Travel Descriptions Books

Hawaii the Big Island Trailblazer or Streetwise Madrid Map Laminated City Center Street Map of Madrid Spain Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro

2009-12-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

Hawaii, the Big Island Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Snorkel, Surf, Bike Drive

Author: Jerry Sprout

A guide for families and outdoor adventurers alike, the new and completely revised 2008 Trailblazer takes you to all of the Big Island's famous attractions, as well as its hidden spots. Nearly twice the size of the rest of Hawaii combined, the Big Island presents a challenge to adventure travelers with limited time. Trailblazer comes to the rescue with its trademark organization and clear directions for . . .
156 hikes and strolls: the peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the shores of Waipio Valley and Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, rain forests and tropical gardens, waterfalls, petroglyph fields, and the Kona Coast
75 snorkeling and swimming spots including remote hike-to specials
39 surfing spots: boards, bodyboarding, and body surfing
24 bike trails for adventure cyclists: mountain, coastal, forest, pasture
25 campgrounds and rustic cabin hideaways

Hawaii the Big Island Trailblazer also includes . . .

9 maps and more than 200 photographs
A Trailblazer Kids section for adventuring famiies
A Best Of section that lets you pick the right activity for the right day
Resource Links with hand-picked accommodations and restaurants,recreational outfitters, transportation, and visitor information
Hawaiian culture and history
Museums, attractions and shopping
Driving tours to the Parker Ranch and Kohala Coast, Hilo and the Heritage Coast, and Kona coffee country
Safety tips and trip-planning advice

With its obscure roads and enormous size--nearly twice that of the rest of the Hawaiian Islands combined--the Big Island presents a challenge to adventure travelers who have limited time. The Hawaii The BigIsland Trailblazer for 2008 comes to the rescue with clear driving and trail descriptions to all of nature's all-stars, from the top of Mauna Kea to the shores of Kealakekua Bay. Presenting vivid maps and its easy-to-use format, Trailblazer is a personal tour guide that fits in your knapsack. Hikers, snorkelers, and surfers can zero in on all the island's scenic masterpieces, as well as seek out the quiet wonders the Sprouts are known to discover. Reading Trailblazer gives you the feeling of being there, and then makes you want to get up and go!

Midwest Book Review

A energetically presented and highly recommended resource guide, Hawaii - The Big Island Trailblazer by Jerry and Janine Sprout is a thoroughly "user friendly" travel guide featuring truly great locales in which to hike, snorkel, surf, bike, or drive anywhere in Hawaii. Specifically for families wanting shared recreational experiences, and ideal for solitary vacationers seeking memorable do-it-yourself adventures, Hawaii The Big Island Trailblazer is enhanced with 9 maps and over 200 black-and-white photographs; a "Kids Only" section; driving tours; safety trips; resource links; information on Hawaiian culture and history, and a great deal more. January 2004

What People Are Saying

Barry and Lee-Ann Coyan
Mahalo for your great book to the Big Island. It has helped tremendously make our trip fabulous. Keep up the great work.

Donald Bodine
The book is great. Now we have to go to the Big Island and explore those special places you write about.
— President and CEO, Suite Paradise, Kauai

Go to: True Professionalism or Introduction to Managerial Accounting

Streetwise Madrid Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Madrid, Spain - Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro

Author: Streetwise Maps

2008 UPDATED Streetwise Madrid Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Madrid, Spain - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated metro map including lines & stations

This map covers the following areas:
Main Madrid Map 1:12,000
Madrid Area Map 1:87,000
Madrid Metro Map

Madrid sits on a plateau like an elegantly dressed matron, bejeweled with classic monuments and crowned with stately museums housing some of the world’s greatest works of art. But don’t be fooled by this formal exterior. At night, the confines of being the economic and governmental center of Spain are shed, and the city transforms into an energetic partygirl staying out until dawn swinging through the myriad of clubs, cafes and restaurants.

Madrid is compact and most of the sights of interest are found in the Centro area between the Royal Palace and Parque del Retiro. Some of the important sights not to miss are: Museo del Prado, one of the world’s greatest art galleries containing important works by Spanish and European masters, the massive Royal Palace, commissioned by Philip V and open to the public, and the Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s famous central arcaded square, a very lively bustling place day and night. If you’re in Madrid during the bullfighting season (March to October) Plaza de Toros is Spain’s largest bullring, where regular bullfights are held each Sunday.

