Rules for the Lonely Planet Flickr photo challenges

These are the general rules which apply to Lonely Planet’s Flickr photo challenges.  The theme changes with each challenge, and we’ll let you know what the theme is prior to the commencement of each challenge.

To enter one of our photo challenges, you must do the following:

Join Lonely Planet’s Flickr group (if you’ve not already done so).During the first week of the challenge, submit one (1) photo into the group pool, and tag it using the name of the theme for the then current challenge.  Make sure that, in the photo description, you say where it was taken.  We encourage you to geotag your photos (here’s Flickr’s guide on how to geotag).Entry is free, and you can only enter once per challenge.  Your entry must not have been placed in either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd places in an earlier Lonely Planet Flickr challenge, and must not have been digitally edited, altered or manipulated (other than cropping, resizing or file processing to optimise the quality of the photo).Make sure you comply with Flickr’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service (because, aside from anything that Flickr might do, failure to do so will render your entry ineligible).Lonely Planet reserves the right to reject any entry which it deems (in its absolute discretion) contains objectionable or offensive content.  A photo which displays an identified or identifiable person may infringe on that person’s right of privacy or may disclose that person’s personal information. Avoid submitting images which depict people in private or vulnerable situations and, where possible, try to get the permission of people featured in your image prior to submitting it.You then need to vote for 5 entries in the current challenge that most make you want to travel and best exemplify the theme of the challenge (if you don’t vote for 5 entries, you will be disqualified).  Note that you cannot vote for your own photo.  Voting takes place in the second week of the challenge. You are encouraged to add your personal reflections on the photos you vote for. Copy and paste the voting code for the current challenge into the comments of the 5 photos you vote for.If your entry receives 5 or more votes, please post a small version of it in the thread started for it in the group forum. Also post your photo there if it is not coming up in the tag search. Flickr explains why your photo may not be captured in a search here. And Flickr also explains how to post photos in threads here.The photo with the most votes wins.  Winners will be announced on the date set out on the group page.You warrant that your entry is your own work and does not infringe any third party rights (including copyright and privacy).Entries may be featured in our photography blog on our website (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blog/lonely-planets-weekly-travel-photography-comp/), but we will ask your permission before using your entry in this way.  You give us a licence to use your entry for the purposes of the Flickr photo challenge you enter. You consent to us attributing authorship to your registered ‘handle’ and we may contact you to request that your real name be used. We will never publish your real name without permission. Other than stated in these conditions of entry, no further use will be made of your entry.

The winner will receive a Lonely Planet travel guide book of their choice.  By submitting your entry you agree that these conditions of entry apply to your entry.  Lonely Planet respects the privacy of others, and we will only use your personal information to tell you if you’ve won.  You can find Lonely Planet’s privacy policy at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/legal/privacy-policy

View the original article here

Free download: Lonely Planet’s new Northern Honshū (Tōhoku) chapter

In the last 18 months, Japan’s enchanting northern Honshu (Tohoku) region has rebounded swiftly from the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Lonely Planet has been back to cover every corner of the region during its revitalization.

As Tokyo-based author Rebecca Milner wrote in her recent article on LonelyPlanet.com, Tohoku is very open for travel. And for much of the region, the sudden absence of tourists added insult to injury. In an effort to support the region’s tourism industry and local communities, and to deliver on our ongoing promise to provide quality, up-to-date travel information to Japan, we’re providing the new, post-tsunami-researched and fully updated Tohoku chapter now for free as a digital download (PDF).

This chapter was researched and written by Rebecca Milner in October 2012, and is destined for the 13th edition of our best-selling Japan travel guide, to be published in 2013, but you can download it now:

Get the free Tohoku chapter here.

If you have a copy of Lonely Planet’s current Japan travel guide (12th ed), please print this PDF and fold it inside your book to have the most recent information. Or if you have a competitor’s guidebook or no guidebook at all – well, print it or carry it with you on your e-reader anyway! It’s a gift from us to you.

As with any of our guidebooks, if you find anything with which you disagree, or if there are other Tohoku sights/eateries/hot springs/transport details/etc that you think travelers should know about, we’d love to hear about them! Send us your tips, feedback and updates through our Guidebook Feedback page. Happy travels!

