Moon Honduras (Moon Handbooks)
by Chris Humphrey
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chris HumphreyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-09-13
ISBN: 1566918030
Number of pages: 445
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Book Reviews of Moon Honduras (Moon Handbooks)
Book Review: How not to fly over the Moon
Summary: 2 Stars
How Not to Fly to the Moon
Review of Moon Travel Guide
Once having settled down with the white picket fence, the golden retriever sitting on the freshly mowed lawn and the kids swinging on the red and yellow play set, be sure to pick up a Moon Travel Guide. Moon's main audience is for upper middle class families, who are willing to take a chunk of time to thoroughly research their trip. Avalon publishing group in northern California publishes moon travel guides. They have over 200 travel guides from Wisconsin to New Zealand and everywhere in between. Each guide is sure to tell every possible thing to do in the area, but they conveniently leave out any sort of ranking system which leaves the reader looking at a million options with no idea which ones are the best to do.
The front flap catches the onlooker's eye with a flash of shiny blue and a picturesque photo of the destination. Once they have opened two pound guide one is left to look at five point font on a dull black and white construction paper background, this leaves the reader thinking "God, is it even worth traveling to here if a travel guide makes it look so boring." Marketing is one of the oldest tools in the book and if a guide cannot make the place look appealing then it definitely does not do it's job.
One must have a family of four, and plenty of time on their hands to pick up one of these guides, if that is the case then it will probably be quite helpful. The initial price of the guide is around 20 dollars, which makes it ideal for someone in the upper middle class but a little steep for someone on tight funds. But, if a thick guide is not a problem because baggage is unlimited then dig into those pockets and shell out the cash. The guides weight can make it less then ideal for travelers who are planning on back packing or traveling light. The mom on the go though might be able to fit it into an extreme fanny pack and have it color coordinated so she knows where each piece of information is expediently hidden.
Moon is sure to list several accommodations for the bodacious traveler the only problem is lowest hotel they list in the Boston area is 150 dollars a night. This is sure to add up after several nights trying to explore the red-bricked city. The Moon guide does not only do this with hotels but also with food a quote from the book says "One of the area's most affordable lunches is found at Panificio Sandwiches" they then list the price as 12 to 16 dollars a meal, as far as any college student in the area knows this is considered an extremely expensive for a sandwich lunch and can find a full meal in China town for only 3 dollars, now that's cheap! As much information as Moon seems to cram into their guide they tend to leave out local hits and only put down true tourist attraction which is a sure fire way for the tourist to remain a tourist instead of immersing them selves as true travelers.
The Moon writers are writing to inform with opinions that are only announced at the end of the guide such as in the Las Vegas guidebook. Each activity they write about, and be warned it is everything, they give a sentence or two on what it is, which of course is enough to make a decision on whether or not to visit that sight. People's personal accounts on how certain activities were are non-existent, which makes it hard to know if the money for some activities is worth it. Also, at the beginning of the guide the writers give a few pages of historical background, which beats any "professional" tour. The reader's money also must invest in a map of the area since Moon conveniently does not have one in their guide. It will also lack in important tips for women travelers, which are a must in some countries. Moon does include some very important facts but do they really out weigh everything they seem to leave out.
As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words. If this is true Moon says a grand total of about ten thousand, since there are so few pictures in the book and if there are pictures the paper is such a poor quality one cannot even make out what the image is of. In travel guidebooks it is always nice to have pictures above several destinations to get a good feel of what the place may look like and if it is somewhere to look into going. Pictures are not a must to some frequent travelers but for a family guidebook it is a necessity to see if it is a nice enough place to take children to.
At the end they do give a few helpful tips to the average family man such as a few paragraphs of information on safety such as pick pocketing and other acts that can be known for the area. Moon is also gives medical information, a few key terms if traveling to place where they do not speak English, public transportation, and where the US embassy is located. All of theses things are travel essentials and is a must to be included in any travel guide.
T. Benjamin Self had a similar opinion when he opened a Moon travel guide, he says "After reading the other reviews of Moon, I was really excited to read this book in preparation for my trip to Guatemala. Instead, after reading this book, I feel less excited about the trip in general. There's a severe lack of interesting and engaging things to do and sense of the places in this book. I should have stuck with Frommers (who does the best travel books, IMHO)." Bookwormgirl on Amazon.com is another fan of Moon's she says, "We spent a month in Honduras and I would have to say the information from this book was incredibly outdated with egregious errors. The first night we arrived in Honduras we went to three hotels listed in the book. All of which went out of business. As we will find out through out the trip this will become a trend in the book because the information is grossly outdated or wrong. We went out of way to go to a scuba driver training course that was recommended to find out they have not been there in years." After these raving reviews on Amazon.com from fellow citizens, it makes anyone want to leap out of their seats and run to the nearest Borders and buy every moon guide book they have. But wait, the Borders are not carrying Moon for any of the places popular places people want to go such as Paris, New York, Italy, Egypt, Greece, and many others. Most of the bookstores located in the surrounding areas are frequently out of stock of some of the bestselling Moon guides which can make it frustrating. Moon is available online but with a shipping fee on top of the already expensive price for the book.
Students be warned look else where for backpacking adventures in Europe and Hostel bouncing in Asia. Moon travel guides are a big heavy item to cart around on any endeavor. They may be fine for budding dynasties but overall with all the other options available, spend the pocket change more wisely and try another guide.
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