英语导读1000句[66]:Travel Guides

Section 66
Travel Guides

Can you imagine trying to go to a new place without a travel guide?
Hundreds of years ago, explorers had no such things.
As these people opened up more new areas to us, they wrote about them.
These writings formed a new genre of literature called travel writing.
Some travel guides are just pure factual data, others are more entertaining.
Perhaps we could call train, plane and bus schedules travel guides, but they are not very interesting.
So, what do people expect when they buy and read such guides?
They expect to get a lot of details about the places they are interested in.
They want to know what to expect when they get there, climate, food customs.
They like to know what other most interesting places to visit, and what difficulties to expect when they get there.
The variety of places to eat and kinds of foods served will also be mentioned in the guides.
But a travel guide need not be a book. It could be a pamphlet or even a person.
In most major tourist areas, you can hire the service of a person who will act as your travel guide.
They will help you to get to the right places as safely as possible.
There are millions of travel guides of all kinds in the world.
And reading them can be almost as good as the real thing.