The story of Lonely Planet
In 1996 I set out on my first solo trip across Asia. I had a copy of Lonely Planet's South-East Asia in my hand and Lonely Planet India was stashed away in the bottom of my backpack. I arrived in Bali and negotiated with a taxi driver and found a guesthouse all thanks to the helpful advice of Lonely Planet.I probably didn't appreciate it much at the time, but the history of Lonely Planet and the book South-East Asia stretches back to 1973, the year I was born! Now after reading The Lonely Planet Story by Tony and Maureen Wheeler I can say that I have a new understanding of what went into creating the world's leading publisher of travel guidebooks.
Tony and Maureen Wheeler took an overland trip from London to Australia in the early 1970s. Although the route was popular with adventurous travellers at the time there was very little published information and certainly not the huge range of guidebooks that exists now. As a result of the trip they published a small book called Across Asia on the Cheap to give others advice about how to do the trip.
Tony Wheeler gives a very honest account of the ups and downs of the business from its humble beginnings to becoming the world's largest independent publishing house. The road to the top was not smooth, but I guess that is much like travelling in a way. His wife, Maureen, also includes some of her comments and this adds an extra dimension to the book.
I would have liked the book to go into more detail about the Wheeler's early travel experiences. The book mainly focuses on the development of the business. Still it was a great read and gave me a new appreciation for Lonely Planet.
Links
The Lonely Planet Story - at the Lonely Planet Shop
Big bucks in backpacking by Ron Gluckman
Labels: books
posted by David @ 2:25 PM
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