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Lonely Planet You Only Live Once 1: A Lifetime of Experiences for the Explorer in all of us

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Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

You Only Live Once: A Lifetime of Experiences for the Explorer in All of Us is not just another bucketlist of big-ticket items. We've all heard about Venice and, yes, it is probably worth going to Italy to see its waterways, but hopefully you'll take away something more from this book: a resolve to live life to the fullest--to add a dash of joie de vivre to every day.

You Only Live Once will inspire readers of all ages to seize the moment, channel their inner hero, explore the world, create moments they will celebrate for years to come, and share their incredible stories. Providing suggestions for life's essential experiences for every stage of life, this eclectic gift book is the perfect manual for a life well-lived.

Anyone can sleep in a castle, sail a ship, make a music pilgrimage, and so much more. What all the book's ideas have in common is that they're starting points. They will reignite long-forgotten desires - to learn an instrument or a language - or spark new and unexpected ambitions: why shouldn't you move to Provence for a year?

When you know what's stopping you, you can start working on a solution. Perhaps this book will be as useful in helping you identify obstacles as will be for refining your month's or your year's travel experiences. Then it's time to turn to Lonely Planet's extensive travel resources and begin planning the rest of your life.

Combining stunning photography with illustrations and infographics, it will surprise and entertain with a quirky mix of experiences everyone should try at some point in their life.

'You only live once; but if you do it right, once is enough.' - Mae West

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.

TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, and 2014 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2014

121 people are currently reading
1001 people want to read

About the author

Lonely Planet

3,613 books879 followers
OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

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5 stars
93 (29%)
4 stars
92 (29%)
3 stars
97 (30%)
2 stars
25 (7%)
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7 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for emma.
790 reviews38 followers
December 9, 2014
I feel like this book could be more clearly laid out!! I felt a little confused about it the whole time... it's not very easy to look through. However, it is amazing and inspiring and makes me want to drop everything and drive away (even more than i had already been feeling, anyway)! really cool!
Profile Image for Nynke Anna.
50 reviews
October 22, 2020
Knowing this volume was created by Lonely Planet, expectations were high. It consists of 'once in a lifetime experiences' sorted by duration (an hour, a day, a week, a month and a year). The suggestions in the book are both plentiful and wonderful. They tried to involve places you could go all around the globe. The short stories are a little bit vague, yet entertaining. Overall I could say the 'YOLO advices' combined with beautiful photographs trigger my wanderlust for sure.
Profile Image for Joke Drabs.
89 reviews8 followers
February 19, 2024
Niet de grootste fan van de titel, maar wel uitstekend leesmateriaal om autoreparatiewachttijd te overbruggen.
Profile Image for Cell.
451 reviews31 followers
October 27, 2024
讀的是固定版型的電子書,大部分的字小到不想閱讀

我對於本書提供的靈感有興趣的有
  城堡住一晚
  動物園住一晚,不過看起來偏向是由老師帶學生的行程
  坐上 MiG-29戰鬥機特技飛行(同個網站另提供無重力飛行),只是從金錢來看是狠狠砸了人生財務規劃,最便宜的約43萬台幣,而到了能忍痛這樣花的時候大概也沒有能撐得住的身體了吧。

本書看到後來越看越像自我成長書籍
為人生想達成的中期目標提供靈感
換個角度來說,還有檢視人生即將/已經錯過了什麼……
Profile Image for Monique .
264 reviews26 followers
March 3, 2016
The title did warn me that this book would be cheesy. And yet, I read on.

There are four sections to the book. These include travel experiences for: a day, a week, a month, a year. The idea behind the book is to provide inspiration for travel within these time frames.

I read it cover to cover but didn't glean as much inspiration or ideas as I thought I would. The stories written to accompany the suggestions were also awfully boring.

The book also doesn't seem to cater towards budget travellers, with many suggestions in the price range of thousands of USD for the week-long suggestions.

With a bit of googling you can gather as much information as this book provides, or more.

If you haven't done much travelling and have no idea where to go or what to do, this book would provide a good starting point.
1 review
September 19, 2015
'You only live once; but if you do it right, once is enough.' Mae West

An obvious statement that holds so much weight! Every house hold needs a copy of this book! My husband bought this for me for Christmas last year, and the impact was phenomenal. So many experiences lay before me that I never knew were possible.

