I went to the Library...

and actually took out a book on travel. Our netball coach gave us (my sister and I) LARGE Lonely Planet guides to Europe before we went overseas last time. Although most appreciated (as they are never cheap, despite being aimed at an impoverished target market), those bloody things lugged us down and caused all manner of catfights for probably a year before we ditched them at the hostel we managed, where they were likely stolen by somebody who I am satisfied to say will have regretted it before too long. They must've weighed about 5 kilos each.

Anyway...the problem with guidebooks is, although they are fascinating reading if you are dreaming of a life somewhere else, they date too quickly. And these days, when you can pretty much carry the internet round in your pocket, they are almost obsolete.

After I'd lived on Skye for a little while, I remember flicking through the "Isle of Skye" section in Lonely Planet and being infuriated by the inaccuracies and lame observations of the locals. I wrote to Lonely Planet and told them to sort it out. They brought out a new edition of Scotland and some of my changes were there but they didn't mention my name, which was a let down.

But I digress...

My daughter likes to go to the local Library a lot, which is great for me. They have toys and books there to occupy her while I read the paper, or drift through the aisles (usually the travel section), dreaming of our Escape. Never mind that the books never change (very small library, mostly stocked with Mills & Boon and audio copies of newspapers for the elderly), I have read Lonely Planet's "Scotland" about a million times.

The other day I decided what the heck, why not take the books out of the Library and actually read them? I picked up the Rough Guide to Travel Online, despite knowing that it would be hopelessly outdated and only serve to mislead me.

However, I was wrong. It has been quite useful. It has a whole page devoted to websites devoted to bird-watching holidays. It also has some info on single parent travel and destination guides.

I have been to them all and deleted those that are now in disfunction (so I am not always wrong!):

http://www.smallfamilies.co.uk/ (I like this one)

http://www.cyberparent.com/trips (bit old fashioned looking)

http://www.family-travel.co.uk/homepage.php

http://www.familytravelforum.com/ (looks good)

http://www.tinytravelers.net/ (part of the Family Travel Forum network; specialises in issues travelling with kids younger than 4. A great concept as it's true a lot of the other sites seem to have holidays and articles geared towards travelling with older kids)

http://www.gonomad.com/family/familyTravel.html (they even have an article on Ancestral travel in Scotland...points to them!)

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/ (not really my cup of tea)

I also found some more sites:

http://www.globalfamilyadventures.com/ (run tours to Costa Rica but possibly expanding)

http://www.sptc.org.uk/ (The Single Parent Travel Club - UK based)

At last! Some based in Australia:

http://www.holidayswithkids.com.au/single_parent_travel

http://www.byokids.com.au/

And this one is just plain weird:

http://www.parentswithoutpartners.org/ (this site must be US based - creepy pic!)

Still nowt on actually living abroad as a single parent, but the search continues...