http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/paul-hansford/ Paul Hansford has been travel writing for 30 years, ever since handing in a school project on caravanning in the South of France as a seven year-old. Having worked for the last 15 years predominantly as a travel and sports journalist, Paul has been able to combine the two to good effect, hanging out with such luminaries as David Beckham in Manchester, Harry Kewell in Istanbul and Dwight Yorke in the upstairs bar of Cargo, Sydney.  During his travels, he’s jumped from bridges in New Zealand, swam with crocs in NT, eaten goat’s testes in Argentina, got lost up a mountain in Raratonga and had a pleasant chat with Roger Federer in a toilet in Portland, Oregon.  Paul is a former editor of TNT Magazine Australia & New Zealand and Australian FourFourTwo magazine, and has also written for news.com.au/travel, Escape, The Sun Herald, The SMH, Limelight, GQ Australia and The Daily Mirror (UK).  You can follow him on twitter @paulhansford en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-travel-guide-book-is-dead/ There was always something exciting about buying a guidebook for a destination I was about to visit. Long bus rides to work and lunch hours were spent poring over the pages, highlighting the “don’t miss” destinations and circling hotels to call when I got back to the office (when no-one was looking). The guide was a status symbol, something I would flaunt in a “Look at me, I’m going off to some exotic location while you suckers will still be working” way whenever I was out in public. But it would also freak me out, that my entire trip’s success was so dependent on it. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Paul Hansford) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-travel-guide-book-is-dead/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-travel-guide-book-is-dead/#item4336 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:50:21 +0000 Paul Hansford | Author bios | The Punch