Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring
I really liked this one by Lonely Planet, and I recommend it to anyone who's heading to Europe for the first time. This 1,328-page powerhouse travel guidebook does an excellent job preparing the first-time Europe traveller, both young and old, for any country on the Old Continent.

Topics include in the book: money exchange, visas, packing your bags, customs, Internet resources, health, electricity, disabled traveller advice, and a whole lot more. The authors give you an overview of each country, along with a section on their major cities and the best ways to get around. At the end of the guide there is an appendix with useful telephone numbers, maps and language notes.

Nice!

Rick Steves' Best of Europe 2010
Rick Steves does it again! This "Best of" edition is by far the best Europe travel guidebook you can buy as far as I'm concerned. It's actually a synthesis of all his European country-specific guide books, with the most important snippets skillfully patched together.

You get maps, hotels, restaurants, trip planning tips and tourist office info for countries such as Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britian, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

This book also leads you away from the tourist masses --great for those looking to diverge from the beaten path. If you plan to spend a short time in these countries, this is the book for you!

Downside: As the title implies "Best of" (great highlights and not the full story). If you plan to spend extra time in any one of the aforementioned countries, you may consider buying a country-specific book from Rick Steves' book collection.
-Great as always Rick!

Great to be back!

I just got back from Peru. WOW! I had a wonderful time! Now that I have more time, I'll be doing lots more travel guide book reviews ASAP, I promise.

Stay tuned!
Linda