Governments Offer Inexpensive and Helpful Travel Information Galore

By Denis Horgan | Last updated Nov 9, 2009, 12:33 pm

No harm to the nice folks at the local bookstore or even the gigantic computers at Amazon and the like, but there’s a terrific array of books, posters and travel information available from the federal government. It’s your tax dollars at work.

The U.S. Government Bookstore (http://tinyurl.com/yes3doy) offers well over 100 guidebooks, travel posters, regulation brochures, etc., for the nation’s grand parks and historical and natural splendors at reasonable prices. More, at http:tinyurl.com/ya657bc, there are videos and other special works on international destinations – mostly aimed at helping students, Peace Corps volunteers and diplomatic types. Hey, whatever works.

There are books on Big Bend and Denali national parks, for example, for less than $15, videos on Lithuania, Nepal, etc. on sale for $5.50.

(To order copies of Bureau of Consular Affairs publications, see either the Government Printing Office website — http://bookstore.gpo.gov — or http://travel.state.gov. Further, you can order by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Public Affairs, Room 6833, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC 20520-4818.)

Never ignore what state and national governments offer to supplement your travel experience. Beyond even the State Department’s helpful webpage http://travel.state.gov you can even look at the CIA’s information in the country-by-country factbook, however reliable or dated you might think that to be: (http://tinyurl.com/2cdcqr). They even have a section for children! You might want to be careful should you consider printing out even harmless CIA information and carrying it along to some place where having CIA materials might be a dicey idea.

For a list of state tourism bureaus’ webpages, check out http://www.statelocalgov.net/50states-tourism.cfm.

So, too, for international destinations. We took a trip to Italy last year and sent away for brochures, maps and magazines offered by the country’s national and regional tourism centers. Terrific packages of information arrived in a few weeks. Just pick your destination state, park or country, Google up, say, “Ireland tourism” and pick and choose among the many opportunities. They’re in business to get us to visit so they’re eager to be helpful.

It’s a great resource, reasonable and sometimes free. What could be better than that?