Lonely Planet The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel [Hardcover]

With travel packages so commonplace as to be its own worst enemy when it comes to the throngs of tourists who concentrate on high-profile destinations, it's a treat to read about the quirky, somewhat off-kilter ideas that author Joel Henry (along with Lonely Planet staff writers Rachael Antony and Andrew Dean Nystrom) provides in this nifty little tome. A middle-aged television writer from Strasbourg, France and now the Director of Latourex, the Laboratory of Experimental Tourism, Henry elaborates on an alternative way of travel that he has been developing for over fifteen years, experimental travel. The idea is to choose destinations not for their logistical convenience, historic importance, climate appeal or overall popularity. Rather, a trip is built around a sense of chance, perhaps humor and hopefully serendipity in order to discover the unexpected and find a personal meaning in such travel.

Henry breaks down his ideas into categories that can come across as creative, flip and sometimes both. For example, in a situation similar to the set-up of Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal", the author discusses "aerotourism", which means spending a day wholly within an airport, using the various facilities meant for on-the-go travelers. This sounds almost reasonable if the airport is as elaborately designed as the ones in Amsterdam's Schiphol and Singapore's Changi, but I assume it could be most challenging in more remote locales. There appears to be greater possibilities with "nyctalotourism" (only visiting tourist attractions between dusk and dawn); "contretourism" (visiting a famous site but then only taking photographs once you turn your back to the site); or the most romantic idea, the aptly named "erotourism" (a couple travels separately to a destination and then each tries to find the other without any contact).

Other ideas don't have such high-concept-sounding names, such as touring your own hometown by staying in the local youth hostel or bringing a personal memento (the Orbitz gnome comes to mind) with you and photographing everything you see with the memento constantly in the picture. He has about forty ideas for you to consider, but I have to admit many of the ideas seem way too random for me to consider. At the same time, this is a nice book for the fertile imagination of the armchair traveler. I think Henry has the right idea in going against the predictable to find one's soul in traveling. It's a concept that Alain De Botton describes with panache in his book, "The Art of Travel", and Henry, for all his quirky notions, seems to be a kindred spirit.

Almost everyone begins to tire of the city they live in after a few years. "There's just nothing to do here" and "God, this place is boring" start to become regular utterances to friends and family. What to do?

Well, Lonely Planet has put out this book. It consists of a collection of travel 'experiments', which are actually just games, to make your travels at home and away a bit more enjoyable. I'm not going to lie. Some of these games seem boring and stupid, but there are enough good ideas here to warrant reading the book.

The only quibble I have is the excessive pretension on the part of the authors. Instead of just presenting these games as they are, theyt insist on cloaking their actions in metaphysical double-speak and an excessive amount of self-importance. I really could have done without that.

On the whole though, this is a decent book, and I'm glad to see Lonely Planet is branching out.

There are so many places I want to explore that I never thought of arranging my travel around quirky games. Maybe this book is for those who travel constantly and want a fresh way to explore a destination.

The book gives ideas like exploring a city by song lyrics or chess moves. Then it reports on actual travelers who have tried it. Maybe this book would suit my friend who wears Groucho glasses/nose to meet visitors at the airport.

I give the book four stars since Lonely Planet breaks ground with its travel books. Deducted one star, because I think the audience is pretty limited for travel this specialized.

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