A Year of Adventures (Lonely Planet General Reference) - Andrew Bain

...years ago now, and it's a book I've tended to dip into for inspiration intermittently. The format is a week by week guide of travel suggestions throughout the year, a kind of "where to go when" book. From this point of view, it's great for ideas - if you're thinking of taking a week or two in March, you can flick through and see some of the travel experiences best done at that time of year. It could also be used to look up the best time ...
...specific goal in mind, using a regional travel guide would give you much more information.

The book is very well-illustrated - nearly every suggestion has an image to go with it. There are usually 2 double pages per week, occasionally with a few extra ideas written at the bottom. Every quarter there's an extra double page "the missing week" to make up the number of weeks to a total of 52; this features a variety of topics ... more

This travel book from the Lonely Planet team was published about 2 years ago now, and it's a book I've tended to dip into for inspiration intermittently. The format is a week by week guide of travel suggestions throughout the year, a kind of "where to go when" book. From this point of view, it's great for ideas - if you're thinking of taking a week or two in March, you can flick through and see some of the travel experiences best done at that time of year. It could also be used to look up the best time to go somewhere, but I think if you had a specific goal in mind, using a regional travel guide would give you much more information.

The book is very well-illustrated - nearly every suggestion has an image to go with it. There are usually 2 double pages per week, occasionally with a few extra ideas written at the bottom. Every quarter there's an extra double page "the missing week" to make up the number of weeks to a total of 52; this features a variety of topics such as continents, summits etc.

There's a wide range of ideas and experiences, which tend to be more on the adventurous side (and there's a few that 99.9% of people will never do - such as surfing a dangerous break in China, or Bell's Beach, Australia - think Point Break!). A lot of them are very active, some require specialist experience - e.g. rock-climbing. But it's good for bringing up ideas I'd never have thought of, such as dog-sledding in Greenland or visiting Chernobyl (not convinced about the latter!). Each idea is rated by fitness required.

One slight flaw in the book is the limited information - while it aims to tell you the best time to travel somewhere, it's difficult to gain an idea with some of the experiences as to how specific a time-span there is, as well as how likely the trip will be successful if you go at that time-point. For instance, the 4th week of May is given as the ideal time to snorkel the Sardine Run off Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa. However, the Sardine Run frequently occurs slightly later in the year, usually late June to July, and some years doesn't happen at all. It's also highly unpredictable in terms of the optimum place to base yourself, and a large amount of flexibility is required to be successful. I think the best option is to pick up ideas from the book, then do as much research as possible on the internet and from other travel guides.

Its RRP is £14.95, but is available online for around a tenner. 

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