I was preparing itinerary by using Google Maps as usually.  I saved all points of interest, got distances between these points and split everything into five days. The plan looked perfect – 1000km(~620 miles) in five days, i.e. 200km (~124 miles) per day. It should be enough time for sightseeing and free time. But.. It was one big shortcoming of this plan and I understood it only when we landed in Colombo international airport.

The issue was with timing Google Maps was giving. In countries like US or Australia the mapping application gives very accurate numbers how much time you need to go from point A to point B. Of course it depends on traffic and time of the day you are driving, but usually you can trust those numbers.  The different story in Sri Lanka. You must multiply at least by 2 all numbers Google Maps gives you. For example from Colombo airport to Dambulla it shows you need 2+ hours to drive 140km (~90 miles) and it looks very reasonable. But in reality it took more then 4 hours to get there.  That meant all my plan was in jeopardy. Luckily we had good driver and we saw even more then it was in the plan, but to make it we needed to get up very early and go to bed very late. It was worth it.

In this map I marked all places we visited. Actually I included couple places we didn’t make, as we were short of time, but it can be interested for others.

View Sri Lanka in a larger map

In future posts I will write more details of each of five days, so please subscribe for the latest posts to read it first and please leave comment and rate the map if you liked it.

The post Sri Lanka in five days appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Planning trip to Australia, New Zealand or some islands in South Pacific? You can get free visitor guides or maps from Jasons.

Although it is not totally free if you reside outside Australia or New Zealand. If this is the case you will need to pay for postage.

You may ask why do you need any of these publications if you already have Lonely Planet or Rough Guide or similar guide? Of course it is up to you, but these mentioned above books usually takes about two years to publish which means a lot of things can be different now. Jasons publications are updated every year so you can expect to get latest information about attractions, accommodation, transportation and etc. Maps are not very detailed and better to be used only as references, although I was happy with map of Samoa I used to drive around islands.

At the moment of this post they have visitor guides and/or maps of Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, part of Australia and New Zealand. But they update this list regularly, so check it later again.

Some of these guide could be found at i-sites or airports in New Zealand. Didn’t see them available in Australia (at least in Sydney) in information centres.

The post Free Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific visitor guides and maps appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.