View the original article here

Lonely Planet staffers’ travel resolutions for 2013

After the last beer has been sunk at Lonely Planet office Christmas parties around the globe, our minds inevitably turn to our travels in the coming year. Here are a few of our travel resolutions for 2013, from honeymoons in the jungle to hitting the open road.

I love trekking, and 2013 looks like my lucky year. My father-in-law has organised a group to tackle the 12-day, 167km hike around Mont Blanc known as the Tour du Mont Blanc. This is the Alps’ iconic walk, and a number of previous sojourns to the Alps have whet my appetite to take on this grand route around the Alps’ tallest peak. I’m a glutton for towering mountains, cutesy villages and the serene vistas of the Alps, and this walk – I’m told – will have it all.

Check out Glenn’s guidebook to the Victorian Alps here.

As a little girl I was never one to daydream about what my wedding dress might look like, or my dashing husband-to-be; I was more consumed by the thought of exotic, far-flung jungles and rambling temples. As an adult, not much has changed and now I’m getting hitched my attention has turned to honeymoons rather than cakes and flowers. My new year’s resolution is not to spend all our hard-earned savings on just one day, but rather on three weeks somewhere we’ve both always wanted to go: Nepal. Goodbye seating plans and hair trials, hello dizzy Himalayan mountain passes and yak bells tinkling through the thin air. It’ll soon be time to leave behind the heavy dress and strap on the hiking boots…

I have the same travel resolution every year: ‘go to a place you have never been before’. In 2012 I made good on this resolution by travelling to San Francisco for a wedding; escaping London for the Jubilee Weekend in Cardiff; spending a couple of weeks in Portugal taking in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto; and a mini-break to Budapest. I’m still looking forward to squeezing in Berlin this year for New Year’s Eve. For 2013 I’m dreaming about adventure on Iceland’s Ring Road, filling my belly in Lille, and a Caribbean beach break to Antigua.

For me, 2013 is all about road trips. Like many Londoners, I cruise around on public transport while my driving licence gathers dust but this year I will finally hit the road and drive somewhere adventurous. I see myself zooming past Scandinavian glaciers, snaking down the Amalfi Coast or cruising around the coast of Wales. There’ll be nothing but the open road and maybe a sat-nav chirruping for me to ‘turn around where possible’.

My travel resolution for 2013 is to finally go to Europe. A trip to the ‘old world’ is something of a rite of passage for young Australians, many of whom join boozy Contiki tours or slum around for months as working backpackers, but for a number of reasons I’ve never had the opportunity to go. I’m a little too old for the shenanigans of the 18-21 set, and I have commitments in Australia that prevent me from taking a long working holiday, but I am looking forward to spending some time strolling around Paris, eating pintxos and drinking txakoli in San Sebastián, and exploring the Laguna Veneta. I’ve already booked the flights, and to say I’m excited would be an understatement.

My resolution for 2013 is to explore South America. I’ve had the good fortune to spend time in all the other continents (minus Antarctica, but that’s also on the wanted list), but everything south of the Darien Gap represents a step into the unknown – and no, I’m not counting last year’s cripplingly jetlagged queue-fest in Bogotá airport.

If a stint in SA is the big prize, the small print is all about Europe. I want to take the lead set by my inspiring Aussie peers at Lonely Planet’s London HQ, who think nothing of a short hop to the continent every other weekend, and arrive back for work on a Monday with barely a matchstick-propped eyelid out of place. Respect.

New Zealand was the subject of one of the first books I laid out as a designer at Lonely Planet, and I had thought about visiting the country throughout three years I spent living in Germany. 2013 is the year I will finally make it there. I am booking the trip in the new year and plan to fly into Auckland for a few days, before heading down to Wellington, Christchurch, and driving across to the west coast of the South Island.

In summer 2013 I intend to take the long way home from the US to the UK by sneaking in a mini exploration of South America, a continent I’ve never been to.  I don’t want to miss Machu Picchu, but I’m also keen to see just how skinny Chile really is, and finish on a high in Buenos Aires.

So over to you: is 2013 the year you’ll scale a glacier, learn how to cook in Tuscany or finally visit Japan? Tell us your travel resolution in the comments!

View the original article here

Free download: Lonely Planet’s new Northern Honshū (Tōhoku) chapter

In the last 18 months, Japan’s enchanting northern Honshu (Tohoku) region has rebounded swiftly from the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Lonely Planet has been back to cover every corner of the region during its revitalization.

