Paul Clammer is an English travel writer best known for books on challenging destinations including Sudan[1] and Afghanistan.[2] Clammer is the co-author of several guide books for Lonely Planet[3] and the founder of Kabul Caravan,[4] a highly respected[5] website focussing on helping travellers visit Afghanistan. Clammer attended St Ivo School, Cambridgeshire and Bristol University.

Our Lonely Planet guide was used every day as we made our way through the Dominican Republic on our honeymoon. Information wasn't always easy to find in the smaller towns (even for a Spanish speaker), so we relied on it a lot. The maps were especially helpful.

However, we did occasionally run into small typos or sentences that didn't make sense. While this wasn't too big of a deal, we were more concerned that some sections were inaccurate. When we paid $10 in a taxi to go across Santo Domingo to catch a bus that the LP said went to a certain town, we were extremely irritated to learn that that bus station did not provide transportation to our destination and never had. We had to pay for another taxi to get to the right spot. We also found that the prices listed for hotels and restaurants were much higher than listed in the LP. We were not there in the very low season, but it also was not the highest season. Perhaps the places listed have been "discovered" and the hotels and restaurants took advantage of LP's high following. And the writers' favorite places were often some of the most expensive in town (and a little posh) - not what I have typically found in LP editions. If you're able, use the guide to as just that - but not as a bible. Ask around about places when you get into a town.

Overall, we are very glad we had this along. We used it to plan out routes, get reviews on restaurants, learn about the country, do walking tours of each little area (instead of paying someone who "offers" to show you around), etc.