SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE F5
Most travelers who still buy
print books, though, now seem to
read them in conjunction with,
not instead of, online resources.
In recent Facebook and Twitter
posts, veteran traveler and con-
tent creator Abigail King queried
followers about how they use
guidebooks today, noticing some
buy for pre-trip research, revert-
ing to the Internet for facts on the
ground. Others turn books into a
kind of souvenir stuffed with tick-
et stubs and handwritten notes.
“I use them in a really different
way now, too, mainly for readingabout the country and planning
an itinerary,” said King, who lives
in the United Kingdom. She noted
that, when traveling to destina-
tions in Europe with consistent
cell coverage, she’s unlikely to
bring a hard copy along.
“Guidebooks are now among a
suite of tools people use,” said
Grace Fujimoto, acquisitions di-
rector at Avalon Travel, which
oversees the Moon Travel Guides
imprint that is the United States’
top guidebook seller. (Disclosure:
I’ve written several Moon guide-
books.) Fujimoto said the pan-demic accelerated that shift
toward book-plus-digital, partly
because information has changed
so quickly in the past two years.
But it just underscores a broad-
er trend of recent years, she said.
“Guidebooks are becoming more
and more inspirational, in addi-
tion to just being repositories of
information,” Fujimoto said, of-
fering a forthcoming guidebook
to Spain’s Camino de Santiago
pilgrimage trail as an example. “It
does have a lot of good practical
information, but it combines it
with ways of appreciating what
you’re seeing and doing almost
every step of the way,” she said.
Lonely Planet is another pub-
lisher leaning into the shift.
“Guidebooks are evolving into
this experiential, curated collec-
tion,” said Lonely Planet spokes-man Chris Zeiher. This month,
the company released a new line
of photo-heavy “Experience”
guides, which Zeiher said are
designed to inspire.
The first titles in the series,
guidebooks to Italy, Portugal, Ja-
pan, Ireland, Scotland and Ice-
land, are noticeably lacking in
the old-style comprehensive list-
ings of hotels and restaurants. In
their place are expert interviews
and short, magazine-style fea-
tures on the kinds of experiences
travelers might build a trip
around.
Flip through these to get fired
up for chasing waterfalls in Ice-
land, for instance, or to dream up
an itinerary focused on visiting
Japanese temples. And unlike the
earliest Lonely Planet guides,
which were oriented to longer,more comprehensive trips, these
are tailored to the shorter vaca-
tions increasingly common
among travelers from the United
States.
Zeiher, too, heard predictions
of print guidebooks’ demise since
he joined Lonely Planet nearly 17
years ago. But he’s optimistic
about the coming decade. “One
thing that Lonely Planet’s always
done, is we’ve always evolved,” he
said. “I think we’ll continue to do
that.”
As the pandemic recedes and
travelers return to the world, he’s
betting there’s room in their bags
for a book.Smith is a writer based in Vermont.
Her website is jenrosesmith.com.
Find her on Twitter and Instagram:
@jenrosesmithvt.drinks, served American-style.Hawkes is a writer based in London.
His website is
willhawkes.contently.com. Find him
TIME OUT/SHUTTERSTOCK on Twitter: @will_hawkes.the area,” he tells me as we sit
down in the hotel’s soon-to-be
lobby.
“When we first opened a hotel
bar, Dandelyan in Sea Containers
[in 2014], we wanted to disrupt
the idea of what that would be. I
love the magic of the American
Bar or the Connaught, but I have
friends who’d say, ‘Oh, I’m going
to a hotel bar, I have to dress up.’
It can be stiff and formal. We
wanted to challenge that.”
Chetiyawardana runs Super
Lyan in Amsterdam and Silver
Lyan in D.C., along with his bars
in London. It gives him a unique
perspective on the American in-
fluence in London. “There’s been
a pendulum between New York
and London, and it’s swung ei-
ther way at different times,” the
37-year-old says. “What’s
changed now is it’s no longer just
New York — there’s other great
cocktail cities in the U.S. This is
part of the reason I was so excited
to open in D.C.”
