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Archive for February, 2011

Tips on Tipping – A global guide to gratuity etiquette

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 14 February 2011

Tips on TippingThe bane of many business and leisure travellers, tipping is a tiresome cultural minefield, an invariably unwelcome digestivo whose aftertaste is listed close by lightly boiled sheep testicles in the lexicon of ‘that’s not what I ordered’. Reducing good intentions to nought, negating relaxation and transforming worldly travellers into spiteful xenophobes – ‘Why can’t these people just stick it on the bill?  We’re not bleedin’ psychic!’ – tipping has the potential to send the best of us over the edge…

Tipping or not tipping can both cause equal offence, whilst to tip too much appears foolish and tipping too little risks the wrath of a waiter scorned.  Then there are those grey areas when a gratuity almost becomes a bribe, a bureaucratic lubricant that can instigate a slide into insanitary hot water. Carole French and Reg Butler’s wealth of experience has allowed them to address the issue of tipping in an informed and succinct manner giving Tips on Tipping a legitimate claim to permanent residence in the luggage of regular travellers the world over.  Describing over 130 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, covering cruise holidays, and further exploring foreign cultural etiquette at home or in business, Tips on Tipping helps avoid angst and eliminate cultural faux pas.  Published in a handy pocket-size format, the guide is priced at only £6.99…  Keep the change?

Carole French is an experienced magazine editor and has written guidebooks on destinations from Paris to Morocco. She ‘commutes’ between homes in the UK and Cyprus.

Reg Butler worked as a freelance journalist covering east and west Europe, Africa and Asia, and spent 27 years on contract to The Wall Street Journal.  Sadly, Reg died before Tips on Tipping was completed.

Title: Tips on Tipping
Authors: Carole French & Reg Butler
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
Publication: February 2011
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 1 84162 210 1

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Eastern Turkey

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 14 February 2011

Eastern TurkeyThough membership of the EU’s Christian club has thus far eluded it, Turkey’s image as a western-facing nation at the frontier of Europe, instigated by the policies of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, continues to be reinforced by those within and without its borders.  However, despite package tourists flocking to the discos and bars of the Mediterranean coast, Turkey’s east – the land towards its borders with Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria – dances to a different tune.

Diana Darke’s remarkable new book looks beyond Ankara to the 70% of Turkey given scant coverage in the back pages of mass-market Turkey guidebooks, and that portion of the country unknown to the majority of travellers.  Diana describes Eastern Turkey as ‘Aimed at adventurous, possibly even eccentric people of all ages and on all budgets’, continuing by suggesting ‘travellers should be aware that pampering is not on offer here.  Instead there is the excitement of entering another world, a big black hole beyond Europe…’ Until 2000, many areas covered in the guide were off limits, designated military zones and under martial law.  As Diana states, ‘Travel for sheer interest or pleasure’s sake was difficult to arrange.’ Now permits are no longer required and it’s possible to travel freely; only the ascent of Mount Ararat (5,137m) requires prior permission – a feat Diana describes in breathless detail on page 308.  Itineraries from a long weekend to a week or more are outlined, though as with all Bradt titles this is not a guide that holds hands, rather one that simply points the way.  Familiar descriptions of Cappadocia’s troglodyte villages mix with those of Nemrut Daği, whose often referenced immense carved stone heads are little visited by travellers.  From derring-do to an historic exploration of Hittite, Uratian and Selijuk civilisation, Eastern Turkey successfully highlights fascinating aspects of a country we only think we know already.

Diana Darke is an expert on Turkey and has been a regular visitor to the country for over 30 years. She is author of several acclaimed guides, including Bradt’s Syria, North Cyprus and Oman.

Title: Eastern Turkey
Author: Diana Darke
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
Publication: February 2011
Price: £16.99
ISBN: 978 1 84162 339 9

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BRADT TRAVEL GUIDES TAKE TOP WANDERLUST AWARD

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 4 February 2011

2011 Wanderlust Magazine travel awards announced

Hailed by Wanderlust as a ‘David & Goliath-style victory’, independent publisher Bradt Travel Guides has come out tops in the annual Wanderlust Awards. A poll of Wanderlust readers gave Bradt a rating of 81.76%, beating Lonely Planet, DK and Rough Guides into second, third and fourth place respectively as the best guidebook series. Bradt’s Managing Director, Donald Greig accepted the top Wanderlust-travel-awards-2011award for Best Guidebook Series at Destinations travel show, Thursday 3rd February.   Wanderlust further described Bradt as ‘the small publisher whose engaging, well-written and highly detailed guides to exotic places continue to set a benchmark for quality.’ A delighted Donald Greig commented ‘We’re thrilled to receive this award. Wanderlust readers are an adventurous and knowledgeable crowd having visited almost every single country in the world in the past year, so it means a lot to us to get such a strong seal of approval from them.’

Historically Bradt’s own ‘road less travelled’ has explored a different route from that favoured by ‘big publishing’.  Frequently pioneering, occasionally controversial, often fighting commercial expediency and always allowing authors freedom of expression, Bradt’s unique style has again proved to be a winner with Wanderlust readers.

Wanderlust’s website congratulates Bradt on having ‘a well-deserved reputation for getting to emerging destinations first’ and heads up a growing list of titles including recently-published Eastern Turkey and Tips on Tipping together with forthcoming themed guides to alien invaders (species, not little green men) and Britain’s sacred sites.

The annual Wanderlust Awards, organised by the UK’s leading travel magazine for independent-minded travellers, are based on the results of an independent poll amongst its readers.  The awards also recognised top tour operators, airlines, airports, countries, emerging destinations, TV/Radio programmes, travel equipment providers and websites.

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