Why are David Stanley's guidebooks different?

The essential difference between these handbooks and the myriad travel brochures free for the taking in airports and tourist offices all across the South Pacific is that these guides represent you, the traveler, while the brochures represent the travel industry.

Unlike many travel writers, David Stanley doesn't allow himself to be hosted by local tourist offices. While out researching his books he resists the temptation to obtain VIP treatment by announcing who he is. He prefers to arrive unexpected and uninvited, to experience things the way you will. He pays his own way and nothing in his books is designed to compensate the hospitality of hotels, restaurants, tour operators, airlines, or dive shops. Justified criticism is not conveniently left out, as it often is elsewhere.

This website has been developed using brief extracts from Stanley's books rather than information supplied by advertisers. Sites like this one can help you plan your trip. However, only the printed guidebooks themselves provide the comprehensive and independent hotel, restaurant, and transportation listings you'll need to make the most of your time and money.

Who is David Stanley?

David Stanley has spent much of the past three decades on the road. He has crossed six continents overland and visited 207 of the planet's 245 countries and territories. His travel guidebooks to the South Pacific, Micronesia, Alaska, Eastern Europe, and Cuba opened those areas to budget travelers for the first time.

During the late 1960s, David got involved in Mexican culture by spending a year in several small towns near Guanajuato. Later he studied at the universities of Barcelona and Florence, before settling down to get an honors degree (with distinction) in Spanish literature from the University of Guelph, Canada.

In 1978 Stanley linked up with future publisher Bill Dalton, and together they wrote the first edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific. Since then, Stanley has gone on to write many additional travel guides, including Moon Fiji, Moon Tahiti, and Moon Handbooks Tonga-Samoa, plus early editions of Moon Handbooks Alaska-Yukon and Moon Handbooks Micronesia. He wrote the first three editions of Lonely Planet's Eastern Europe on a Shoestring, as well as the first two editions of their guide to Cuba and the first edition of Canada's Maritime Provinces. His books have informed a generation of budget travelers.

David Stanley,  profile in the NW Writers Index at Raven Chronicles
Interview: Guidebook Author David Stanley,  are traditional guidebooks doomed?
Rolf Potts Vagabonding,  a feature interview with David Stanley
South Pacific Travel,  another interview with David Stanley
Write to Travel,  the realities of guidebook writing today

Follow the history of all editions of David Stanley's books.

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Topics in Travel Writing

A Book Inside, how to write, publish, and sell your story
Advice to Travel Writers, make travel itself your first priority
Chilling Effects, legal threats used to silence internet activity
Comparing Guidebooks, $25 tools for $3,000 experiences
Green Tragedy: The Blight of Eco-Tourism, examines a timely issue
How to Be a Travel Writer, become a generous teacher of travel
How to Read a Guidebook, by Nick Selby
How to Select a Travel Guidebook, by David Stanley
Is Guidebook Writing Worth the Money?, Tom Brosnahan adds it all up
Moon Handbooks Fiji, a scholarly review by Dr. Rod Ewins
Print On Demand, the hard truth about POD publishers
Protecting Your Work from Electronic Pirates, by Charles Petit
Publishing Law Center, legal articles by Denver attorney Lloyd L. Rich
The Seven Myths of Being a Travel Writer, hard facts from Tim Leffel
Travails of Travel Writing, is it "the last refuge of the hack"?
Travel Writing as a Business, practical advice from Andrew Hempstead
Travel Writing for Pleasure and Profit, by Durant Imboden
Will Write For Free Minibar Toblerones, Kate Zimmerman's take on travel writing

Colleagues & Friends

Dominic Hamilton, guides to Russia, Mongolia, and South America
Don Pitcher Photography, Alaska, Washington, and Wyoming
Edward Hasbrouck's Practical Nomad, a directory of travel tips
Joshua Berman, writings and images of Nicaragua and Belize
Julian Smith, guides to Virginia, Ecuador, and Four Corners
Planeta.com, Ron Mader's Eco Travels in Latin America
Travelguidebooks.com, Chris Baker's books about Cuba
Travel to Canada, Andrew Hempstead has four guides
Travel With A Challenge, from Alison Gardner of Travel Unlimited
Travel with Rick Steves, Europe Through the Back Door
Utah and Arizona Home Page, Bill Weir on the American southwest