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It's Tuesday, We Must Be Whining in Belgium

Oh, woe is the guidebook writer! He (or she) must traipse around a country, staying in hotels that are creepy and dirty, seeing sights that rarely pass muster, and then turn it into many thousands of words for a guidebook like Let's Go, Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Frommer's, Fodor's, or anyone else we forgot to mention (and there are lots).

Or at least, that's the case according to the New York Times. Honestly, when we pick up the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times, we expect to be infuriated, but even this was a bit much. We'll just give you a taste:

Indeed a day in the life of a guide writer can be wearying. Amelia Atlas, a recent Harvard graduate who is now in Berlin researching a guide to that city for Let's Go, said that last Wednesday she set out early to case a new neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg, for her Berlin guide. She visited three hostels and three restaurants before collecting the shopping and eating options around a particular square. She visited a section of the Berlin Wall that still stands, made notes about the historical displays there, and set about walking the neighborhood block by block to see what she might find. After a quick dinner, Ms. Atlas went to her apartment to write about the day's findings. Then she planned to go out to sample the night life. "Manic is a good word," she said.

That may "hard work" to some, but it still sounds like an enjoyable day (outside of an office) to us. What's more, anyone who's traveled with a parent that believes in rigorous vacation scheduling would agree that they've been forced to visit and least three more monuments during a day like the one described by the "manic" Amelia.

Every time we take a trip and write about it, we experience the twin joys of travel and writing. Even when the days drag on, or the hotels are gross, there's still no reason to complain.

[Image via ianlodyi/Flickr]  

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