Let's Go Costa Rica: The Student Travel Guide |  | Author: Harvard Student Agencies Inc.
Publisher: Let's Go
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $10.83
as of 9/6/2010 18:25 CDT details
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Seller: cubusa_books
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 347173
Media: Paperback
Edition: Fifth Edition
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1598803158
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.2860452
EAN: 9781598803150
ASIN: 1598803158
Publication Date: December 8, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From green mountains and white-sand beaches to expansive coffee fields and active volcanoes, Costa Rica awaits. You name it, our intrepid student researchers have found it—and they’ve made sure you can afford it. Watch Tico farmers grow coffee in Heredia, ride waves with expert surfers in Playa Tamarindo, and save turtles along the Caribbean coast before kicking back with a cold guaro after a day well spent. Pack your bags, hunt down an old surfboard, lose the sweater, and pick up a copy of Let’s Go Costa Rica for a trip you’ll never forget.
Let’s Go publishes the world’s favorite student travel guides, written entirely by Harvard undergraduates. Armed with pens, notebooks, and a few changes of underwear stuffed in their backpacks, our student researchers go across continents, through time zones, and above expectations to seek out invaluable travel experiences for our readers. Let’s Go has been on the road for 50 years and counting: We’re on a mission to provide our readers with sharp, fresh coverage packed with socially responsible opportunities to go beyond tourism.
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| Customer Reviews:
Let's Go with "Let's Go" February 19, 2010
Taunie Reddington
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The "Let's Go" series seeks to lend a helping hand to students who wish to see the world without breaking the bank. Updated yearly and written entirely by bargain-hunting students themselves, the majority of the information is very relevant to traveling scholars or people in similar financial situations. The covers of the guides even clearly display the words "THE STUDENT TRAVEL GUIDE" or for several other editions, "ON A BUDGET" in boldly printed ink. Although the guides are specifically designed for student travelers, the advice can be easily implemented by any traveler trying to stretch the value of a dollar.
Unfortunately only a few photos pepper the pages of these guides, most likely compromised by its smaller, more portable size. If a weakness were to be pointed out, this would be it. On a more positive note, there are a fair amount of conveniently mapped-out hotspots - so what the guide lacks in visual aestheticism, it makes up for in practicality. The compact shape along with its youthful emphasis on "whatever's hip, fun, or free" as the Associated Press states, makes the "Let's Go" series perfect for the independent traveler. This being said, those looking for a family vacation-planning manual may find these guides less than ideal. Though the information can still be related to families in some ways, it is pretty apparent that the intended consumer is a lone globetrotter with possible interests in backpacking. In the words of The New York Times, the series is a "streetwise cookbook for traveling alone."
As far as guides go, the price of "Let's Go" is averagely priced, ranging from around $11 to $25. Although it is understandable that the price somewhat matches the price of most travel guides because of the amount of information included, it would make more sense if it were a little cheaper in accordance with their concept of "budget travel." There are ways of getting around spending too much - older editions have been reduced in price as compared to the latest releases and generally, guides specified for students run at lower prices than those for the broader audience. But if one is truly against purchasing a hard copy of a guide, there is the option to view its entire contents online - free of charge - by visiting the publisher's website.
A very useful installment to the guide is the "Let's Go" website, [...]. For every destination there is a link to essential information, which includes an index of "the basics" - climate, measurements, language/alphabet, a glossary of useful terms and several other need to know cultural elements that vary depending on the location. It even makes up for the elements that the guidebooks themselves lack, such as photos. The site also includes tools that can't be captured in a book such as the most up-to-date deals available and a hotel search engine. By providing this resource at the disposal of any internet-users fingertips, the "Let's Go" series really does make a great effort to make information accessible to every traveler, despite the budget.
The Washington Post describes the series as "unbeatable" and compliments the "wry style" in which the material is written. The straightforward presentation of tips is accessible and unpretentious, giving the reader exactly what is needed without unnecessary embellishment. Informal phrases create an approachable tone that a knowledgeable comrade may use to suggest ideas to a friend. When discussing activities for travelers going to Ireland, the tone is casual yet knowledgeable: "Learn all there is to know about Yeats in County Sligo, stagger through a pub crawl in Dublin, meander through a seaside village, or sway to traditional music in a local pub as you swill a pint of Guinness with your new Irish friends." Playfully worded titles such as the "best place to get wrecked" in reference to undersea shipwreck diving in New Zealand, ease the reading while maintaining the educational purpose of a travel guide. Colloquialisms of the region are also incorporated throughout, in order to moderate the cultural barrier. In the Costa Rica guide you'll find terms like "gringo" and "tico" sprinkled throughout sentences where context clues you in on the meaning of the words - "Though you'll find plenty of gringos lounging on the beaches of the Pacific, you'll find vacationing tico families enjoying them as well. Their tico friendliness only adds to the charm of the country."
The destinations described in the "Let's Go" series are carefully explained in a way that puts them in a positive yet truthful light, not forgetting to mention potential dangers and special precautions. For example, in the travel guide for Spain under current events ETA Terrorism is mentioned outright but explained in a way that doesn't scare away visitors: "While there may be some danger to travelers, the ETA's attacks are typically targeted and are not considered random acts of terrorism. In more recent years, the organization has tended to provide advance warning."
There is a fairly wide selection, especially in the European region - thirty-six countries, several with focuses on cities within those countries like London and Paris - though it would have been nice to have more information about places in Asia and South America. The Asian section is missing major destinations such as China or Japan, and the only location given for South America is Argentina. Israel is the only Middle-Eastern country listed, but this seems more forgivable considering the increased amount of dangers for independent travelers in this region during recent times.
All in all, "Let's Go" successfully simplifies the difficult task of traveling. With practical applications for the independent traveler, this series of travel guides presents information in a manner that educates but also inspires excitement about experiencing new cultural life. The authors genuinely give off the sense that they want to provide as much assistance as possible to anybody with an itch to get out and see the world, which is refreshing, educational and even entertaining.
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