regards to guide books. Do you buy a guide book for each individual country you visit (which I imagine would be quite expensive) or do you just buy one for the region, for example I have seen books which include 4/5 different countries within SE Asia. I suppose what you lack in depth of information for each country you make up for in money saved/space in your backpack perhaps?
What do you guys do?
Thanks
We got guide books for regions before we left because we wanted to get an idea of where we to go. Then we sent them to people around the world we knew, so that we'd pick them up as we went! You have to be organised and fortunate enough to know people. If you're going to some big cities, it is pretty easy to find a guide for the local region in English, choice might be a bit limited. There is no way you can carry a book for each place! They're heavy!
I'm going to Thailand, Australia and USA. I will bring my Thailand book with me, and leave it behind/give it away/swap it/send it home on my last day. For the subsequent countries I will print out/photocopy a few sheets of info on my first city in each country beforehand, buy a guidebook when I'm there, and get rid of it before I leave.
I guess it also depends if you're touring a country extensively or just visiting a few places. If you're just visiting a few places then you won't necessarily need a whole book, eg you could copy and paste info from the rough guide website into MS Word, put it in a tiny font and print. Some people apparently rip out the sections they don't need, but I couldn't do that to a book :) Or if you're getting a book for a region encompassing lots of countries, but know you will be spending a lot of time in one particular city you could staple in some extra info on that place that you've photocopied from a more in depth guidebook.
For short visits I rely on internet info and/or local recommendations.
For longer visits I usually buy a guidebook in advance and take it with me.
they weigh a ton! yes the separate country ones have more info.did you know they are often cheap used(but look new) on amazon.com..use your own country one as postage can cost a lot
Buy a regional guide (eg. SE Asia On A ShoeString) and take it with you on your trip (doesnt weight that much...) and then in each country pick up the guide for that country if you need more detail than whats in your regional guide, and when you're done with that country, either sell the book or send it back home (Sometimes unreliable)
We brought our guidebooks for the 1st 6 months and ripped out the sections we did not need. For example in our Argentina guidebook we ripped out everything in the south of Buenos Aires, b/c we were not going. I hated doing it but it make a difference with weight. Then we gave them away to people or a book exchange when we left the coutnry. After the 6 months we started buying them as we go and had my mom mail some to me when we were with family friends.
Good luck!
Its a combination. I buy a regional book if available or a country guide if not. I buy them as I go, but I have a good idea of where I'm going to pick them up. I'm also not brand loyal. ie Rough Guide Europe, FootPrints South America, TrailBlazer Tibet, LP pretty much everywhere else. I also sometimes pickup a country guide in addition to the regional guide if its pretty clear that I'm going to spend a lot of time in it. A lot of times the books get ripped up as I go. Sometimes they get posted home in one piece. Sometimes I buy the book before going and photocopy only the pages I want. And finally there are some places where I don;t bother with a guidebook because they are already so easy to visit, ie Thailand
I don't like combination guides;individual country guides are already short of the info i need. I buy 2-3 books to start with and then when i get to a hub (like Beijing, Mexico, London, Singapore...somewhere with serious bookstores) i buy hte rest. Usually you can find books on the borders of well-trodden countries. Foroff the beaten track places, just buy it beforehand.
Worse cometo worse, have a friend mailing it from home.