One of Lonely Planet’s newest items in the guide book collection are their Encounter Guides. I counted 26 cities for which they created an encounter guide. The difference between these guides and normal travel guide books are that these are pretty much purely about local knowledge and hotspots, not hotels and tourist warnings. They are pocket sized and they do come with a pullout map. Can’t wait to actually put one in use.

Need cash? Lonelyplanet.tv is offering $500 for good travel videos. Basically they want to monetize you tube…and cut you in a piece I suppose. I really don’t frequent LonelyPlanet.tv too much, but still found myself wishing I had a video of some of the shit I’ve seen. I just never carry a video camera while I travel. But that may change soon, as video cameras get smaller, better, and most importantly cheaper. The entry for the promotion is on lonelyplanet.com/youtube.