The STREETWISE® map of Madrid contains all important sites, plus hotels, metro stations and parks. Also highlighted are special walks through old Madrid. The inset Madrid Metro map provides a quick way to travel throughout the city. The Madrid Area map inset will navigate you in and out ofMadrid and help you find the Aeroporto International Barajas. If you’re traveling further afield, don’t forget to look at STREETWISE® Spain, STREETWISE® Barcelona and STREETWISE® Seville and Andalusia.

Our pocket size map of Madrid is laminated for durability and accordion folding for effortless use. The STREETWISE® Madrid map is one of many detailed and easy-to-read city street maps designed and published by STREETWISE®. Buy your STREETWISE® Madrid map today and you too can navigate Madrid, Spain like a native. For a larger selection of our detailed travel maps simply type STREETWISE MAPS into the Barnes & Noble search bar.

About STREETWISE® Maps

STREETWISE® is the first map to be designed with modern graphics and is the originator of the laminated, accordion-fold map format. We've set the standard that every map company has imitated but never duplicated. Our mission is to make you feel comfortable, to make you feel safe in a place where you've never been before and to enable you to experience a familiar place more fully.

The company was founded in 1984 by Michael Brown, who had been in international publishing for many years, setting up subsidiaries for textbook publishers. In the 1970's, Brown traveled extensively throughout Africa, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Brown would take a large paper map, cut out the city center, folded it up and slip it into his pocket, thus preventing him from looking like a tourist in areas where discretion is the better part of travel. This was his tool for surviving.

After many years on the road, Brown settled back in New York and decided to start his own business, based on the adaptations he had made to maps in his travels. His goal was to give someone the ability to navigate easily in unfamiliar terrain.

He started with a new map format: the accordion fold. Such a simple idea, but at the time it was revolutionary. No more struggling to fold an awkward, oversized paper map. This new format would enable the user to blend in like a native, instead of stick out like a tourist. Brown then added lamination to ensure that the map would be a lasting tool.

More important than the format was the design of the map itself. It had to be a map that not only succeeded above and beyond any map he had used, but was esthetically appealing as well. The look of it had to be as striking as the functionality. Color was introduced in a way that was never seen before in a map - vivid purple for water, soothing gray for the background of street grids, gold to highlight elements of the map. Clarity, conciseness and convenience in a very stylish package.

Building the business was a 24 hour job. Brown sold the maps during the day, zipping around Manhattan making deliveries on his Harley Davidson. At night he packed the orders and did the design work. More titles were added, each title requiring months of research and design.

Today, STREETWISE® produces over 130 titles for major destinations, regions and countries throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia. We have grown from the back of a motorcycle to selling millions of maps around the world.

Yet each title is still painstakingly researched and updated. STREETWISE® is one of the only, if not THE only map company that conducts research by walking or driving an area to ensure accuracy. After all, what good is the map if what you hold in your hands doesn't match what you see on the street sign? This lengthy fact checking results in superior accuracy; in effect, we've done the work, now you have the adventure.

In the end, it's not about the map, it's about getting out and finding your own authentic experience wherever you go. It's about being in a city or a region and discovering things that you never thought you would find. You can do this if you have confidence and you have confidence if you have a great map. STREETWISE® is the great map that you need.

The New York Times

"Don't leave home without STREETWISE."

Travel + Leisure Magazine

"STREETWISE is an absolute travel essential."

Lonely Planet or Frommers Austria

2009-12-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

Lonely Planet: California Trips

Author: Ryan Ver Berkmoes

68 of the Region's Best Trips!

Whether you're a local looking for a long weekend escape, a visitor looking to explore or you simply need some ideas when family and friends come to visit, Lonely Planet's Trips series offers the best itineraries - and makes it easy to plan the perfect trip time and again.

Theme icons make finding the perfect trip simple - no matter what your interest

Easy-to-use maps for every trip, plus driving times and directions

Explore the region with trips ranging from two to seven days, and day trips from San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego

Local experts and celebrities share their favorite trip ideas, including a winemaker's wine tour, a Surfer magazine editor's surf tour and a food-lovers' tour from Alice Waters

Iconic Trips chapter covers must-do trips across the region, from Up the Pacific Coast Highway to a A Burrito Odyssey

Tune In

on the road with our regional music playlists

Family-friendly and pet-friendly listings throughout

Green Index lists the region's most environmentally friendly options

Travel America with Lonely Planet
Since 1984 Lonely Planet USA has published over 100 guides to America, working with over 200 American travel writers. For this Trips series our authors drove more than 100,000 miles, visited 230 diners, stopped at 810 roadside attractions and rediscovered the country they love.