The book is cleverly set out into 5 handy chapters: Things you can do in an Hour, a Day, a Week, a Month and a Year. After reading this book, I have now set myself a new challenge - to complete a list of 50 experiences before I turn 50! Yep....15 years should be plenty of time right ? :/
Profile Image for Kirsty.
84 reviews1 follower
July 21, 2020
Was expecting more of the backpacking lonely planet vibe this was more “money isn’t something you need to worry about” and crazy expensive suggestions.
Profile Image for Jon S.
62 reviews
August 26, 2025
A great read and brilliant suggestions.. if you have the money.

Their first "1 hour" excursion suggested, on the very first page?... go Antarctica to witness the birth of penguins. Wtf?!

Also caught a fun suggestion of "buy a Virgin Galactic flight" as a suggestion to make you feel small. Could just sit next to the fat stacks you'd need to afford that!

Not even ¼ of the way through and dissatisfied. Shall be skimming the rest of the book to save my time.
Profile Image for Maarten Markus.
109 reviews1 follower
December 26, 2020
In a travel impaired world, Lonely’s Planet “You only live once” is just what the doctor ordered. It provides a wide range of travel inspiration. It’s not about delving in great travel narratives but more an assortiment of worthwhile undertakings, big and small. Almost like a catalog or travel magazine but then written in the unmistakeable Lonely Planet style. Just what the doctor ordered.
Profile Image for Elin .
193 reviews15 followers
March 12, 2018
I absolutely LOVE Lonely Planet’s books. The pictures and illustrations are amazing, the information great and they also make for great coffee table books. They are also the reason my bucket list is approximately 10km long.
Profile Image for Paloma Triana.
230 reviews10 followers
December 21, 2019
Un maravilloso recorrido por los lugares más increíbles del mundo y las actividades que puedes hacer en una hora, un día, una semana, un mes o un año. La inspiración perfecta para planear el próximo viaje.
Profile Image for Basil.
15 reviews
August 7, 2019
So inspiring to read, with many ideas that you can translate to your own city: ie the pages about urban hikes inspire you to think about walking around your own city. Highly recommend!
Profile Image for Shameer KC.
4 reviews
September 17, 2019
Good content, but I read the Kindle version, the layout was a little bit tough to navigate.

Used the Amazon Cloud Reader on my PC since it wasn't able to read properly.
Profile Image for Richard Miles.
11 reviews
September 29, 2020
Being up for most adventures this was an easy read to give me ideas for making more of them!
842 reviews
June 21, 2022
This is a travel book; not a self-development book.
Profile Image for Margie.
102 reviews1 follower
May 28, 2024
Great concept but I am not sure who the market is for this book … it is worth perusing if you find it in the wild but I am not sure if I could recommend a purchase.
Profile Image for Heather Iveson.
289 reviews6 followers
February 19, 2015
3.5 stars, really...

I enjoyed this over some weeks with cups of tea. Gorgeous photography and fantastic adventures... even if the majority of stories were briefer than I would have liked.

I do, however, now have the urge to go walk/cycle a ridiculous distance.
Profile Image for Holly.
1,188 reviews9 followers
April 27, 2015
Nice coffee table book to flip through, but definitely re-affirmed that I am not very adventurous. I'd do maybe a handful of these things. Good set of ideas, though.

If you don't feel like purchasing from Urban Outfitters, your local library probably has a copy!

Profile Image for Cheryl.
470 reviews6 followers
February 17, 2015
AMAZING. Love all the photographs, the destinations, the quotes, the stories. Perfect for anyone with wanderlust - like me. :)
Profile Image for Norman Peires.
5 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2015
An excellent book full of great ideas for those with incurable wanderlust. Well written, well presented - recommended.
2,360 reviews1 follower
October 7, 2015
I found some of the suggestions to be interesting ones, particularly those to do with walking, most sounded like they required a lot of money and could really only managed by the rich.
Profile Image for A.B..
Author 27 books34 followers
May 18, 2017
A lot of blank space on the page. Read this on kindle and the magnification features were kind of distracting.
Profile Image for Med Jhr.
1 review
Currently reading
March 28, 2017
i want to read this book because i found it beautiful
Profile Image for JennLynn.
596 reviews16 followers
Read
April 27, 2017
Fun to browse through and dream about, but unfortunately probably not realistic for the average person. Still, it's nice to live vicariously through the adventures (of varying timespans) possible for those who can travel the world.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews

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