Tonga-Samoa Handbook (Moon Travel Handbooks) [Illustrated] (Paperback)

In this 320 plus page first edition (an amalgam of two previous separate ones by the same highly knowledgeable author) the extensive detail of Tonga and Samoa's history, politics, flora and wildlife provides a thorough background and could be a volume in itself. It also includes American Samoa and Niue so encompasses an entire area of the Pacific.

Importantly, Stanley states that he does not accept 'freebies' from tourist boards etc. but pays his own way, a very significant point as it makes him objective not having to return favours. This certainly comes across in the places I know from personal experience and his reviews about hotels for instance are usually brief but mostly valid about the ones I have stayed at.

A key factor for my buying a guidebook is the quality of the maps, they make a huge difference and inaccurate poorly drawn ones are worse than useless. Previous Moon guidebooks were let down by the maps which were thin and skimpily done on paper with a lot of 'show through' which made them confusing. Thankfully rectified in this edition, they are now excellent.

I like it even more because it is not aimed solely at backpackers at one end or expense account travellers at the other unlike some other guidebooks. It is broader based and not condescending should you wish to stay in the local huts and eat off market stalls or the best hotels and eat the finest meals in Tonga and Samoa.

Quite rightly, Stanley doesn't lead you to expect too much in an area that is not wealthy by Western standards of affluence, although rich in other ways with scenery and people which are the stuff of collective dreams planted in our psyche by Gauguin, Robert Louis Stevenson and others more than a century ago. He puts these countries into context with the reality of what they have to offer and prepares you in advance to expect what you would think is only second rate in say New York but this is the Pacific and that's as good as it gets. Considering the frugality of how most of the population of these countries live themselves it is more than good enough.

So if you are crossing the Pacific with a stopover in these countries and are considering a guidebook, take this one. It will take you deftly through these 'paradise islands' yet neither lead you astray or to expect too much, just like a good friend which it will surely become.