As Tokyo-based author Rebecca Milner wrote in her recent article on LonelyPlanet.com, Tohoku is very open for travel. And for much of the region, the sudden absence of tourists added insult to injury. In an effort to support the region’s tourism industry and local communities, and to deliver on our ongoing promise to provide quality, up-to-date travel information to Japan, we’re providing the new, post-tsunami-researched and fully updated Tohoku chapter now for free as a digital download (PDF).

This chapter was researched and written by Rebecca Milner in October 2012, and is destined for the 13th edition of our best-selling Japan travel guide, to be published in 2013, but you can download it now:

Get the free Tohoku chapter here.

If you have a copy of Lonely Planet’s current Japan travel guide (12th ed), please print this PDF and fold it inside your book to have the most recent information. Or if you have a competitor’s guidebook or no guidebook at all – well, print it or carry it with you on your e-reader anyway! It’s a gift from us to you.

As with any of our guidebooks, if you find anything with which you disagree, or if there are other Tohoku sights/eateries/hot springs/transport details/etc that you think travelers should know about, we’d love to hear about them! Send us your tips, feedback and updates through our Guidebook Feedback page. Happy travels!

View the original article here

Rules for the Lonely Planet Flickr photo challenges

These are the general rules which apply to Lonely Planet’s Flickr photo challenges.  The theme changes with each challenge, and we’ll let you know what the theme is prior to the commencement of each challenge.

To enter one of our photo challenges, you must do the following:

Join Lonely Planet’s Flickr group (if you’ve not already done so).During the first week of the challenge, submit one (1) photo into the group pool, and tag it using the name of the theme for the then current challenge.  Make sure that, in the photo description, you say where it was taken.  We encourage you to geotag your photos (here’s Flickr’s guide on how to geotag).Entry is free, and you can only enter once per challenge.  Your entry must not have been placed in either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd places in an earlier Lonely Planet Flickr challenge, and must not have been digitally edited, altered or manipulated (other than cropping, resizing or file processing to optimise the quality of the photo).Make sure you comply with Flickr’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service (because, aside from anything that Flickr might do, failure to do so will render your entry ineligible).Lonely Planet reserves the right to reject any entry which it deems (in its absolute discretion) contains objectionable or offensive content.  A photo which displays an identified or identifiable person may infringe on that person’s right of privacy or may disclose that person’s personal information. Avoid submitting images which depict people in private or vulnerable situations and, where possible, try to get the permission of people featured in your image prior to submitting it.You then need to vote for 5 entries in the current challenge that most make you want to travel and best exemplify the theme of the challenge (if you don’t vote for 5 entries, you will be disqualified).  Note that you cannot vote for your own photo.  Voting takes place in the second week of the challenge. You are encouraged to add your personal reflections on the photos you vote for. Copy and paste the voting code for the current challenge into the comments of the 5 photos you vote for.If your entry receives 5 or more votes, please post a small version of it in the thread started for it in the group forum. Also post your photo there if it is not coming up in the tag search. Flickr explains why your photo may not be captured in a search here. And Flickr also explains how to post photos in threads here.The photo with the most votes wins.  Winners will be announced on the date set out on the group page.You warrant that your entry is your own work and does not infringe any third party rights (including copyright and privacy).Entries may be featured in our photography blog on our website (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blog/lonely-planets-weekly-travel-photography-comp/), but we will ask your permission before using your entry in this way.  You give us a licence to use your entry for the purposes of the Flickr photo challenge you enter. You consent to us attributing authorship to your registered ‘handle’ and we may contact you to request that your real name be used. We will never publish your real name without permission. Other than stated in these conditions of entry, no further use will be made of your entry.

The winner will receive a Lonely Planet travel guide book of their choice.  By submitting your entry you agree that these conditions of entry apply to your entry.  Lonely Planet respects the privacy of others, and we will only use your personal information to tell you if you’ve won.  You can find Lonely Planet’s privacy policy at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/legal/privacy-policy

View the original article here

Lonely Planet staffers’ travel resolutions for 2013

After the last beer has been sunk at Lonely Planet office Christmas parties around the globe, our minds inevitably turn to our travels in the coming year. Here are a few of our travel resolutions for 2013, from honeymoons in the jungle to hitting the open road.