And London? “I’m biased, but I
think London is the most incredi-
ble food and drink city on the
planet. What’s special about Lon-
don is its diversity. You get lots of
other very multicultural cities,
but nowhere blends [that] so
harmoniously as London.”
That is evident even at the
fanciest end of the market, such
as the Connaught, where three
Italians (Director of Mixology
Agostino Perrone, Head Mixolo-
gist Giorgio Bargiani and Bar
Manager Maura Milia) run the
show. After chatting with Cheti-
yawardana, I wander across town
and grab the last empty table in a
packed bar, at 4:30 p.m. Like
pretty much everyone else in the
room, I order a martini, priced at
25 pounds (about $33). That is a
lot, but it includes some marvel-
ous theater, from the excellent
staff and my fellow drinkers.
A trolley, maneuvered by Bar-
giani, arrives at my table. I’m
given a pad infused with five
flavored bitters: Dr. Ago (a house
mixture of bergamot and gin-
seng), lavender, coriander, tonka
and cardamom. Which would I
like? Lavender. Gin or Vodka?
Gin. Lemon zest or olives? Lem-
on zest. The martini is stirred
and flamboyantly poured from
an arm’s length into a hand-
etched crystal glass. It’s a bravura
performance.
There’s another one going on
alongside me, where three men
— two British, one American —
are demonstrating how the other
half live. The Connaught is an
intimate space, and I keep catch-
ing chunks of their conversation:
“He’s seriously rich, like proper
billions.” “Weirdly, they do need
to work. They’ve got no family
money.” “I’m sure he’s one of the
Vanderbilts.” “Better not have
COCKTAILS FROM F3
another one, I might chunder on
the train.” That’s Mayfair. On my
way home, I watch a yellow
Lamborghini, chugging like an
asthmatic bulldog, slowly negoti-
ating the corner of New Bond
Street, by the sculpture of Win-
ston Churchill and Franklin D.
Roosevelt. That’s also Mayfair.
Hotel bars such as the Con-
naught represent a big difference
between London and New York,
according to Tebay; another is
the significance of conceptual
venues, such as Tayer and El-
ementary or Lyaness, as opposed
to the neighborhood places that
characterize New York. Does
Tebay have a favorite spot of that
kind in London? Happiness For-
gets, a basement bar in Shored-
itch.
On a Monday evening, I enlist
the company of a friend, Martin,
and head up there. I can see what
Tebay likes: It’s a marvelous,
unpretentious place. As we ar-
rive, I’m greeted by a smiling
barman as I peer through the
window: “You seem very keen to
come in!” I am. We sit at the bar,
with a view across the moodily
lit, burgundy-painted room,
close to full at 7:30 p.m. All
cocktails are 10 pounds (about
$13). My “Tokyo Collins” is a
delightfully fresh blend of gin,
yuzu, sake, lemon, grapefruit and
soda, like a grown-up version of
France’s greatest soft drink,
Orangina.
Having sunk two in fairly shortorder, we head for Callooh Callay,
but I’ve blundered. After two
years of the coronavirus pan-
demic, I’m out of the habit of
booking, and I’ve forgotten it’s
Valentine’s Day. The place is
packed, as is Nightjar, where a
queue snakes out of the door and
onto Old Street. We retreat to a
local pub, the Old Fountain, to
recuperate over a few pints of
beer.
It’s not a permanent retreat,
though. Now that I’ve had a
proper taste of London’s cocktail
world, I’m keen for more. Tebay,
happily, appears to feel the same
way. She’s not sure what her next
move will be. Perhaps a New
York-style neighborhood bar?
