Lonely Planet travel guides are fantastic value. If you are going to spend >$500 to visit a foreign country/culture, spending $20 to learn the basics is cheap.

Lonely Planet travel guides are fantastic value. If you are going to spend >$500 to visit a foreign country/culture, spending $20 to learn the basics is cheap. And the practical knowledge can easily cover the cost of the book. I recently picked up one of these for a trip to Bosnia, and it offered a wealth of information about the country. The writer had a deep understanding of the country, the culture, the language and what you should know and what you should see. Even the restaurant recommendations were solid. If you are going to spend 8 hours traveling you ought have enough time to learn the basics of the place you are going to visit and lonely planet does a great job providing a high quality summary.