Stupas at Borobudur, Java

The Chamba Dhaba, a welcome pitstop, halfway on the journey from Amritsar to Leh in the Indian Himalaya (c) 2011 Andy Parkinson

Travel the world's most spectacular routes with Lonely Planet's latest guide

With so much online travel content out there, it’s somewhat refreshing and unusually exciting to take receipt of Lonely Planet’s latest book release “Great Journeys: Travel the World’s Most Spectacular Routes.”

So thrilled am I to receive this collection of more than 70 of the greatest trips any traveller could ever take, that in the process of unwrapping, I almost slice off my finger with a pair of scissors. Travel can indeed be a perilous endeavour.

Thankfully, and true to form, Lonely Planet’s latest publication offers expert guidance, practical tips and incredible photography to inspire travellers with more than a taste of what it feels like to experience dozens of dream journeys.

Man selling Afghan bread at open market bazaar, Kabul. Photographer: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Lonely Planet Images (c)

Great Journeys brings these experiences together in themed chapters – from overland, road, rail and river journeys to ancient trade routes, literary journeys and even the chance to follow in the footsteps of explorers and conquerors.

Explore “The Hippy Trail” – the original Lonely Planet journey on which LP founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler cut their teeth back in the 1970s; travel the Yangtze by slow boat or take the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu; discover the Baltic Amber Road or jump on the Toy Train to Darjeeling. Whatever or wherever you’re into, you’ll find in Great Journeys all the information you need to plan your dream trip.

Each journey entry includes expert coverage by Lonely Planet’s authors, together with route plans, essential experiences and details on the ideal trip length and best time of year to go. There are also ideas for books to read and movies to watch to put you even more in the mood for the trip.

So much more than coffee table decor, Great Journeys is a vital resource for anyone with a serious passion for travel.

Lonely Planet’s Great Journeys AUD$49.99. For more information, and a preview, visit www.lonelyplanet.com.au

Feel the burn: Burning Man Australia 2011

The annual week-long Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada is the stuff of legend. Some call it the world’s most incredible festival.

This extraordinary experiment in community, radical self expression and radical self reliance, began around a bonfire on San Francisco’s Baker Beach at summer solstice in 1986 – now Burning Man has become a magnet for more than 50,000 people each year.

This weekend I will be one of the lucky few hundred making the six hour drive West from Sydney or North from Melbourne to the Matong State Forest near Wagga Wagga in Southern New South Wales, to come together to celebrate Burning Man Australia.

This will be Australia’s second regional Burning Man – built around the same 10 Principles as those made iconic by its big brother in Nevada.

Burn participants, myself included, have agreed to abide by the 10 Principles for the duration of the five day event, which reaches its high point on Saturday night with the immolation of a 20 foot high Wicker Man, reminiscent of the movie of the same name.

I have done my research; I have been regularly and helpfully informed by the organisers of this seminal event, in its infancy here in Australia but with a long, successful and sustainable track record in the United States. Problem is I still have no real idea what I’m in for – along with the 1500 or so other people expected to attend.

Burning Man offers a framework, just loose boundaries; it’s up to those who travel to live in this temporary community to fill the gaps with their creativity, humanity and with an open mind. ‘If you can’t make art, be art’ reads the website promoting the event and providing all the necessary information to survive it.

I’ll be offline during the event, regrettably, but (if I do survive it) keep an eye open for pics and posts next week!

Shiver my travel timbers, it's Captain Jack (c) 2011 Andy Parkinson

Backpackers treated themselves to free coffee, free BBQ and free travel advice at the Adventure Travel and Backpackers Expo at Sydney’s Town Hall last weekend.

The Expo, sponsored by TNT Publishing and Hostelworld.com, attracted legions of keen travellers to meet and talk travel with more than 150 exhibitors from all over the world.

