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Tag: Travel

Divine Vintage Toronto Launch

by Dan
Events + Food & Drink + History / November 14, 2012

DIVINE VINTAGE Book Launch
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Toronto School of Theology
47 Queen's Park Crescent East Time: 4:30 p.m. 
Board Room 1 
Toronto, Ontario

With thanks to IWEG (Independent Wine Education Guild)

Download invitation (PDF)
RSVP

Lonely Planet New Country Guide Apps

by Natalia
Travel / April 18, 2012

It's always fun to see the interesting ways that Lonely Planet is expanding into the app marketplace.  Their offline translation apps are some of the niftier apps I've ever heard of—real-time translation on the go in the foreign country?  The future is here, people!

Lonely Planet is now launching a series of new country guide apps, available as stand-alones and within the Lonely Planet Travel Guides app.  Speaking as someone who's lugged her heavy Lonely Planet Ireland halfway across the country and back, I couldn't be more excited about this expansion.

Check it out in the app store!

Win a copy of the World’s Best Street Food

by Natalia
Food & Drink + Travel / April 09, 2012

The street is where you'll find the heart of a cuisine and a culture—somewhere among the taco carts and noodle stalls, the scent of wood fires and the hubbub of fellow diners.  It's the most democratic food in the world, gratifying and completely delicious!

Head on over to Zoomer where you can win a copy of Lonely Planet's The World's Best Street Food.  View some of the tempting treats you could be enjoying here!

Lonely Planet releases free Christchurch download

by Natalia
Travel / January 26, 2012

One of the things I like about working in the publishing industry is the long lead times: in an age of 24-hour newscasts and instantaneous gratification, publishers are unique in producing reflective, sustained, intelligent coverage of hot button issues.

But the glacial pace of traditional publishing has its drawbacks—I remember working on a book once that took a decade to move from conception to printing—and of course this is particularly problematic in travel publishing.

Case in point: Lonely Planet's 16th edition of the New Zealand travel guide is due to be published in September, but because it was written before last February's earthquake, the current edition is of limited use on the ground.

So this week Lonely Planet is releasing a free download of the Christchurch chapter on its website.  The chapter, researched by Brett Atkinson in December, is the first Christchurch guide to be released since the earthquake, and Lonely Planet is taking the unusual step of making it available eight months ahead of the guide's official release. 

Kudos to Lonely Planet for being nimble enough to get the most up-to-date post-quake travel information out to travellers as quickly as possible!

Any Canadian travellers planning a trip to New Zealand can find out more about the book here.

My Favourite Book of 2011: Pete (Sales)

by Pete
Travel / December 22, 2011

Favourite book of the year for me? It’s not cheating to take a paperback edition of a previous fave-of-the-year, but people will chirp so I’ll needlessly defend my choice by saying it’s packed with more incredible photographs, more solid content, and more countries…? No, not more countries, had them all last time and still does; Lonely Planet’s Travel Book 2^nd edition in paperback is still my pick of the year.

Being in sales I really love the numbers this beauty puts up in any edition, but it does so because it is epic and people immediately grasp that when they see it, and don’t want their coffee tables to look super lame so they buy it in droves. Lonely Planet is a truly inspiring company, and The Travel Book is distilled travel inspiration. Tony Wheeler — the indomitable founder of Lonely Planet — sums this book up nicely: “It just reminds me how much of the world there is still to see” —  That's Tony Wheeler, Lonely Planet founder, 145 countries visited and counting ...

There is so much of the world to see, and I like to be reminded every time I pick this book up that I need to get out there and see more of it. It really is THE travel book.

PS: I’d also like to quickly remind anyone who hasn’t read Shantaram written by Gregory David Roberts and published by St. Martin’s to do so post-haste. It has fought off a lot of great fiction to stay in my top 10 for years. It’s an excellent read — if you like stories you’ll love it.

Guy Delisle Chronicles

by Dan
Graphica / November 14, 2011

We have our Spring 2012 sales conference later this month and details of all our new books are flooding in.

There are lots of great titles, but as a comics guy, I was particularly excited to see a new book from Guy Delisle, author of Shenzhen, Pyongyang and The Burma Chronicles. Due to be published in April next year, the new book – also a travelogue and apparently his longest work yet – is about his time in Jerusalem. 