Frommer's Austria

Author: Darwin Porter

You'll never fall into tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go- they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!

Come along with Frommer's and discover some of Europe's most spectacular scenery, from the towering peaks of the Alps to the dazzling baroque architecture of Vienna and Salzburg. Frommer's offers up-to-date coverage of all of Austria's highlights- Mozart festivals, skiing, hiking, cafes, castles, imperial palaces, alpine villages, Danube River towns, and more. Inside you'll find candid, detailed reviews of the very best dining and accommodations; accurate color maps; and insider tips on shopping. We offer a wealth of sightseeing, sports, strolls, and special moments- from highlights for the first-time visitor to off-the-beaten-track discoveries that will impress even the most seasoned traveler.

List of Maps.
1. The Best of Austria.
2. Planning a Trip to Austria.
3. Settling Into Vienna.
4. Exploring Vienna.
5. Lower Austria.
6. Burgenland.
7. Salzburg: City of Mozart.
8. Land Salzburg.
9. Upper Austria.
10. Innsbruck & Tyrol: The Best of Scenic Austria.
11. Vorarlberg.
12. Carinthia.
13. Styria.
Appendix A: Austria In Depth.
1. The Natural Environment.
2. History 101.
3. The Architectural Landscape.
4. The Sounds of Music.
5. From Wiener Schnitzel to Strudel: A Taste of Austria.
6. Recommended Books.
Appendix B: Language Lessons.
1. Basic Phrases & Vocabulary.
2. Numbers.
3. Menu Terms.
Index.

Eyewitness Travel Guide or Frommers 500 Places to See Before They Disappear

2009-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Eyewitness Travel Guide: Beijing and Shanghai

Author: DK Publishing

These two fascinating cities reflect different aspects of China - Beijing is the traditional capital, the seat of political power and home to the ancient monuments of Imperial China; Shanghai is both a financial powerhouse and a city at the cutting edge of fashion with an interesting modern history. This DK Eyewitness Travel Guide provides in-depth coverage of these cities, including Beijing's Great Wall and Forbidden City, Shanghai's Bund and the French Concession, as well as the water towns of Suzhou and Hangzhou, graced with serene and timeless gardens and lakes. Explore China's cultural heritage through richly illustrated features - on everything from Beijing Opera to Confucianism, Chinese Gardens and the Cultural Revolution. Illustrated food features highlight the differing regional cuisines, and resident China experts have provided detailed listings of the best places to stay and eat. Specially devised walking tours take you easily to the heart of these bustling, enigmatic and ultimately bewitching cities.

Melinda Stivers Leach - Library Journal

These two books are stellar additions to the exponentially growing travel library about China, site of the 2008 Summer Olympics. They are about the ancient and cultural capital of the quickly rising superpower, with the second title also covering the fiercely modern city of Shanghai. Each book has colorful photographs, maps (including subway maps), illustrations, indexes, recommendations for accommodations and eating, sight-seeing, history, phrase books, and travel information. Top 10 Beijingis particularly handy if one wants to study the one city, although its small size may concern some librarians. Humphreys lists Beijing's top ten highlights and then lists the top ten features of each. The book then compiles various other top ten lists such as the chief Chinese movies, teahouses, children's attractions, socialist monuments, galleries, museums, restaurants, and street food, and various recommended city neighborhoods as well as sites just outside the city. It also lists the top ten accommodations in the categories of budget, business, and high-end hotels and hostels. There are travel tips and references for further information.

The larger Beijing & Shanghaiis organized more like a traditional travel book. After comparing the two cities, so different in origin and nature, and informing readers about the country generally by means of sections on literature, language, religion, gardens, weather, and history, it is divided in half between the two famous cities and includes additional information-beyond Humphreys on Beijing-on festivals, art, architecture, parks, festivals, excursions, and walks. The final section, "Travelers' Needs," combines information onaccommodations and eateries for both cities. Both books are beautifully put together and will be eminently helpful additions to public library travel collections.

