I absolutely admire, applaud and adore the pictures and the captions that accompany them in this calendar. One would *expect* to get inviting and exotic pictures in a desk calendar published by the people at Lonely Planet. One would assume that intriguing and inspiring captions would be associated with those awesome pictures. Oh, and one most definitely gets all that with this calendar.

In addition to the aforementioned wonderful pictures/prose, near the end of this calendar, the publishers have thoughtfully provided a page (unless otherwise noted) of the following:
1. 2009 calendar/planner
2. A page for your various travel schedules/itineraries
3. Fun festivals throughout the world, listed by month
4. Four pages intended for your contacts--you know, a mini-address books that leaves you room to note name/address/phone/email addys of those you meet upon the road (i suppose)
5. Two pages for the important dates in your life such as birthdays/anniversaries/special occasions
6. Two pages devoted to world time zones
7. Two pages of international dialing codes listed alphabetically by country
8. A page of travel-oriented websites
9. An essentially blank page, with lines, titled "Notes"
10. Two pages of conversions, e.g., women's clothing sizes, temperature, weights, volume, length, distances, area. On one of these pages, one can also find information pertaining to various Lonely Planet offices around the world.

Unfortunately, all that stuff at the back of the calendar is pretty useless to me. I should have guessed it would be there before i bought this calendar. It's logical that it would be there. I suppose i was expecting it to be a calendar filled to bursting with images and information, though, and much less a calendar for 'you, who are on the road' (in the words of the immortal CSN&Y).

Sadly, too, all those pages of weeks run together. There are no small monthly calendars interspersed in the wonderful weekly pages, a feature i have used a LOT in with prior yearly desk calendars. Also, it seems to me that the paper used in the manufacture of this calendar is of a decidedly lighter, flimsier quality than that which i have used in prior desk calendars.

I've used desk calendars for many years to keep track of my kids' comings, goings, school events, parties, play dates and days with their dad vs. days with me. For years, i've used desk calendars to keep track of my obligations, events and travel--business and personal. I keep all family/friends birthdays in my calendar, and special occasions like weddings and graduations, as well.

I want my desk calendar to show me what coming, in terms of time--the month ahead, even the current month, and i don't want to flip to the front of the calendar to have to find it. In the case of this calendar, there are three years (2007 through 2009) all squashed together near the front of the thing.

For the first time in all the years i've been using a desk calendar to keep track of my life (20+ years), i'm going to buy another desk calendar with which i will just replace this one. Yes, i AM that bothered by the lack of "amenities", so to speak, of this calendar.

Synopsis: Great pictures. Riveting commentary about the pictures. Really disappointing layout. I want a calendar, first, and pretty pictures/great words, second. This desk calendar does not give me what i want in the way i want it.

If you want gorgeous pics accompanied by great travel words and LOTS of space to plan your next trip (and the one after that) then this is a great calendar for you. Unfortunately, it's not so useful for me, your basic soccer mom.