Deconstructing Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet and other guidebooks are great. The practical information is extremely useful, and the historical and cultural info will distinguish you from the people who come just to party. Ignore the people who look disdainfully down on guidebooks. They won't know anything about where they are. However, they may be out meeting people and having a good time; use the guidebook, but don't keep your head stuck in it. On the other hand, they are heavy, awkward and annoying to carry around. Thus we have the following solution.

This is a major arts and crafts project that will require a whole evening to do properly. You are going to cut apart your guidebook into individual country or region sections, thus needing only a small pamphlet-sized stack of paper that fits in your back pocket. Go get a saw.

There are two schools of thought on the matter: you can saw off the spine, thus removing the binding, and then staple the left edges of each chapter; this is more difficult for larger countries. Alternatively, you can put the saw into the book like a bookmark, and saw into the spine, thus preserving the glue, and therefore the binding. However, you may need to staple anyway. I prefer sawing into the spine to preserve the binding, then stapling the booklets that need it.

Hardcore enthusiasts can go an extra step and trim the margins. Only the top margin has something useful (the page numbers) and those aren't so important anyway.

Finally, you need to apply a strip of packing tape along each edge. The booklet will last a long, long time.

Congratulations. You now have a super-convenient pocket-sized guidebook and will be the envy of all other weary backpackers along the road. Hand out chapters as you leave each country. Have everyone write their emails on the back page and see how far it goes!