Book Review: You Only Live Once by Lonely Planet

Travel books are one of those things in life I can’t resist. And I’m not talking about travel guides, or journals, or all of those sensible kind of travel books. I’m talking about those coffee table hardback beauts that you can flick through for a quick dose of wanderlust, or pour over for hours planning an adventure.

So when I discovered ‘You Only Live Once’ by the backpacking giants that are Lonely Planet, I had to give it a read.

Unlike other books of this kind, which are normally broken down into different countries and the sights you can see in each place, this book is based more on experiences. So each chapter is the length of time the experience should take from an hour to a year!

So what kind of experiences are we talking about here? Well, they range from the bucketlist activities we all want to do, like going on safari, learning a new language and embarking on an awesome road trip; to the more niche and alternative experiences like building your own cabin, becoming a world champion at something and climbing a volcano. Because why not, right?

But the best thing about this book is that each experience will give you several suggestions of where you can go to do it! So you want to learn to fly a plane? Here you’ll find recommendations in the USA, Iceland and Canada. You want to stay in a monastery? How about Belgium, Nepal or Italy?

I think this would definitely be handy when you’re planning a round the world trip. Sometimes there’s an experience you want to incorporate into your trip but it’s not always possible to add certain countries into your flights without spending the big bucks. This way you can see if there’s anywhere else in the world to experience the activities you’re after, in more accessible countries.

Definitely perfect for those of you in the early stages of planning a big trip, when you’re not sure where to start. You’ll get a feel for what kind of things you want to do and the best places to do it. Get ready for extremely itchy feet.

This bad boy is £22.99 and you can yours on the Lonely Planet website here or on Amazon here:

You Only Live Once: A Lifetime of Experiences for the Explorer in all of us (Lonely Planet)