Have Horse Head, Will Travel

The shrinking of our horizons is perhaps the most common trope of modern travel writingand no wonder. The Antarctic ice is traversed by tour groups; permanent guide ropes help you up a litter-strewn Everest; and even space travel (if Sir Richard Branson's recently unveiled ambitions are anything to go by) will one day be within the financial grasp of the average tourist. But before you allow this to plunge you into existential despair, take note of a marvelous new book. The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel, out this month, is the guidebook publisher's attempt to make us see ordinary places...