Travel and Reference Books
Slovakia. Scotland. Cuba. Peru. The world’s best streetfood or travel ideas for next year. 25+ titles and counting (and slowly being added right here). For a complete list of the travel books I’ve written or contributed to, you can also visit my Amazon.com page.
Below feature my travel/non-fiction book titles; for my fiction see here and for a selection of the other publications I have written articles for see here – or here if it’s specifically my writing on Slovakia you’re interested in.
Eastern Europe…
BUY Lonely Planet’s Eastern Europe (Edition 12). I’m one of the world’s foremost writers on Slovakian travel & culture (and the foremost in English) so the Slovakia chapter, written by me, contains some of the best in-English insights into the country available outside of this site. Go on: it’ll be worth it! New edition due out October 2015!!
BUY Lonely Planet’s Europe on a Shoestring (Edition 8). I authored the Slovakia chapter of this classic backpacker bible to travelling across Europe.
BUY Lonely Planet’s Central Europe (Edition 10): you’ve guessed it – Slovakia chapter written by me.
Caribbean & Central America…
BUY Lonely Planet Cuba (Edition 7). Cuba is my favourite country in the world and I’ve been there six times since 2004, including on research for the last three editions of Lonely Planet’s Cuba guide. If you’re headed there: let me know. I can help out with getting to you to some off-the-beaten track places. The latest edition (8) is due out in autumn 2015.
BUY Lonely Planet Puerto Rico (New Edition October 2014). This book has been absolutely overhauled by me and my co-writer, with bundles of new info on eating places and out-of-the-way trips.
BUY Lonely Planet Mexico (Edition 13). Believe it or not, I was the guy that did Northern Mexico (sucker!) No, seriously, Northern Mexico is great and not deserving of the relentlessly negative press it keeps getting. The Copper Canyon – the big highlight – has to be one of Latin America’s greatest sights.
South America…
BUY Lonely Planet Peru (Edition 8). I love the Amazon rainforest and know the Peruvian portion of it like the back of my hand. I’ve contributed to Lonely Planet’s last two guides to Peru, and have just returned from researching my third edition (Edition 9).
BUY Lonely Planet Ecuador (Edition 10): brand new as of August 2015 with my absolutely rewritten and overhauled Oriente (Amazon Basin) and Southern Highlands chapters!
BUY Insight Guide to Ecuador & the Galapagos. Particularly useful info on eco-stays and chocolate tours!
UK…
BUY Moon Handbook to Scotland. This was my first full-length guidebook so I’m kind of proud of it. Pictures are all mine. Still the most comprehensive guidebook to Scotland you’ll find, even if the info is a little outdated now in places!
BUY Moon Spotlight: Scottish Highlands. This guidebook focuses on the very best and wild bits of Scotland.
BUY Moon Spotlight Edinburgh & Glasgow.
BUY Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget. Cities like Chester, National Parks like the Peak District and entire islands (the Faroes, for example) feature amongst my additions to this classic backpacker guide.
Travel Reference & Coffee Table…
BUY Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2015 (2016 edition available November). I have been a contributing author to this best-selling guide to travel trends for the forthcoming year every year since 2011. It was me who famously put Slovakia on the map for the 2013 edition by writing about it as one of the top ten countries to visit in that year. Other chapters written over the years include the Best Things to Climb and the Best 007 Destinations – as well as Iquitos in Peru (the world’s largest city unreachable by road) and even Ukraine (for the European Football Championships in 2012 – ah, those were the days…)
BUY 1000 Ultimate Adventures. I was responsible for promoting this book at the Telegraph Adventure Travel & Outdoor Show and wrote six chapters of the book, including on the Craziest Caves in the world (featuring the Slovak Karst region) and Legendary Odysseys (focussing on the exploits of famous adventurers from times passed).
BUY Lonely Planet’s Great Adventures. My contribution to this book was writing the chapter on coasteering (navigating the undercliffs and rock formations of our forgotten coastlines) with a focus on Wales, which has become the home of this pass-time.
BUY Lonely Planet’s Great Escapes – for this compendium of the world’s greatest luxuriating breaks I wrote about the birdwatching paradises of Ecuador’s cloud forest.
BUY Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel List – for this definitive guide to the 500 best-ever places on the planet as voted by Lonely Planet writers. In this blockbuster title I wrote on the Pantanal in Brazil, on the Jesuit missions of Paraguay, on Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in Chile, on Choquequirao in Peru, on Iguazu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border, on Parque Nacional Cotopaxi in Ecuador and on the Erg Chebbi dunes of Morocco.
BUY Cooks, Clowns & Cowboys. Lonely Planet’s take on the hands-on immersion experiences the world can offer you. I authored such chapters as Brown Bear & Wolf monitoring in the Carpathians and Making your own Whisky.
BUY Make the Most of Your Time in Britain (Penguin): I was a contributing author, writing on caving.
Culinary Travel
BUY the Food Lover’s Guide to the World. This book will really get your tastebuds whetted and my Latin American section covers everything from Chilean wine to ceviche and salteňas (Bolivian cornish pasties).
BUY The World’s Best Street Food: my chapters for this book include murtabak manis (sweet pan-fried bread in oodles of chocolate sauce), acai (a Brazilian energy drink concocted with Amazonian fruits) and juanes (steamed meat-and-rice delicacies custom-wrapped in jungle leaves).
BUY The World’s Best Spicy Food: This follow-up to the highly successful Street Food book features my chapter on the Guatemalan spicy soup kak’ik.
BUY The Food Book. I wrote about Peru for this title – a colourful romp through the oh-so-different culinary regions of coast, mountains and jungle.
AND I’ve recently been contributing to part of a very exciting new Lonely Planet project which must be kept under wraps for the moment but which will also be featuring here imminently!