Travel Weekly: October 2007

Book review - Smith 52: The Game Plan

Thump.

The Smith brand's latest book hits TW Blog's desk, and it's a beauty.

Smith 52: The Game Plan is at heart a very sexy things-to-do list – and one that has the delicacy not to urge you to do said things 'before you die'.

It's a good area to expand into. Smith has always been good at picking the right hotels, but holidaymakers increasingly want to get out and do something original as well as staying somewhere chi-chi.

There are also more and more boutique festivals popping up in the UK, as well as increasing interest in those abroad – thanks in part to low-cost carriers making them accessible.

Here's where the folks at Smith reckon you should be this time next year:

• Nuit Blanche, street art festival in Paris, October 4
• Iceland Airwaves, music festival in Reykjavik, October 15 - 19
• Salone del Gusto, food festival in Turin, October 23 - 27

Practical tips (what to pack, where to stay, what it costs etc) and insider information go some way to justifying the £22 price tag, with the rest of the distance made up by the usual: nice stock, solid binding and great photography.

As a calendar of very desirable short breaks, it could work for some in the trade too – upmarket travel agents might find this the most useful book Smith has ever produced.

Nathan Midgley, web producer