Interesting textbook: Multivariate Public Key Cryptosystems or Introduction to Computational Physics

Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear (500 Places Series)

Author: Holly Hughes

500 Places to See Before They Disappear enables passionate travelers and the eco-conscious to learn about and plan a visit to see rare cultural, historic, and natural places before they are irrevocably altered or even gone forever. Here are one-of-a-kind landscapes, fragile ecosystems, rare bird habitats, places to see the last remaining species of big game in the wild, cityscapes in peril, vanishing cultural kitsch, petroglyphs, and more—500 thoughtfully-chosen treasures that will inspire and enlighten travelers of all ages.

Each entry explains why it’s been included, gives its history, the nature of the threat against it, brief practical information on how to visit, and what visitors can to do protect it. A Geographical Index allows travelers to locate attractions across the world. Photos throughout the book help bring destinations to life.

New York City Westchester 2010 Entertainment Book or Into the Wild

2009-12-03T02:13:00.000-08:00

New York City/Westchester 2010 Entertainment Book

Author: Entertainment Publications

The Entertainment® Book, A.K.A. THE BIG COUPON BOOK, with over $14,200 in savings, offers its members 50% savings and Buy 1 get 1 FREE offers on the things you do every day and in your own neighborhood. Discounts include: Dining (Fast Food, Casual, and Fine Dining), Services (Personal, Home, Garden, and Auto), Shopping, Attractions, Movie tickets, Golf, and Travel. With over 150 local editions throughout North America, the Entertainment Book is ideal for use in and around New York City, New York or while traveling on vacation.

Books about: International Political Economy or Peace Process

Into the Wild

Author: Jon Krakauer

In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to a charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet and invented a life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. Jon Krakauer brings Chris McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows and illuminates it with meaning in this mesmerizing and heartbreaking tour de force.

Entertainment Weekly

It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order.

San Francisco Chronicle

Compelling and tragic...Hard to put down.

Portland Oregonian

Haunting...few outdoor writers can match Krakauer for bringing outside adventure to life on the page.

Publishers Weekly

After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in the wilderness. Four months later, he turned up dead. His diary, letters and two notes found at a remote campsite tell of his desperate effort to survive, apparently stranded by an injury and slowly starving. They also reflect the posturing of a confused young man, raised in affluent Annandale, Virginia, who self-consciously adopted a Tolstoyan renunciation of wealth and return to nature. Krakauer, a contributing editor to Outside and Men's Journal, retraces McCandless' ill-fated antagonism toward his father, Walt, an eminent aerospace engineer. Krakauer also draws parallels to his own reckless youthful exploit in 1977, when he climbed Devils Thumb, a mountain on the Alaska-British Columbia border, partly as a symbolic act of rebellion against his autocratic father. In a moving narrative, Krakauer probes the mystery of McCandless' death, which he attributes to logistical blunders and to accidental poisoning from eating toxic seed pods.

BookList

Some Alaskans reacted contemptuously to Krakauer's magazine article about a young man who starved to death one summer in the shadow of Denali. Chris McCandless was an idealistic fool, they said. He didn't equip himself properly, couldn't tell moose from caribou, didn't know Alaskan rivers become unfordable torrents in the summer melt: hubristic ignorance dictated his fate. Such acid responses won't greet this book-length expansion of the article, a drama constructed deftly enough to earn a place in the canon of American nature writing. First, there is mystery: the emaciated body found in September 1992 in a bus-hut had no identity papers, just a name and a terse diary of final days. Then there is the question of personal identity: What existential longing led the twentysomething McCandless to that bus and at what cost to himself and his family? And finally, there is the majestic stage set of the American Far West, which Krakauer draws on to create his lyrical, mesmerizing testament to McCandless' odyssey. Krakauer starts with the discovery of McCandless' body and works backward, revealing that McCandless graduated from Emory University, severed contact with his family, assumed the alias 'Alexander Supertramp,' and began two years of vagabondage in search of Truth in living as advocated by Thoreau and Tolstoy, of whose works 'Alex' was enamored. His earnestness indelibly impressed the itinerants he easily befriended -- whom he, in truth, somewhat callously jettisoned -- as Krakauer reveals throughout this sensitive narrative. A moving story that reiterates the bewitching attraction of the Far West.

The New York Times

Terrifying...eloquent...A heart-rending drama of human yearning.

The Washington Post

Gripping stuff...a detailed narrative of arresting force.

