Hi there,

Glad you’re a longtime fan and hope you like the site! I’ve been with Rough Guides for nearly a year and have been suffering from wanderlust almost non-stop.

Where are you off to next?

Hi Tim,

Flying into Bogota, hanging out there for a little while to reignite some old flames and indulge my taste for bizarre Catholic art before heading down to Leticia to bum around the Amazon for a bit. Then it’s a slow cargo boat along the river to Iquitos before flying back to Europe – no doubt scratching a crop of mosquito bites for the whole 11 hours!

It’s just a pity that there is currently no Rough Guide to Colombia. There’s definitely a gap in the market, given that those guides that do exist tend to be aimed squarely at a traditional tourist rather than budget/backpacker market; the exception being the Lonely Plant which, without being partisan in any way, is widely considered to be one of their worst. Hell, if I had more than 4 weeks, I’d write one for you myself!

Hi @EdgeoftheCity and so glad to meet you through the site. I’m with Rough Guides in the United States, and, like Tim, spend my days dreaming of the big wide world. Something most of us have in common . . . I feel lucky to be in a place where people love to travel as much as I do!

Hope you’ll keep us up-to-date on your Columbia trip. Would love to see photos.

It’s a shame, but no plans at the moment for publishing a Rough Guide to Colombia… but we are updating and expanding the Colombia chapter in the Rough Guide to South America on a Budget. Due to be published in September so watch out for it! Enjoy the trip next month

Hi all!

I’m Mike! It is a pleasure to meet you all.

I have to say I am really liking this new side to the Rough Guide website, and I hope this community continues to build and grow, as edge of the city said, especially in light of recent exodus’ from other community sites. It is always nice to meet other like minded people who – like me – suffer from the perpetual curse of itchy feet (it also doesn’t help that I have the attention span of a five year old). But I also like these community sites because I think that it gives me the chance to give back a lot of the knowledge I have gained over the years to those who may be only just setting out on their backpacking adventures, as well as learn from other peoples experiences in places I am planning to go to. It’s all about the sharing of knowledge and the meeting of like minds!

I’m really surprised Rough Guides took so long to do this!

Personally I have used RG throughout the years about 50/50 with LP (okay put down the pitchforks, I know!), neither one is perfect and depending on the destination sometimes one version is better than the other.

That´s the right answer, Mike. Some are certainly better than others, and there´s also the comfort of the same “look and feel” in one product or another. None are all bad or good.