Drawn and Quarterly have just posted a preview of the book and it looks fascinating:

There are more pages on the D+Q blog.

D+Q also revealed that there is a short documentary film about Guy coming out soon. I love watching artists at work, so I can't wait to see it in full.   

Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City will be available in April 2012, and is available for pre-order from Chapters-Indigo, Amazon, and your local independent bookstore. 

Lonely Planet partners with UN to give relief workers vital information

by Natalia
News + Travel / October 03, 2011

There was lots of excitement in the office last Friday over some big news from Lonely Planet: in celebration of World Tourism Day, Lonely Planet is announcing a new partnership with the United Nations to provide information for first responders in humanitarian emergencies.  Staff from UN agencies deployed in the event of a disaster will be able to use Lonely Planet’s information to help them familiarize themselves with the country before traveling.

"Lonely Planet's expert content makes it easier for humanitarian workers to hit the ground running in unfamiliar environments," said Gwi-Yeop Son, Director of Corporate Programmes at OCHA. "We value Lonely Planet's commitment to provide accurate and up-to-the-minute information for our teams on the ground."
 

“Lonely Planet’s mission is to provide trustworthy and informative content about a destination,” said John Boris, Executive Vice President of Lonely Planet Americas.  “Our unique, in-depth information will empower the teams of humanitarian workers to learn quickly about the areas they are working in and the people they will be assisting.”

This is wonderful news, and a huge vote of confidence in the quality of Lonely Planet's information.  Congrats to Lonely Planet!

You can read more about the partnership here.

New Lonely Planet Translation apps!

by Natalia
News + Travel / September 28, 2011

This past week I’ve been on vacation in San Francisco, my first trip outside Canada in some time.   Heading back to work this morning through familiar streets, armed with my cell phone, bus pass, and a steaming mug of home-brewed coffee, I was struck by the conveniences of being a local.  The everyday practicalities of travel can be frustrating—tracking down wifi, finding a pay phone, dealing with public transit—all these small details of life which you wouldn’t give a second thought at home can become a big hassle in an unfamiliar city.

So I was excited when I heard about Lonely Planet’s latest offering to beleaguered travellers: The Lonely Planet Offline Translator, available on Android and iOs.  From the Lonely Planet folks:

The perfect travel companion, Lonely Planet Offline Translator acts as your own personal translator, providing bespoke translations based on what the user has typed or spoken into the phone. Unlike other language translation apps, Lonely Planet Offline Translator is completely offline, which means it can be used anywhere with no data/roaming fees or connection delays.

Initially launching in eight languages, the app translates words, phrases or whole sentences into immediate audio or text translations. Designed specifically for travelers, the app utilizes over 40,000 words for its translations. It also features a completely searchable dictionary.

I love travel apps, and this one sounds pretty nifty—to my mind, this make much more sense than lugging around a heavy dictionary everywhere you go.  What do you all think? Ever used the Lonely Planet apps abroad?

Happy travels everyone!

Win a Trip for Two to Paris!

by Dan
Contests + Travel / July 26, 2011

Psst... Do you know what this is? 

If you've got an idea about what exactly it might be, enter at Chapters-Indigo online for a chance to win a luxury trip for two to Paris (PARIS!) from Lonely Planet and Air Canada Vacations.

Not sure yet? Follow the clues through July 29th on the Chapters-Indigo Facebook page. They'll reveal more & more of the image each day!

(You can find the contest rules here)

Two New Free iPhone Apps From Moleskine and Lonely Planet

by Crystal
Art & Photography + News + Travel / April 20, 2011

If you had asked me a week ago where my cell phone was I probably would have stared at you blankly and had to ponder the question for awhile. My cell phone... did I leave it in the car? Is it buried at the bottom of my purse? Did I leave it sitting on the bar at home? The only people who regularly phoned me on it are my husband and my co-worker Dani. I'll admit I didn't even have voice mail set up. Text Messaging? Why is everyone so into text messaging? And how do they do it so fast? It took me 20 minutes to type out a text message! Who has time to press the 2 key 3 times to get the C to pop up? Email and Social Networking? That is a computer thing. My phone didn't have the capabilities.

First Up- The official Moleskine App for iPhone and iPad. Price- Free!!! 

Second up-  Royal London Audio Walking Tour from Lonely Planet. Price- Free!!! For a limited time (AKA Hurry up and go download it!!!)

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