I love trekking, and 2013 looks like my lucky year. My father-in-law has organised a group to tackle the 12-day, 167km hike around Mont Blanc known as the Tour du Mont Blanc. This is the Alps’ iconic walk, and a number of previous sojourns to the Alps have whet my appetite to take on this grand route around the Alps’ tallest peak. I’m a glutton for towering mountains, cutesy villages and the serene vistas of the Alps, and this walk – I’m told – will have it all.

Check out Glenn’s guidebook to the Victorian Alps here.

As a little girl I was never one to daydream about what my wedding dress might look like, or my dashing husband-to-be; I was more consumed by the thought of exotic, far-flung jungles and rambling temples. As an adult, not much has changed and now I’m getting hitched my attention has turned to honeymoons rather than cakes and flowers. My new year’s resolution is not to spend all our hard-earned savings on just one day, but rather on three weeks somewhere we’ve both always wanted to go: Nepal. Goodbye seating plans and hair trials, hello dizzy Himalayan mountain passes and yak bells tinkling through the thin air. It’ll soon be time to leave behind the heavy dress and strap on the hiking boots…

I have the same travel resolution every year: ‘go to a place you have never been before’. In 2012 I made good on this resolution by travelling to San Francisco for a wedding; escaping London for the Jubilee Weekend in Cardiff; spending a couple of weeks in Portugal taking in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto; and a mini-break to Budapest. I’m still looking forward to squeezing in Berlin this year for New Year’s Eve. For 2013 I’m dreaming about adventure on Iceland’s Ring Road, filling my belly in Lille, and a Caribbean beach break to Antigua.

For me, 2013 is all about road trips. Like many Londoners, I cruise around on public transport while my driving licence gathers dust but this year I will finally hit the road and drive somewhere adventurous. I see myself zooming past Scandinavian glaciers, snaking down the Amalfi Coast or cruising around the coast of Wales. There’ll be nothing but the open road and maybe a sat-nav chirruping for me to ‘turn around where possible’.

My travel resolution for 2013 is to finally go to Europe. A trip to the ‘old world’ is something of a rite of passage for young Australians, many of whom join boozy Contiki tours or slum around for months as working backpackers, but for a number of reasons I’ve never had the opportunity to go. I’m a little too old for the shenanigans of the 18-21 set, and I have commitments in Australia that prevent me from taking a long working holiday, but I am looking forward to spending some time strolling around Paris, eating pintxos and drinking txakoli in San Sebastián, and exploring the Laguna Veneta. I’ve already booked the flights, and to say I’m excited would be an understatement.

My resolution for 2013 is to explore South America. I’ve had the good fortune to spend time in all the other continents (minus Antarctica, but that’s also on the wanted list), but everything south of the Darien Gap represents a step into the unknown – and no, I’m not counting last year’s cripplingly jetlagged queue-fest in Bogotá airport.

If a stint in SA is the big prize, the small print is all about Europe. I want to take the lead set by my inspiring Aussie peers at Lonely Planet’s London HQ, who think nothing of a short hop to the continent every other weekend, and arrive back for work on a Monday with barely a matchstick-propped eyelid out of place. Respect.

New Zealand was the subject of one of the first books I laid out as a designer at Lonely Planet, and I had thought about visiting the country throughout three years I spent living in Germany. 2013 is the year I will finally make it there. I am booking the trip in the new year and plan to fly into Auckland for a few days, before heading down to Wellington, Christchurch, and driving across to the west coast of the South Island.

In summer 2013 I intend to take the long way home from the US to the UK by sneaking in a mini exploration of South America, a continent I’ve never been to.  I don’t want to miss Machu Picchu, but I’m also keen to see just how skinny Chile really is, and finish on a high in Buenos Aires.

So over to you: is 2013 the year you’ll scale a glacier, learn how to cook in Tuscany or finally visit Japan? Tell us your travel resolution in the comments!

View the original article here

Lonely Planet forum shut amid paedophilia claims

STOP HERE: The message greeting visitors to the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum.

Lonely Planet's popular online travel forum, Thorn Tree, has been temporarily shut down by owner BBC, reportedly after the discovery of paedophilia-related posts.

A source said that BBC executives, still smarting from the Jimmy Savile scandal, went into "panic attack mode" after a disgruntled user alerted them to swearing and posts that discussed topics related to paedophilia.