LA Times Book Review

Engrossing...with a telling eye for detail, Krakauer has captured the sad saga of a stubborn, idealistic young man.

The Seattle Times

Riveting...an absorbing story.

Voice Literary Supplement

A clear refinement of character, spirit, peace.

The Portland Oregonian

Haunting...few outdoor writers can match Krakauer for bringing outside adventure to life on the page.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom or Frommers Portable Savannah

2009-12-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph

Author: T E Lawrenc

The monumental work that assured T.E. Lawrence's place in history as "Lawrence of Arabia." Not only a consummate military history, but also a colorful epic and a lyrical exploration of the mind of a great man who helped shape the Middle East as it exists today.

Frommer's Portable Savannah

Author: Danforth Princ

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer. And avoid tourist traps. Frommer?s Portable Guides help you make the right travel choices. They?re easy to carry?and carry an unbeatable price. Frommer?s. Your guide to a world of travel experience. Put the Best of Savannah in Your Pocket

Outspoken opinions on top attractions?what?s worth your time and what?s not.
Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip no matter what your budget.
The best hotels and restaurants in every price range, with candid reviews.
With daytrips to Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C.

The Smart Travelers Passport or Eiger Dreams

2009-11-30T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Smart Traveler's Passport: 399 Tips from Seasoned Travelers

Author: Erik Torkells

Budget Travel magazine isn't just about the best travel experience at the lowest price it's also about traveling 'the right way.' Their philosophy, 'Vacations for real people,' has led them to their readership for guidance, and this collection of their readers' best 399 travel tips is an essential addition to any traveler's library. In The Smart Traveler's Passport, you'll learn:
13 different uses for Ziploc bags
How dental floss can double as a tape measure
Where to find the best street food in cities worldwide
How a digital camera can help you find your rental car
Why clearing your Web browser's cache will lead to lower prices on airfare and hotel reservations
How to avoid long lines at the world's most popular attractions

Designed to look and feel like an actual passport, these tips on planning, booking, packing, flying, safety, security, and getting around make the perfect bon voyage gift!

Eiger Dreams: Ventures among Men and Mountains

Author: Jon Krakauer

No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant hardships and victories more brilliantly than critically acclaimed author Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest work from such magazines as Outside and Smithsonian, he explores the subject from the unique and memorable perspective of one who has battled peaks like K2, Denali, Everest, and, of course, the Eiger. Always with a keen eye, an open heart, and a hunger for the ultimate experience, he gives us unerring portraits of the mountaineering experience.

Yet Eiger Dreams is more about people than about rock and ice—people with that odd, sometimes maniacal obsession with mountain summits that sets them apart from other men and women. Here we meet John Gill, climber not of great mountains but of house-sized boulders so hard to surmount that even demanding alpine climbs seem easy by comparison, and many more compelling and colorful characters.

Eiger Dreams is stirring, vivid writing about one of the most enthralling and dangerous of all human pursuits.

Travel Descriptions Books

Hawaii the Big Island Trailblazer or Streetwise Madrid Map Laminated City Center Street Map of Madrid Spain Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro

Hawaii, the Big Island Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Snorkel, Surf, Bike Drive

Midwest Book Review

What People Are Saying

Streetwise Madrid Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Madrid, Spain - Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro

The New York Times

Travel + Leisure Magazine

Lonely Planet or Frommers Austria

Lonely Planet: California Trips

Frommer's Austria

Table of Contents:

Eyewitness Travel Guide or Frommers 500 Places to See Before They Disappear

Eyewitness Travel Guide: Beijing and Shanghai

Melinda Stivers Leach - Library Journal

Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear (500 Places Series)

Table of Contents:

New York City Westchester 2010 Entertainment Book or Into the Wild

New York City/Westchester 2010 Entertainment Book

Into the Wild

Entertainment Weekly

San Francisco Chronicle

Portland Oregonian

Publishers Weekly

BookList

The New York Times

The Washington Post

LA Times Book Review

The Seattle Times

Voice Literary Supplement

The Portland Oregonian

Seven Pillars of Wisdom or Frommers Portable Savannah

Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph

Frommer's Portable Savannah

The Smart Travelers Passport or Eiger Dreams

The Smart Traveler's Passport: 399 Tips from Seasoned Travelers

Eiger Dreams: Ventures among Men and Mountains