I don't travel anywhere without checking out The Thorn Tree travel forum. Timely information from people on the ground wherever I'm planning to travel. Can get some great advice if you have questions as well although you sometimes have to wade through the comments from people who think "if you're not doing it on your own you're not cool."We went to bali last year and used the guide of lonely planet. It was not bad, even if the shadow show in ubud was tuesday instead of thursday as stated in the guide. We also had a local guide to complete our trip. As the guide said we made attention at the exchange of currency desk but we had no fraud.Terrible. First time purchasing a book here. It has been over a month and they still have not shipped it. Been emailing them back and forth but they still will not send it. They say they have no control over the factories that hold the books. Asked to speak with a supervisor or manager and have been completely ignored. So right now I'm out $40.Lonelyplanet.com doesn't replace the need for their guidebooks (but you can easily download the books for a reduced fee from the paperbacks), however, it is a well-designed, attractive website with country overviews that are perfect when you need to answer the question "where should I go next?". They have free country profiles, lists of highlights, videos, traveler comments and they keep adding more features all of the time. My favorite part of the website is the "Thorn Tree Forum" because the community is very active and I always get reliable answers there.Last year I ordered a guidebook about Italy. It was supposedly sent to me twice. I've never got my order. Lonely planet sent me an ebook as a substitute, but I still feel you can just throw your money away instead of ordering anything online from them. [EDITED: Lonely Planet contacted me after reading my review and refunded me the money I paid]I have been using Lonely Planet guidebooks for many years, but this has come to an end. I ordered 3 guidebooks online and after two months of waiting they still have not arrived. For EU delivery LP doesn't offer package tracking. They just put them in the mail, hope for the best and do not take any responsibility when something goes wrong. I have contacted them many times and the only thing they respond is that they do not take responsibility when a shipment goes missing. Maybe they just have not shipped the books and this is their way in making easy money. I have been very disappointed in their customer service. Never again.This is a clique of old Aussies that like to bash Americans.I had a horrible experience making a reservation through lonelyplanet.com for a hotel in Russia and then wanting to find contact information for the hotel. I clicked on "view or cancel reservation" which immediately took me to a screen that said "cancellation confirmed". It has taken hours to straighten it out--emails to lonely planet got no reply. Could not find a phone number for lonelyplanet.com so called expedia customer service (the affiliate of lonely planet) and was told they can't help with anything by an affiliate. They gave me the WRONG number for "ian"--the affiliate that actually sent the original reservation confirmation and when I called expedia back they gave me the same wrong number again and again. Also, no one I talked to was a native English speaker.