What this is not

It is not a guidebook

There are no destinations in it. No recommended hotels, no restaurants, no lists of what to see in a city. That information goes out of date faster than any book can follow, and it is the thing the rest of the internet does well.

What is here instead is the method. How to work out where to go, how to know what things should cost, how to read a place you have never been.

It is not a gear review

There are no product names anywhere in it. No brands, no models, no affiliate links. Gear changes yearly and reviews are a business.

The book describes what a thing needs to do, and leaves the choosing to you.

It is not professional advice

Where the stakes are legal, medical, or financial, the book gives you the shape of the problem, the questions to ask, and the kind of source that will have the right answer for your situation. It does not give you the answer, because the answer depends on your nationality, your destination, your health, and your circumstances.

The author is not a doctor, a lawyer, an insurance broker, or an immigration adviser.

It is not a backcountry manual

This book is about travelling to places. It is not about surviving in remote wilderness, and the difference matters more than it sounds.

Wild camping, backcountry navigation, avalanche terrain, water treatment from natural sources, bear safety, and cold-weather survival are all real subjects with real consequences, and they do not summarise safely. A short version of that material produces someone who is confident and wrong, several hours from a road, at dusk.

If that is what you are after, look for a wilderness first aid course and sources specific to the terrain you are entering. A separate book on this is being worked on. It is not finished and it will not be published before it has been reviewed by someone qualified.

It is not an itinerary builder

The book argues against fixed itineraries, so it would be odd to provide one. What it offers instead is a way of planning that leaves room in it, which is described in the first chapter.

It is not neutral about everything

Where there is a genuine argument on both sides, the book presents both. Where the evidence is one-sided, it says so. Cash is worth carrying. Insurance is worth reading properly. Charity offered to people who did not ask for it is not generosity. The book has positions and does not pretend otherwise.

It is not finished

There are errors in it. There are errors in every book, and this one has fifty-seven thousand words and a single author.

Corrections go into the next version, which is the advantage of a book that is not printed once and defended. Report a correction.