I thought it was about time I fed my travel writing addiction, and bought another book last week called The Backpacker’s Bible by Suzanne King and Elaine Robertson.

I was drawn to the book not only because I was hoping for another well written and funny ‘High Heels and a Head Torch’ but because this one is also written by a woman – two women in fact – and I was interested (again) to get the girls eye view on all things travel.

The first thing that struck me is that the picture on the front is so obviously a man. No reason why it shouldn’t be I suppose, and no one can blame the authors (or publishers) for making the book appeal to the whole market (would men buy ‘The Backpacker’s Bible’ if the picture on the front was of a female backpacker? I don’t know – girls still buy Yorkie bars presumably, even though they are ‘not for girls’ – or do they?!).

There is no doubt that the book is packed full with useful advice, it is quite readable, and written largely with the novice in mind. It was just a bit…. well… boring. It DID have stuff you need to know (flights, visas, packing, planning – the usual), it DID have lists of kit, it did talk about money, keeping in touch, safety, DVT; it did have a useful list of Embassy addresses and phone numbers, but it was still just a bit clinical and… well… boring.

I don’t need to be told to take a camera with a good zoom on safari (duh!), I DO need to be told to get a head torch and take sparkly flip flops.

I have to admit I didn’t even finish it – although when we get to The Real Thing, I may pick it up again and make sure I’ve got the boring stuff covered, as well as the sparkly flip flops.