Lonely Planet Guide Books We've used a number of guide books for our travels, and have found we continue to come back to Lonely Planet. We like both the traditional country guides as well as the "On a Shoestring" guides.  We recommend the Shoestring guides for countries where you might venture inland for longer periods of time and are looking for an inexpensive way to travel.  Otherwise stick to the traditional country guides, as they have budget options as well.  You can buy guides for individual countries or multiple-countries (for example "South Pacific & Micronesia Guide" contains  22 of the small Pacific Islands/Countries).  We recommend the multi-country guides for small island-countries, but for the larger countries or for a country where you plan to spend an extended amount of time we suggest you get an individual guide (the multi-guides save space and money, but they do leave out some information). 

Also consider their phrasebooks (small enough to actually carry around), and if you are especially into wildlife watching, diving/snorkeling, or hiking consider one or more of their activity guide books (one we really found useful was "Tramping in New Zealand")..

Finally, be aware that books in New Zealand and AU are outrageously priced compared to the states (example:  The AU lonely planet guide in AU is $47 AUD which is about $42 USD, however bought in the States it is $30).  So, try to get the books you need ahead of time!!!