The site has not officially revealed why it was necessary to close the entire forum without warning except that "a number of posts" did not conform with the site's "standards". A message on the Thorn Tree page said the forum was closed "temporarily" so the site could apply "necessary editorial and technical updates".

The Thorn Tree is around 16 years old, making it the oldest travel community on the web. It has become a staple for avid travellers looking for tips, advice and a connection with other globetrotters.

A source with links to Lonely Planet management said the decision to shut the forum was "all about Jimmy Savile".

The source said a disgruntled user, who had been banned several times for trolling and harassment, emailed BBC executives asking if they were aware that Thorn Tree was full of porn and swearing.

"They discovered that if you looked for terms like 'paedophile' or 'child prostitution', you got Thorn Tree hits," the source said.

"The hits are mostly discussions of current events or pointless stuff that would have been moderated, like 'Barney the dinosaur is a big purple paedophile'. However, someone found a thread about 'what's the age of consent in Mexico?' That really set them off.

"They went into full, freak out, panic attack mode."

The source said other posts the BBC executives found objectionable were related to child prostitution in Thailand.

Long-time Thorn Tree users are distressed that they got no warning of the shutdown and didn't have a chance to say goodbye. It is not clear when the site will be back online.

In the past, some have labelled Thorn Tree "scorntree" after experiences with abusive trolls on the site.

A spokeswoman for BBC Worldwide, the broadcaster's commercial arm, could not immediately be reached for comment during the holiday period.

Lonely Planet was started in Melbourne by Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 1972. The pair sold a 75 per cent stake to BBC Worldwide in 2007 and the final 25 per cent in February 2011.

The Guardian reported on December 6 that BBC Worldwide was considering selling Lonely Planet after poor performance and criticism that it did not align with BBC programmes. The paper reported that BBC paid £130.2m (NZ$255m) for the travel publisher but in July valued the business at £85m (NZ$167m).

- Sydney Morning Herald

What sort of traveller are you?

In search of a new Christmas ritual

Skinny lattes and almond croissants

All good things come to an end

Lessons and farewells

View the original article here

Lonely Planet forum shut amid paedophilia claims

STOP HERE: The message greeting visitors to the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum.

Lonely Planet's popular online travel forum, Thorn Tree, has been temporarily shut down by owner BBC, reportedly after the discovery of paedophilia-related posts.

A source said that BBC executives, still smarting from the Jimmy Savile scandal, went into "panic attack mode" after a disgruntled user alerted them to swearing and posts that discussed topics related to paedophilia.

The site has not officially revealed why it was necessary to close the entire forum without warning except that "a number of posts" did not conform with the site's "standards". A message on the Thorn Tree page said the forum was closed "temporarily" so the site could apply "necessary editorial and technical updates".

The Thorn Tree is around 16 years old, making it the oldest travel community on the web. It has become a staple for avid travellers looking for tips, advice and a connection with other globetrotters.

A source with links to Lonely Planet management said the decision to shut the forum was "all about Jimmy Savile".

The source said a disgruntled user, who had been banned several times for trolling and harassment, emailed BBC executives asking if they were aware that Thorn Tree was full of porn and swearing.

"They discovered that if you looked for terms like 'paedophile' or 'child prostitution', you got Thorn Tree hits," the source said.

"The hits are mostly discussions of current events or pointless stuff that would have been moderated, like 'Barney the dinosaur is a big purple paedophile'. However, someone found a thread about 'what's the age of consent in Mexico?' That really set them off.

"They went into full, freak out, panic attack mode."

The source said other posts the BBC executives found objectionable were related to child prostitution in Thailand.

Long-time Thorn Tree users are distressed that they got no warning of the shutdown and didn't have a chance to say goodbye. It is not clear when the site will be back online.

In the past, some have labelled Thorn Tree "scorntree" after experiences with abusive trolls on the site.

A spokeswoman for BBC Worldwide, the broadcaster's commercial arm, could not immediately be reached for comment during the holiday period.

Lonely Planet was started in Melbourne by Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 1972. The pair sold a 75 per cent stake to BBC Worldwide in 2007 and the final 25 per cent in February 2011.

The Guardian reported on December 6 that BBC Worldwide was considering selling Lonely Planet after poor performance and criticism that it did not align with BBC programmes. The paper reported that BBC paid £130.2m (NZ$255m) for the travel publisher but in July valued the business at £85m (NZ$167m).

