My favourite kind of travel books are the ones that give you ideas, that get those wanderlust juices flowing and mentally planning your next trip. The ones you casually pick up to flick through in Waterstones and end up standing in the same spot fifteen minutes later trying to decide whether you should go on safari in Kenya or Sri Lanka. Those kinds of travel books.
Well I’ve found another one.
The Best Place To Be Today by Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet are pretty much the kings when it comes to this kind of wanderlust-inducing book and despite there being a limited number of countries and travel experiences in the world, I have about ten of these bad boys at home. Surely they’re all the same right? Nope, I find something different in each one!
Anyway, this particular LP gem is called ‘The Best Place To Be Today’. And that’s exactly what it’s all about. The book lists every day of the year with the perfect travel experience to have on that particular day. Simple.
So what you’re meant to travel to a different country every day on your trip? No, babes. It’s more for you to take a look at a load of travel experiences, pick the ones that shout to you and see when the best time to go is. That will help you plan a route if you’re going on a round the world trip. Alternatively if you know you have some time to take off work, for example you need to take the rest of your annual leave before the end of the financial year in March, flick through March and see all the wonderful things that it is the ideal time for!
I mean, obvs the first thing I did was see what the perfect thing to do on my birthday is… Bird-watching in Rajasthan apparently. Oh right. Not really my jam to be honest, LP.
Or how about today? Well shout out to my eco-babes out there because today is apparently the best day of the year for exploring Sinharaja National Park in Sri Lanka! Who knew, ay?
Don’t worry, they’re not all like that!
‘The Best Place To Be Today’ is particularly good for one-day festivals and cultural events such as Songkran in Thailand, Hogmanay in Scotland or going to the Camel Cup in Australia (I didn’t know what that was either before this book), so you know exactly when to plan your visit.
It’s also good for events in nature when it’s not always entirely clear when to go. You know like going whale-spotting when it’s dependant on migrant patterns. It’s a lot more helpful when you have an exact date to aim for rather than a 3 month window when you’re not really sure how exact it is. For example, the Northern Lights are a big thing on my bucketlist but the window on when you can see them varies by country and who you’re talking to. Well according to this book, Scandinavia on the 18th March is my best bet. I like it when things are exact.
And of course, Lonely Planet wouldn’t be Lonely Planet if this book wasn’t filled to the brim with completely gorge travel photography. Swoon.
Overall I think it’s a great book for a bit of date-specific wanderlust. I would just say to use it as inspiration and do some more research around the activities you’re interested in afterwards to make sure you don’t have to just visit on that exact date… You know, you can mountain bike Wales whenever, not just 14th September!
But it’s a good coffee table book, as well as a great gift IMO. ‘The Best Place To Be Today’ by Lonely Planet retails at £14.99 and you can get yours here.
Have you read The Best Place To Be Today? What did you think? Big fan of Lonely Planet or more of a Rough Guide kinda gal? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @HeelsInBackpack!
Total Blogger Transparency: I accepted The Best Place To Be by Lonely Planet as a gift but all thoughts and comments are my own. I wouldn’t play you like that shorty.
This book looks ace – good find and thanks for sharing 🙂
I love a lonely planet book haven’t seen this one before though!
Me too – ADDICTED.