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Greater Than a Tourist- Lake Tahoe California USA: 50 Travel Tips from a Local
Are you excited about planning your next trip?Do you want to try something new?Would you like some guidance from a local?If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this Greater Than a Tourist book is for you.Greater Than a Tourist- Lake Tahoe, California, United States by Katarina Elliot offers the inside scoop on the cities surrounding Lake Tahoe.Most travel books tell you how to travel like a tourist. Although there is nothing wrong with that, as part of the Greater Than a Tourist series, this book will give you travel tips from someone who has lived at your next travel destination.In these pages, you will discover advice that will help you throughout your stay. This book will not tell you exact addresses or store hours but instead will give you excitement and knowledge from a local that you may not find in other smaller print travel books.Travel like a local. Slow down, stay in one place, and get to know the people and the culture. By the time you finish this book, you will be eager and prepared to travel to your next destination.
110 pages, Paperback
Published January 11, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 20, 2019
Poorly Organized Set of Travel Tips
Greater Than a Tourist- Lake Tahoe, California, USA by Greater than a Tourist by Katarina Elliot
Poorly Organized Set of Travel Tips
I enjoy traveling, and I am familiar with the Lake Tahoe area because we went there quite often when I was a child. I will admit it has been some time since I have been there. While I did like the tips themselves given by someone who knows the area, I thought the book lacked organization, was too short to be genuinely of much help, and was flawed in its basic design.
In terms of organization, there truly is none. This is a pamphlet of 50 random tips. Some are on similar ideas, so it would make sense to group them together. For instance, there are several tips about skiing or what to do in the snow. These would have been great to group together. Instead, there are some at the beginning, and one sneaks it at the end. This book could have been organized in so many different ways: by season, by activity, indoor versus outdoor, things to do in Tahoe itself versus things to do in other cities and towns, etc. To me, too, it felt like there was a bit of cheating to inflate the numbers. For instance, the “castle” of Tahoe is actually given two tips out of the 50, the hidden castle and learning about the castle; those certainly could have been combined into one tip! I also thought that some tips should be grouped together into one recommendation, like all the breweries in a particular town or area. This would have given more space for other tips, of which I know there has to be many because there is so much to do in and around the Tahoe area
The book is shorter than you might think from its number of pages. The text of the tips starts around the 15% mark and actually stops at the 63% point; the rest is a “bonus book” that purports to be about traveling light, but it is more about packing in general and some trip prep. So, only about half of the book is tips about Tahoe.
To me, there is an inherent flaw in the design of this book. Namely, it really revolves just around these 50 poorly organized tips. There's a very brief opening paragraph, but that is the extent of the “orientation” you get to the area. So I found it lacking a true orientation to the area, which I think is really necessary for a book like this. Luckily, I know the area because I have visited it so many times, but I can imagine that a tourist from another state or country might find themselves scratching their heads while trying to read this book. If the tips had been organized, they could have had header sections that described more generalities about the combined topics before diving into the details. Orienting, overarching information grounds the reader so he or she can better take in the information.
The book doesn’t have any pictures of the area. I think photos are an essential part of any travel book. Armchair travelers like to imagine the places they read about, perhaps envisioning themselves there; photographs scratch that itch.
The book, or at least the ARC version of the book I received, is full of issues with grammar, punctuation, usage, and formatting. In one of the first tips, Tahoe itself was not capitalized! There were other issues with capitalization and spelling, even of some business names. I'm hoping this has been cleared up for publication. The most crucial mistakes were made after the 10% mark, so I cannot check on Amazon to see if these have been corrected.
I wanted to like this book because I am fascinated by the idea of the series, learning more about a place from a local. (And arguably, the author of this book may not be considered a local as she is not a permanent resident.) I am mostly an armchair traveler who does travel on occasion. I was hoping to find a series that I could count on for cool information about other places I might travel. But I do not think that these books, if this is a fair sample, would serve that function. Unless you have other books or information about the areas covered in this series, you would most likely find yourself more confused than enlightened by reading this book.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Read my other reviews at https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com.
Greater Than a Tourist- Lake Tahoe, California, USA by Greater than a Tourist by Katarina Elliot
Poorly Organized Set of Travel Tips
I enjoy traveling, and I am familiar with the Lake Tahoe area because we went there quite often when I was a child. I will admit it has been some time since I have been there. While I did like the tips themselves given by someone who knows the area, I thought the book lacked organization, was too short to be genuinely of much help, and was flawed in its basic design.
In terms of organization, there truly is none. This is a pamphlet of 50 random tips. Some are on similar ideas, so it would make sense to group them together. For instance, there are several tips about skiing or what to do in the snow. These would have been great to group together. Instead, there are some at the beginning, and one sneaks it at the end. This book could have been organized in so many different ways: by season, by activity, indoor versus outdoor, things to do in Tahoe itself versus things to do in other cities and towns, etc. To me, too, it felt like there was a bit of cheating to inflate the numbers. For instance, the “castle” of Tahoe is actually given two tips out of the 50, the hidden castle and learning about the castle; those certainly could have been combined into one tip! I also thought that some tips should be grouped together into one recommendation, like all the breweries in a particular town or area. This would have given more space for other tips, of which I know there has to be many because there is so much to do in and around the Tahoe area
The book is shorter than you might think from its number of pages. The text of the tips starts around the 15% mark and actually stops at the 63% point; the rest is a “bonus book” that purports to be about traveling light, but it is more about packing in general and some trip prep. So, only about half of the book is tips about Tahoe.
To me, there is an inherent flaw in the design of this book. Namely, it really revolves just around these 50 poorly organized tips. There's a very brief opening paragraph, but that is the extent of the “orientation” you get to the area. So I found it lacking a true orientation to the area, which I think is really necessary for a book like this. Luckily, I know the area because I have visited it so many times, but I can imagine that a tourist from another state or country might find themselves scratching their heads while trying to read this book. If the tips had been organized, they could have had header sections that described more generalities about the combined topics before diving into the details. Orienting, overarching information grounds the reader so he or she can better take in the information.
The book doesn’t have any pictures of the area. I think photos are an essential part of any travel book. Armchair travelers like to imagine the places they read about, perhaps envisioning themselves there; photographs scratch that itch.
The book, or at least the ARC version of the book I received, is full of issues with grammar, punctuation, usage, and formatting. In one of the first tips, Tahoe itself was not capitalized! There were other issues with capitalization and spelling, even of some business names. I'm hoping this has been cleared up for publication. The most crucial mistakes were made after the 10% mark, so I cannot check on Amazon to see if these have been corrected.
I wanted to like this book because I am fascinated by the idea of the series, learning more about a place from a local. (And arguably, the author of this book may not be considered a local as she is not a permanent resident.) I am mostly an armchair traveler who does travel on occasion. I was hoping to find a series that I could count on for cool information about other places I might travel. But I do not think that these books, if this is a fair sample, would serve that function. Unless you have other books or information about the areas covered in this series, you would most likely find yourself more confused than enlightened by reading this book.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Read my other reviews at https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com.
November 2, 2019
OVERVIEW of things to do in Tahoe.
Great overview of the Tahoe area. Not the book you are looking for hotel and restaurant info, but great as a local guide overview.
It really does not cover much info for visiting in fall.
Excellent packing ideas.
Great overview of the Tahoe area. Not the book you are looking for hotel and restaurant info, but great as a local guide overview.
It really does not cover much info for visiting in fall.
Excellent packing ideas.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews