I get the feeling there's deals going on around me, especially when I travel to conferences, like I did for LeWeb3 in Paris last December.  I bumped into Robert Scoble a few times, mostly at the conference hall - now Scoble has mentioned the main reason he was in Paris last year, it was to Walk around Paris with Dave Sifry and discuss his new TravelGuide platform.

I admit, I heard about the TravelGuide yesterday and thought .. so what? Don't we have a ton of travel guides as it is?  Apparently not - not like this, according to Scoble:

"…I was sworn to secrecy about what we were doing in Paris last December. You thought I was there to attend and speak at the LeWeb conference. I was. But we also were testing out Dave Sifry’s new business idea, which he now calls Offbeat Guides. Several people have blogged about them overnight. TechCrunch has a further writeup about the guides.

So, what is it? It’s a paper book. Horrors! Paper? Travel guides? How old school. Heheh.

But, from the moment I saw it I wanted it. Why? It was a paper guide customized to Dave’s agenda. His hotel was right on the cover. Inside everything he needed to know was there. His schedule. The restaurants within walking distance of his hotel (and other ones he wanted to visit). Weather. Transit stations. A list of cool tourist destinations we wanted to get to, and info that he needed to know about them. (When we tested his guide out we were standing in front of the Louvre in Paris).

Even things like key phrases in the language of the region (good for finding a bathroom, or buying a beer), plus exchange rates, tipping guides, that kind of thing.

But why are these so great? Because they are up to date to when you actually travel."

I asked for an invite code so I could try it out on my own, but I have to admit - if Offbeat Guides does what Robert Scoble describes, it will help while traveling to an unfamiliar place.