Most everyone who's everyone heading to the South by Southwest (SXSW) music/film/tech conference in Austin this year will likely be leaving for Texas today or tomorrow. Therefore, Lonely Planet has mobilized to get their new Austin City Guide app up and live on iTunes and for right, it's totally FREE to download.

More specifically, the Austin Guide app is free from today all the way through March 15 at 5pm PST and you can download it HERE. We've got many of the other Lonely Planet iPhone apps ourselves, and we totally recommend them...it's just not often that they are offered free; the guides usually cost $9.99. And keep in mind that this works on your iPhone and iPad.

According to the press release, here are other features of the app to look out for: ]]> JetSetCD 2011-03-09T12:38:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/28/112428/23

London: A value destination?

We all know how much list-making fanatics love the end of the year. It's prime time for looking back and rounding up "Best Of" lists, and for some, like the folks over at Lonely Planet, making predictions for the year to come.

So, what destinations are sure to be hot in 2010? Per USA Today, LP's picks for the Top 10 countries for travel include El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Portugal, Malaysia, and Suriname. ]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-12-28T15:34:51-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/9/14424/3962

The latest list for 2010 travel trends put out by the Lonely Planet people says something we've been saying for ages: Malaysia is hot.

With budget long-haul carrier Air Asia X turning Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur into a hub that's easy and cheap to get to from pretty much everywhere, we knew it wouldn't be long before people woke up to all the great experiences they can find in Malaysia itself. ]]> amandak 2009-11-11T15:09:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/12/22/2950/3751

We don't mind pedaling around town or even between wineries, but there are crazier cyclists out there who want to ride the entire length of Africa. So many, in fact, that the annual Tour d’Afrique race is attracting more entrants every year, along with a bunch of riders who know they're not going to win but want to make the expedition at their own (slower) pace.

The 2009 race kicks off in Cairo on January 10 and the plan says cyclists should arrive in Cape Town--ten countries, 7,375 miles and four months later--on May 9. It includes sections along the Nile, crossing Ethiopia's Simian Mountains and skirting the Kalahari and Namib Deserts. Presumably there will be time for giraffe and zebra spotting.

This time around, the Lonely Planet publishers are entering a team which even includes one of its original founders, Tony Wheeler. We hope they're lugging a few of their increasingly-heavy guidebooks along to give them a thorough road test.

Related Stories:
· Tour d’Afrique [Official Site]
· Lonely Planet coverage [Jaunted]
· Africa Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: birzer]]]> amandak 2008-12-26T15:30:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/20/71432/394

Lonely Planet's Blue List for 2009--their now annual list of the must-visits in the travel world--is due for release on November 1, but is slowly being leaked around the world. But the number one pick is a tiny part of Australia that doesn't want to be famous.

This weekend the UK Times published the top ten destination list and Ko Tao in Thailand, the Basque country in France and Spain and the Big Island of Hawaii all feature. The Bay of Fires in north-eastern Tasmania is glad to be recognized as beautiful, but the local mayor says they don't need all the tourists.

With just a 10-room eco-lodge in the area, which is a national park, Blue List-level fame is really not what the Bay of Fires is ready for. Locals would prefer we check out everything else on this top ten list first and if we've still got time and money to spare, then the Bay of Fires might welcome us. Or not.

Related Stories:
· The 10 Best Destinations for 2009 [UK Times]
· Bay of Fires Doesn't Want To Be A Hot Destination [The Australian]
· Lonely Planet Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: seychelles88]
]]> amandak 2008-10-20T09:00:48-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/28/13710/8193

Maybe Lonely Planet has been feeling a little isolated lately. The travel guide publisher just launched its own video site, Lonelyplanet.tv, and is looking for your videos of excursions far and near.

Of course, to be featured on the Lonely Planet YouTube channel you'll have to compete with a bikini'd man swimming in Antarctica, a "Hills"-worthy tour of Paris and (above) a belly-dancing, ghost-riding cabdriver who confidently declares, "I am not normal."

One bit of advice: Videos of you guzzling cachaça and popping pills in a Brazilian hostel while on assignment, we'd imagine, won't earn you a five-star YouTube rating from LP.

Related Stories:
· Travel Videos coverage [Jaunted]]]> egw 2008-04-28T14:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/22/155242/310

After all the sniping, faux shock and criticism, Thomas Kohnstamm's book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? is out today. Instead of rehashing old interviews and getting up on our high horse about ethics, we decided to, you know, actually read it.

We didn't get very far before stumbling across something we wish were included in that now-notorious "embassy chick" interview that upset so many people:

Author's note: For better or for worse, this book recounts true experiences. In order to distill the chaos of life down to a clear narrative, it was necessary to omit certain events, rearrange and compress chronology and combine a few of the characters.

So, yes, what you're about to read is true. Sort of.]]> pbb 2008-04-22T16:00:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/