Speaking Volumes

Last year around this time I blogged that I had caught the travel bug and was *wishing* to plan a trip somewhere. At the time I inter-library loaned travel guides to Brazil and Japan. Well, that urge never faded, so a couple of months ago I convinced my boyfriend that we should go to Japan and we bought plane tickets. We don’t speak Japanese, we don’t know anyone who lives there, and we are not going on a guided tour, so since booking our plane tickets I have done a ton of reading in order to plan our trip and book hostels to stay in. Lucky for me I work in a library! Here are some of the guides I used to help me plan my trip:
 

   

Before I even booked my trip my lovely co-workers bought me the 2009 Lonely Planet Japan Guidebook for my birthday (Thanks guys!). This guidebook is easy to use, has some great & interesting recommendations, and is very up to date. In the past I have relied on the Let's Go! series for my  travels, but Lonely Planet has definitely won me over! 

  

In fact, I liked the LP Japan guidebook so much I decided to buy the LP Tokyo guide. It's nearly pocket sized so it will be easy to carry around, and it helped me narrow down what I want to do when we are in the big city.

  

Oh, and while I was at it I bought the LP Japanese Phrasebook too... just want to be prepared!

  

Even though it is now a bit outdated, I did buy the Let's Go Japan! 2004 guidebook (used on Amazon). I have always been a fan of the Let's Go! books because they are written by college students on a tight budget. They haven't steered me wrong yet, so I wanted to find out where LG recommended to stay, eat, see, etc.

  

Last but not least, I have been driving around listening to the Pimsleur Japanese Short Course.  So far I am only able to remember how to say a few key phrases, but overall I like the 'teaching' style and would recommend this series to anyone looking for a good introduction to a new language. The Saxton B. owns Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Greek, Polish, Portugues, Spanish, and Vietnamese. We also own a number of French and Spanish Little Pim DVD's by Pimsleur, which are language learning DVD's for kids.
 
Needless to say, toting around all these guidebooks will scream “tourist”, but since I’m blond and my boyfriend is over six feet tall, I have a feeling we would look like tourists no matter what.
 
Sayonara!!