- Sydney Morning Herald

What sort of traveller are you?

In search of a new Christmas ritual

Skinny lattes and almond croissants

All good things come to an end

Lessons and farewells

View the original article here

Rules for the Lonely Planet Flickr photo challenges

These are the general rules which apply to Lonely Planet’s Flickr photo challenges.  The theme changes with each challenge, and we’ll let you know what the theme is prior to the commencement of each challenge.

To enter one of our photo challenges, you must do the following:

Join Lonely Planet’s Flickr group (if you’ve not already done so).During the first week of the challenge, submit one (1) photo into the group pool, and tag it using the name of the theme for the then current challenge.  Make sure that, in the photo description, you say where it was taken.  We encourage you to geotag your photos (here’s Flickr’s guide on how to geotag).Entry is free, and you can only enter once per challenge.  Your entry must not have been placed in either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd places in an earlier Lonely Planet Flickr challenge, and must not have been digitally edited, altered or manipulated (other than cropping, resizing or file processing to optimise the quality of the photo).Make sure you comply with Flickr’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service (because, aside from anything that Flickr might do, failure to do so will render your entry ineligible).Lonely Planet reserves the right to reject any entry which it deems (in its absolute discretion) contains objectionable or offensive content.  A photo which displays an identified or identifiable person may infringe on that person’s right of privacy or may disclose that person’s personal information. Avoid submitting images which depict people in private or vulnerable situations and, where possible, try to get the permission of people featured in your image prior to submitting it.You then need to vote for 5 entries in the current challenge that most make you want to travel and best exemplify the theme of the challenge (if you don’t vote for 5 entries, you will be disqualified).  Note that you cannot vote for your own photo.  Voting takes place in the second week of the challenge.  You can search the entries for the current challenge via this link.  You are encouraged to add your personal reflections on the photos you vote for. Copy and paste the voting code for the current challenge into the comments of the 5 photos you vote for.If your entry receives 5 or more votes, please post a small version of it in this thread. Also post your photo there if it is not coming up in the tag search. Flickr explains why your photo may not be captured in a search here. And Flickr also explains how to post photos in threads here.The photo with the most votes wins.  Winners will be announced on the date set out above.You warrant that your entry is your own work and does not infringe any third party rights (including copyright and privacy).Entries may be featured in our photography blog on our website (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blog/lonely-planets-weekly-travel-photography-comp/), but we will ask your permission before using your entry in this way.  You give us a licence to use your entry for the purposes of the Flickr photo challenge you enter. You consent to us attributing authorship to your registered ‘handle’ and we may contact you to request that your real name be used. We will never publish your real name without permission. Other than stated in these conditions of entry, no further use will be made of your entry.

The winner will receive a Lonely Planet travel guide book of their choice.  By submitting your entry you agree that these conditions of entry apply to your entry.  Lonely Planet respects the privacy of others, and we will only use your personal information to tell you if you’ve won.  You can find Lonely Planet’s privacy policy at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/legal/privacy-policy

View the original article here

Lonely Planet staffers’ travel resolutions for 2013

After the last beer has been sunk at Lonely Planet office Christmas parties around the globe, our minds inevitably turn to our travels in the coming year. Here are a few of our travel resolutions for 2013, from honeymoons in the jungle to hitting the open road.

I love trekking, and 2013 looks like my lucky year. My father-in-law has organised a group to tackle the 12-day, 167km hike around Mont Blanc known as the Tour du Mont Blanc. This is the Alps’ iconic walk, and a number of previous sojourns to the Alps have whet my appetite to take on this grand route around the Alps’ tallest peak. I’m a glutton for towering mountains, cutesy villages and the serene vistas of the Alps, and this walk – I’m told – will have it all.

Check out Glenn’s guidebook to the Victorian Alps here.

