Lonely Planet

I went to the bookstore by the Andel metro station on Sunday to pick up the Lonely Planet Istanbul. I'm addicted to the LP - I spend most of my tourist minutes in any place walking past gorgeous monuments with my head buried in the damn travel guide. I then get my picture taken next to something cool by a small japanese man and head back to the pub near the hostel. Mission accomplished. While at the bookstore I was absolutely shocked to discover the Lonely Planet Austin, San Antonio & the Hill Country . I buy lonely planets for their historical description of the Vatican, not to go see the SRV statue on Town Lake. Nonetheless, it's great that Austin is in much larger letters than San Antonio on the cover, 'cause everyone knows SA is a shithole. I was pretty tempted to buy this. I always buy the LP whenever I go anywhere, and I'm coming to Austin for Christmas as a 'foreign traveller'. I would be insufferable - we'd be laying around someone's flat, trying to figure out something to do in the evening, and I'd pull out the travel guide, and read the "what to do in Austin" chapter. I could even try to find 'Lakeway' in the 'Excursions outside Austin' chapter, fail, then refuse to go there. I might be disowned. Disowned or not, I'm heading to Istanbul on the 3rd of November. I got this awesome deal: Round-trip direct flight from Prague, 3 nights in a 3 star hotel, all for $215. That's not a misprint. I'm unbelievably excited - I've been wanting to go here forever. My mom might freak a bit, but my friend Michal said it's safe, and they have an ample supply of post-pub doner kebabs, one of my 4 main food groups (besides beer, schnitzel, and yoghurt). This trip also prompted this exchange: Me: "What is a 3 star hotel? I have no idea what that means." Jana: "You know the places where we usually stay? They have no stars."