A few operators took the experience of travel being an ‘assault on all five senses’ quite literally – the Cairns backpacker operators amped up the party beats, while the Fijians recruited Captain Jack Sparrow – complete with gold teeth and drunken slur – to promote the Pirates of the Pacific tour on Fiji’s Robinson Crusoe Island.

See the full story at Backpacker Trade News.

Thinking about the floods and my friends in SE Asia... (c) 2011 Andy Parkinson

New South Wales tourism minister George Souris opened the event with a clear focus on the State Government’s commitment to growing the youth travel segment, a sentiment welcomed by NSW and other Australian operators.

“The youth leisure segment has the potential to spend more than any other segment due to their longer length of stay,” Souris said.

“We want to encourage more international youth holiday makers to come to NSW to work, study and play.”

Maverick economist Clifford Bennett from Empire Economics gave industry operators a glass half full view of the prospects for backpacker growth in Australia, pointing not to the US or Europe but to Asia as the market with the most potential for tourism down under.

“If Australia can get Asia backpacking, operators will be unable to keep up with the demand,” Bennett said.

“The biggest opportunities for Australian operators lie not in the US or Europe, but with the two billion strong Asian population to the North.

“The Chinese love everything Western, they lap it up, can’t get enough of it,” Bennett said.

“It’s only a matter of time until they discover that backpacking is cool – and Australia will see a tremendous boom.”

Bennett said predictions of a global recession post 2008 was “complete nonsense, absolute fiction,” blaming the US and European media for driving the view that if the US sneezes the world catches cold.

“The reality on the ground is way better than the headlines – the media is just selling fear, it’s detached from reality.”

Adam Ferrier, Consumer Psychologist, Founding Partner at Naked Communications and regular on Aussie advertising panel show The Gruen Transfer gave delegates an insight into travellers’ minds with a slick presentation on how smart marketing, particularly through social media, can change behaviours.

He cited a number of Naked produced ads including one about a small town called Speed in Victoria’s north west that sought Facebook likes to change its name to “Speed Kills” in an effort to slow down drivers on country roads. The campaign achieved phenomenal coverage and won the backing of more than 30,000 Facebook users.

Question Time at the Conference gave operators the chance to grill an expert panel which included Tourism Australia’s Nick Baker, Traveltrends’ founder Martin Kelly and Greg Zammit from Adventure Tours Australia.

Nick Baker said he had confidence in the longevity of Tourism Australia’s new ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ campaign which launched last year and which called on Australians themselves to tell the world about their country.

“Australia remains an extraordinarily aspirational destination”, said Baker.

“People know Australia, and so they see it as familiar, we need to be better at communicating new product and new experiences and that’s at the heart of the ‘Nothing Like Australia’ campaign.

“By matching ‘Country’ with ‘People’ we have an opportunity to sell Australia’s unique experiences.”

For more check my coverage for Backpacker Trade News or visit the #ABIC11 hashtag for Twitter updates from the day.

Sessions will cover: the global economic outlook, backpacker travel patterns, managing online communities, changing consumer behaviour and marketing via mobile.

Operators have suffered a slow 2011, with some blaming a combination of the strong Australian dollar and the ongoing impact of the global financial crisis in key markets around the world for an almost 10 per cent drop in business last year.

Speakers at the conference include Nick Baker, Marketing Director at Tourism Australia and one of those responsible for branding Sydney’s most famous icon ‘the Oprah House’. The Australian Tourism Export Council’s new boss Felicia Mariani will also be giving her view on the industry’s future, as will Naked Communications founding partner Adam Ferrier and a host of representatives from Nomad, TripAdvisor, Travelzoo and more.

There is a range of workshops for delegates to build knowledge and networks during the afternoon. The day wraps up with the 2011 Golden Backpack Awards, putting the spotlight on the industry’s best and brightest operators.

Follow the day’s events on Twitter at #ABIC11. For more info and the full program: http://bit.ly/rs7Gpe

First smoke of the day, Central Java (c) Andy Parkinson 2011