The Ultimate UK Holiday Handbook
The Times Holiday Handbook is published, the most comprehensive collection of travel advice from the Travel Editor of The Times of London
Cath Urquhart, Travel Editor of the London Times, publishes her Holiday Handbook, a thorough collection of travel tips and holiday help for travelers all over the world
'Endlessly informative and helpful. This book should be on every traveller's shelf,' says Bill Bryson, and he should know. I'm not about to argue with the most popular travel writer in Britain, if not the world.
Cath Urquhart has been Travel Editor of The Times in London since 1997, and a keen traveler since she took off to spend 12 months exploring India and Nepal just over twenty years ago. In The Times Holiday Handbook, she has decided to share her travel wisdom with us in the most thorough collection of travel tips I've seen in one book. She says in the Introduction that when she wanted to recommend such a book to readers to help answer their travel questions, she realised that it didn't exist – so she decided to write it herself.
The author has a real common sense approach to travel. She may be Travel Editor of The Times, but she admits to being embarrassed at the preferential treatment she sometimes gets. But she grew up roughing it, so she knows travel from both sides. On her first trip she didn't pack a guidebook, but now always takes one with her. Her view is: 'Guidebooks make good slaves but bad masters'. It's important to remember that – and I'm a guidebook writer!
One chapter is given over to Travel and the Environment, and I like the fact that she's aware of the bigger picture. She doesn't make you feel guilty about traveling, but does make you think about the issues involved. Electing not to have your towels washed every day is fine, but isn't going to save the world by itself, and in some places you'll be taking work away from people who need it.
But this is essentially a trip-planning guide, which is where it comes into its own. The directory of contacts at the back runs to over 50 tightly-packed pages, and that's on top of all the very detailed practical information packed into the body of the book too. An entire chapter of 40 pages is devoted to using the internet for your travel planning, and another section tells you your legal rights when things go wrong. As this seems to happen more and more these days, it's important travel advice.
You'll recover the cost of the Holiday Handbook on your next trip, I'm sure of it. If not, don't blame me – it's Bill Bryson's fault.
The Holiday Handbook is published by Navigator Guides in the UK and costs £12.95. It can be bought direct from the publishers, from Amazon in the UK or from Amazon.com
The copyright of the article The Ultimate UK Holiday Handbook in U.K./Ireland Travel is owned by Mike Gerrard. Permission to republish The Ultimate UK Holiday Handbook must be granted by the author in writing.
