I'm bored out of my mind at work, and I decided to start researching a bit about Barcelona. I'm going there in about two months, early January, for just a weekend. Can't wait!
It's raining and getting cold here, I have no money, and well... I just needed something to look forward to.
Barcelona is a city where I have wanted to go for years now. All my friends who've been have come back to tell me that it is a city I will absolutely love. So now I'm off to see for myself.
I'm looking around some of the travelsites but I hadn't expected this much of a difference between them. It's funny to see that some sites (think: Rough Guides) are really really good with the information that they give about destinations but that their interaction with travellers is crap.
Alternatively, others (think: Lonely Planet) have hardly any actual travel information - e.g. about Barcelona art it just mentions that '[it] will beckon you from museums and streetsides'(but exactly from which museums or streets it conveniently forgets to mention). That is corrected though by a travel forum with 'high traffic', so to speak. You want to know what the best pubs in Osaka are? You'll have an answer within hours. What bus you should take when going from A to B in the jungle of Guatamala? Again, you won't have to wait long for this.
It's kind of weird that LP is not able to offer better information on the official part of the site, especially since they are one of the largest travelbook companies around. It would actually also improve the forum as it will not be clogged up with the same easy google-able questions. Maybe the philosophy is that it will decrease guidebook sales? I will now probably look into buying something else than LP more seriously considering the huge differences online, so maybe they should rethink this.
But who knows, maybe there is a place which has both? Suggestions anyone?
2 comments:
I loved Barcelona when I was there in 2000 - had an amazing time. Fascinating architecture by Gaudi (not just La Sagrada Familia, which is fascinating, but other buildings he designed). I can't wait to read about your trip and see some photos.
You two are making me want to go even more :) Unfortunately we probably aren't going at the best possible time, but mid-January should at least be nice than it is here!
Daniel, the other two cities you mention are also on my must-see list. But, after Barcelona my next city-trip will hopefully be Krakow; I almost got a ticket for that last year but somehow Tokyo got in the way...
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