Contests can make you mad.

In a series of Lonely Planet blog posts that promises to be fascinating, LP writer Frances Linzee Gordon is publishing her experiences traveling as a single woman traveling in Saudi Arabia for an upcoming guide on the Arabian peninsula.

Love them for freeing independent travelers with their wealth of information, or hate them for making everywhere accessible to the backpacking masses, the Lonely Planet guides have undeniably rempapped the face of travel.

Travel Rants, a great, UK-based travel news and advice blog, included us on a list of the ten best travel sites for 2006.

The paperback companion of the world’s backpackers has joined the blogosphere.

Ever heard of the Republic of Molossia, the Conch Republic, or the sovereign nation of Lovely? These and other experiments in declaring your own state are covered in a new Lonely Planet guide, Micronations.

More guidebook news today. It appears that Lonely Planet is indeed the travel advice force to be reckoned with, as the city of Moscow has decided to pin their image problems re: crime, corruption, and hedonism on the publisher’s Moscow city guide.

Here’s a little travel knowledge test for your entertainment, from the good folks over at Lonely Planet.