“It’s certainly something I’ve
considered, and would love to do
down the line. I think it would
bring something to the table that
exists here, definitely, but in a
different way. It would kind of
represent New York.” The Ameri-
can Bar’s culture may not have
suited her, but she could yet add
another chapter to the venerable
London tradition it’s part of: a
passion for punchy mixedA dash of Americana has stirred the London cocktail mix
If You Go
WHERE TO STAY
The Savoy
The Strand, WC2R 0EZ
011-44-20-7836-4343
thesavoylondon.com
Lodged between the Thames and
the West End, the Savoy has two
famous cocktail bars: the American
Bar and the Beaufort Bar. Rooms
from about $847 per night.
One Hundred Shoreditch
100 Shoreditch High St., E1 6JQ
011-44-20-7613-9800
onehundredshoreditch.com
One Hundred Shoreditch, which
opened this month, is close to the
area’s many cocktail bars. It also
houses Seed Library, Ryan
Chetiyawardana’s new bar, in the
basement. Rooms from about
$230 per night.WHAT TO EAT
The Connaught Bar
Carlos Place, Mayfair, W1K 2AL
011-44-20-7314-3419
bit.ly/connaught-bar
The Connaught Bar offers
immaculate Italian service in a very
British ambiance. Open Monday to
Saturday, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.; closed
Sunday. Cocktails from about $28,
nonalcoholic drinks from about
$19.
Happiness Forgets
8-9 Hoxton Sq., N1 6NU
happinessforgets.com
Find a warm welcome and
delicious cocktails at this tiny
speakeasy-style location. Menu
includes 14 cocktails, with three
nonalcoholic options. Open daily, 5
p.m. to 11 p.m. Cocktails from
about $13, nonalcoholic drinks
about $9.
Tayer and Elementary
152 Old St., EC1V 9BW
tayer-elementary.com
With Elementary at the front and
Tayer at the back, this is two
cocktail bars in one. A constantly
changing cocktail list keeps things
fresh — and often very surprising.
Open Tuesday to Wednesday, 3
p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to
Saturday, 3 p.m. to 1 a.m.; closed
Sunday. Walk-ins only. Cocktails
from about $12, nonalcoholic
drinks from about $11.INFORMATION
visitlondon.comBRITTA JASCHINSKI/SHUTTERSTOCKNightjar, above, and
Happiness Forgets, left,
are two bars offering
clever cocktails in London.
The city’s cocktail story i s
infused with diverse
influences, including from
Americans, Germans,
Norwegians and more.trip online can be a Mad Max
infinity loop of unvetted user-gen-
erated reviews and self-appointed
experts. Trading free trips for sun-
ny features is common practice in
the world of travel influencers,
with little transparency about
who is footing the bill for a given
blog post or YouTube video.
While earlier travelers just
needed some basic info, Steves
said, guidebooks’ main value
proposition might now be an es-
cape hatch from that digital over-
whelm. “Part of my job is to curate
all the options — the glut of infor-
mation — with a consistent set of
values,” he said. What’s more, a
print guidebook offers a chance to
unplug, allowing travelers to put
down their phones, Steves noted.
With a screen close at hand, it’s
too easy to let your attention drift
away from that chic Parisian bis-
tro and into drearily quotidian
scrolling.
It seems to be working out,
because Steves’s 2019 royalty
checks were the highest of his
career. Despite apocalyptic warn-
ings, in fact, guidebooks are gen-
erally doing okay. After the rocky
industry news of 2013, travel book
sales stabilized, then stayed
roughly even until the pandemic
hit.
GUIDEBOOKS FROM F4
Guidebooks, once deemed obsolete, are antidotes to information overload
LONELY PLANET
Lonely Planet’s line of photo-heavy “Experience” guidebooks are designed to inspire. “Guidebooks are
evolving into this experiential, curated collection,” said company spokesman Chris Zeiher.HACHETTE BOOK GROUP
Moon Travel Guides’ Boston handbook. Guidebooks are just one of
a “suite of tools” travelers use today, said Grace Fujimoto.“Part of my job
is to curate all the
options — the glut
of information —
with a consistent
set of values.”
Rick Steves,
guidebook writer