(Part 3) Best british travel guides according to redditors
We found 114 Reddit comments discussing the best british travel guides. We ranked the 47 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 41-60. You can also go back to the previous section.
> I'm told that good service is not to be expected. Is that true?
I think it depends on what you mean by "good service". I would say that competent and reasonably prompt service is to be expected, but if by "good service" you mean super friendly/flirtatious or otherwise especially solicitous or overly-familiar service then you will probably be disappointed.
If there are no problems with the service I will usually tip around 10% for restaurant meals (or pay the service charge, typically 12.5%, if it is already on the bill). I have occasionally left a small or no tip if the service was particularly bad. I have refused to pay the service charge on one occasion, when the waiter took each of my three courses away before I had finished eating it (despite there being a very clear cutlery-based signalling system to prevent such incidents)! I can recall no occasion when the service was extraordinary enough to merit a tip of greater than 10%, or a tip on top of an included service charge.
(By the way, speaking of table manners: fork always in the left hand, never the right, with prongs down (stabbing, not shovelling); and napkin on the lap, never tucked into your shirt. There's a lot more rules, but those two and the cutlery-together-when-finished one will be enough to get you through all but the fanciest meals without looking like an uncouth imbecile).
You don't tip the bartender at a pub, not even if buying food, but you could offer to buy them a drink (which they may accept payment for when offered but serve/consume later). This happens rarely, however, and most typically only if someone is a 'regular' at their local.
One additional bit of general advice:
I would very much recommend the Lonely Planet British Phrase Book as a basic introduction to British English for tourists/new arrivals (hint: the things you wear on your legs are trousers, not pants) as well as Kate Fox's Watching the English which is a delightful introduction to English culture from an antropological point of view (it has a whole chapter on how the English behave at the pub, including IIRC some two pages on the subtle protocol for ordering drinks at the bar) - entertaining and fascinating, even in the opinion of many of my actually-British friends.
ah. it was paris/London specifically not Europe.
http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Paris-95-Day/dp/0764598937
http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-London-Day-Donald-Olson/dp/0471747025
but both are old books
er wait here it is. but from 2004
http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Europe-85-Day/dp/0764568906/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369661824&sr=8-2&keywords=frommers+Europe
They probably just don't put the dollar figure in the title anymore!
An Historical Atlas of Wales, by William Rees.
I have an edition which was published in 1951, but it looks like it was also revised in 1974.
As far as I'm aware it's the only book of its kind that's ever been published.
Have you ever read 'Beyond Belfast'? It's about a guy who decides to walk around the Ulster trail. It gives a great impression of the Irish people and really made me want to come visit.
I'm reading the book Culture Shock! London: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. It has all the practical information you need. I learned to keep to the left while walking.
This should be perfect for the job: M5 Sights Guide. I have a couple of friends who spend hours travelling motorways every day (they are comedians) and they love this kind of thing as it helps break the journeys into recognisable chunks.
Boogie