The life of a travel writer is presumed to be glamorous, flighty and a bit devil-may-care.

Now a Lonely Planet guidebook author has proven it - minus the glamour part. In his just-released book, Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?, Thomas Kohnstamm admits to some ethically challenging behavior while writing travel guides for cultural favorite Lonely Planet. Like writing about Colombia while he was in California and possibly borrowing some of the information in his guides. Some news reports have the writer exchanging favors for positive reviews. Kohnstamm denies a lot of the charges, but geez,  you just can’t believe anything you read any more. (This blog, of course, is excluded from that overstatement.)

His book has caused quite the fracas over at Lonely Planet. And it ought to, since he makes travel writers look like morons. I'm a travel EDITOR, so I'm not personally offended. Well, not totally. Kinda. A little.

Some people really depend on their guides to get them through a trip. I’ve never been a very by-the-book traveler because I think it’s fun to discover places on your own, for better or worse. But like most people, I do some research before I go, and that includes reading travel guides. Frommer’s and Fodor’s are the big ones. I also like Eyewitness Travel and, until this very moment, Lonely Planet. Well, I still like LP. Of course, tripadvisor.com is one of the best, but you can’t pack it in your carry-on.

What are your favorite travel guides – and do you follow their recommendations faithfully?