As a little girl I was never one to daydream about what my wedding dress might look like, or my dashing husband-to-be; I was more consumed by the thought of exotic, far-flung jungles and rambling temples. As an adult, not much has changed and now I’m getting hitched my attention has turned to honeymoons rather than cakes and flowers. My new year’s resolution is not to spend all our hard-earned savings on just one day, but rather on three weeks somewhere we’ve both always wanted to go: Nepal. Goodbye seating plans and hair trials, hello dizzy Himalayan mountain passes and yak bells tinkling through the thin air. It’ll soon be time to leave behind the heavy dress and strap on the hiking boots…

I have the same travel resolution every year: ‘go to a place you have never been before’. In 2012 I made good on this resolution by travelling to San Francisco for a wedding; escaping London for the Jubilee Weekend in Cardiff; spending a couple of weeks in Portugal taking in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto; and a mini-break to Budapest. I’m still looking forward to squeezing in Berlin this year for New Year’s Eve. For 2013 I’m dreaming about adventure on Iceland’s Ring Road, filling my belly in Lille, and a Caribbean beach break to Antigua.

For me, 2013 is all about road trips. Like many Londoners, I cruise around on public transport while my driving licence gathers dust but this year I will finally hit the road and drive somewhere adventurous. I see myself zooming past Scandinavian glaciers, snaking down the Amalfi Coast or cruising around the coast of Wales. There’ll be nothing but the open road and maybe a sat-nav chirruping for me to ‘turn around where possible’.

My travel resolution for 2013 is to finally go to Europe. A trip to the ‘old world’ is something of a rite of passage for young Australians, many of whom join boozy Contiki tours or slum around for months as working backpackers, but for a number of reasons I’ve never had the opportunity to go. I’m a little too old for the shenanigans of the 18-21 set, and I have commitments in Australia that prevent me from taking a long working holiday, but I am looking forward to spending some time strolling around Paris, eating pintxos and drinking txakoli in San Sebastián, and exploring the Laguna Veneta. I’ve already booked the flights, and to say I’m excited would be an understatement.

My resolution for 2013 is to explore South America. I’ve had the good fortune to spend time in all the other continents (minus Antarctica, but that’s also on the wanted list), but everything south of the Darien Gap represents a step into the unknown – and no, I’m not counting last year’s cripplingly jetlagged queue-fest in Bogotá airport.

If a stint in SA is the big prize, the small print is all about Europe. I want to take the lead set by my inspiring Aussie peers at Lonely Planet’s London HQ, who think nothing of a short hop to the continent every other weekend, and arrive back for work on a Monday with barely a matchstick-propped eyelid out of place. Respect.

New Zealand was the subject of one of the first books I laid out as a designer at Lonely Planet, and I had thought about visiting the country throughout three years I spent living in Germany. 2013 is the year I will finally make it there. I am booking the trip in the new year and plan to fly into Auckland for a few days, before heading down to Wellington, Christchurch, and driving across to the west coast of the South Island.

In summer 2013 I intend to take the long way home from the US to the UK by sneaking in a mini exploration of South America, a continent I’ve never been to.  I don’t want to miss Machu Picchu, but I’m also keen to see just how skinny Chile really is, and finish on a high in Buenos Aires.

So over to you: is 2013 the year you’ll scale a glacier, learn how to cook in Tuscany or finally visit Japan? Tell us your travel resolution in the comments!

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Free download: Lonely Planet’s new Northern Honshū (Tōhoku) chapter

In the last 18 months, Japan’s enchanting northern Honshu (Tohoku) region has rebounded swiftly from the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Lonely Planet has been back to cover every corner of the region during its revitalization.

As Tokyo-based author Rebecca Milner wrote in her recent article on LonelyPlanet.com, Tohoku is very open for travel. And for much of the region, the sudden absence of tourists added insult to injury. In an effort to support the region’s tourism industry and local communities, and to deliver on our ongoing promise to provide quality, up-to-date travel information to Japan, we’re providing the new, post-tsunami-researched and fully updated Tohoku chapter now for free as a digital download (PDF).

This chapter was researched and written by Rebecca Milner in October 2012, and is destined for the 13th edition of our best-selling Japan travel guide, to be published in 2013, but you can download it now:

Get the free Tohoku chapter here.

If you have a copy of Lonely Planet’s current Japan travel guide (12th ed), please print this PDF and fold it inside your book to have the most recent information. Or if you have a competitor’s guidebook or no guidebook at all – well, print it or carry it with you on your e-reader anyway! It’s a gift from us to you.

As with any of our guidebooks, if you find anything with which you disagree, or if there are other Tohoku sights/eateries/hot springs/transport details/etc that you think travelers should know about, we’d love to hear about them! Send us your tips, feedback and updates through our Guidebook Feedback page. Happy travels!

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