I know, I know, it’s mid summer, so chances are if you haven’t yet booked a trip, you might not, thanks to the ever-aggressive gas prices that glare back at us at the pump these days. However, being the over-the-top-travel-enthusiast that I am, not to mention often-unrealistic-optimist, I thought I’d offer a link to the Times Online list of  Top Ten Travel Guidebooks and Websites. Just in case.

The list covers the gamut of travel experiences, from the irreverent to concise. We all know that travelers come in all shapes and sizes with wallets in all shapes and sizes to match. In fact, this is the perfect place for me to insert an excerpt about two distinct groups of travelers so brilliantly defined by Julio Cortazar in Cronopios and Famas:

When famas go on a trip, when they pass the night in a city, their procedure is the following: one fama goes to the hotel and prudently checks the prices, the quality of the sheets, and the color of the carpets. The second reports to the commissariat of the police and there fills out a record of the real and transferable property of all three of them, as well as an inventory of the contents of their valises. The third fama goes to the hospital and copies the lists of the doctors on emergency and their specialties.

After attending to these affairs diligently, the travelers join each other in the central plaza of the city, exchange observations, and go to the café to take an aperitif. But before they drink, they join hands and do a dance in a circle. This dance is known as “The Gayety of the Famas.”

When cronopios go on a trip, they find that all the hotels are filled up, the trains have already left, it is raining buckets and taxis don’t want to pick them up, either that or they charge them exorbitant prices. The cronopios are not disheartened because they believe firmly that these things happen to everyone.

So, whether you’re a fama or cronopio, this top ten list should help. If you have no money, no problem, check out couchsurfing.com, a membership oriented, global network of people willing to give up their couch to you--for free--to rest your travel-weary head. All you have to do is get there. More sophisticated voyagers might want to check out Worldreviewer.com.

My only qualm with this list is the exclusion of Fodor’s and Let’s Go guidebooks. I have purchased and thoroughly appreciated these guidebooks over and over throughout the years.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your travel on.