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Travelguide writing

Hey all,
welcome to the new travelguide writing section. It's all about the travelguides: what should go in them, how to write them, etcetera. So let's discuss.

I've written some initial guidelines here: http://poorbuthappy.com/about/writing/ The most important thing is: these travelguides are for backpackers. The site is called poorbuthappy after all! So it's focused on cheap hostels etcetera.

Apart from that, the vision is that we can write better, more up to date and more interesting travel guides if we write them together on the internet than if we let the professional travelwriters from Lonely Planet and such write them. They're good, but travelwriting for the book publishers has become a McJob, consisting mostly of checking prices and new hostels. They don't add new towns and places, because they don't have more space in the books. They add expensive hotels because more and more people with money (tourists, not travelers) buy the books, and this makes them great money. But even though i always loved the travelguides and I still get them, I have the feeling they're getting worse and worse. More irrelevant detail. More expensive hotels I'll never stay in. Less unexplored places. So I figure we can do better here. So this is the first step to better travel online travel guides. And they'll be free, as they should be.

Most travel guides are still empty right now, the Colombia one has a good start. Let's get them going!

By Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) on Jun 4, 2008, 03:10 in Travelguide discussion.

adrienne79 says on Jun 4, 2008, 18:58:

Sounds like a great plan. I don't have much to add to the "discussion" but wanted to say thanks Peter! I am sure many people will benifit greatly from the information that is and will be provided here.

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 4, 2008, 23:18:

Thanks Adrienne!

Poor but snappy

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CatGirl says on Jun 8, 2008, 18:56:

Peter I "think" I get the gist of your vision. Uhh would this eventually be set up to link to a map maybe? For example when a person makes an entry they can add a link that will take the person reading it to a map of the location and vice versa - Or am I totally off base and need to wait and see jeje

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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CatGirl says on Jun 8, 2008, 20:15:

Oh! Peter I looked at what you put up.......looks good - one suggestion (unless I missed it)
Is there a place to put last time the information was updated? So people viewing will know how recent the info it?

Thanks

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 8, 2008, 22:21:

Catgirl - yes: maps are on the way. In a month or two I hope :) I figured I'd get us started instead of waiting a few more months until it was "perfect". :) But yea, maps are important.

Under each piece of content is shows the date of the last update...

Poor but snappy

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CatGirl says on Jun 8, 2008, 22:32:

;)) - thanks - I knew you were on top of it

Love and Time: the only two things that cannot be bought, but only spent

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dogfart says on Jun 12, 2008, 07:13:

Suggestion Peter,
Is it possible to link those maps with Google earth?

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Peter (Moderator) (Trustee board) (Dev team) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jul 24, 2008, 22:35:

Yep, I'll look into that. I don't have much time to program these days though, and a long todo list, but improving the maps is on the list...

Poor but snappy

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BradAlexzander says on Sep 15, 2008, 22:26:

Yes! You are absolutely right! The traveler when visits some country for the first time, travel guide will become his friend to make his travel happy. Because he is unaware of hotels or airlines reservations, etc unless they contact some travel agent or travel guide. Internet is also providing lot of free travel guide sources for such travelers. We can avail them at any time with updated info. I suggest http://www.globecheap.com/ is the best one I used. Hope you also can utilize and enjoy.

Keep traveling and enjoying! Thank you!!

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Ultra says on Oct 8, 2008, 17:01:

Like the Web site, but why is there no Option for other countries. Such as Pto. Rico, USA, etc. Who makes these regions available?

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dandegoat says on Aug 18, 2009, 17:31:

Dear Peter,

First off, I would like to say that PBH has been an absolute godsend during our trip in Colombia. Without it, I wouldn't have gotten to know about Unilago in Bogota, and gotten a good replacement camera for the one that was taken away by snatch thieves. We are also grateful for all the travel tips that we have read about so far.

While I am not much into travel writing, we do maintain a blog on our travel experiences for friends and family back home at http://danyilin.blogspot.com. We have filled it with numerous pictures, which travel guides just do not have! We would be glad to share some of our pictures if it helps.

Also, I have recently started on a new project to help travelers not just in South America, but all over the world, and I hope to be able to share this with readers of PBH. What we have noticed is that bus and taxi fares are not always what they seem. We were quoted COP 40,000 pesos for Bogota to San Gil, but because we honestly wanted to just pop into the Exito market nearby, the price immediately went down to 25,000 pesos. This alerted us to the number of potential scams that are carried out on tourists like us. Our new website aims to collect information from travelers on the prices they have quoted and what they eventually paid for all their rides. Please take a look at http://befaretotourists.blogspot.com. I am sure that this website complements what PBH is doing, in providing information for free to travelers, and hope to see if there is any way to work together.

In any case, our warmest regards and thanks for PBH.

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