Buy Guidebooks

I was never really a big traveler in the distant past; we didn't really have the money to go many places. I never had vacations as a kid (but then, I did live in Florida, so what's the point?) Recently, with Andrew in the Reserves & me with a special deal on airline tickets, we've been going more places. This week (Thursday) I'm going to Anchorage Alaska for the weekend.

One of the things I've found on past trips is that you really do need to know something about the place to which you're going. So I started buying guidebooks (you could probably get them from the library, too, but I like to tear pages out and the librarians really frown on that sort of thing). Reading the guidebooks gives you that "friend in the area" who knows where the cool places to eat are, and what to avoid. My favorites are these maps you can get of several cities in the U.S.; they even tell you where the closest, say, Starbucks or Duncan Donuts are, as well as the cool historical & artistic places. I also like the irreverent guides-- the places recommended were slightly off the beaten track, and it's definitely for younger folks.

But the final things about buying guidebooks, and why I recommend you get them even if you're not planning on going anywhere right away:

1. you get to dream & plan and imagine a place you've never been before. After you get to go there, you can look back at the book and remember where you were.
2. the clerks at the bookstore like to see you going somewhere--when I bought my Alaska one last night, the girl behind the counter smiled and asked if I was moving there... when I said "just visiting," she smiled and told me she had lived there. She had a wistful look on her face and it was a nice human connection.

So in this world where often people can feel really alone, buying guidebooks is a moment of being in this world-- thinking about more than the prescription you have to pick up down the block or the soccer game you're going to later today.