Lonely Planet is a guidebook publishing empire that has shaped the travels of millions of people around the globe. Today’s guest is the founder of Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler. He has been described by The New York Times as ‘the trailblazing patron saint of the world’s backpackers and adventure travellers’.
It all began when Tony Wheeler and his wife Maureen embarked on an overland odyssey driving a banged-up old car along the ‘Hippie Trail’; a popular route for free-spirits in the 1960s and 70s from Europe to Freak Street in Kathmandu. The Wheelers eventually arrived in Australia with only a few cents left in their pockets
Little did they know when they set off, that their adventure halfway across the world would take them on a much bigger journey from printing the first Lonely Planet pamphlet ‘Across Asia on the Cheap’ in 1973 to building a multi-million-dollar travel publishing giant.
TONY WHEELER’S CULTURE GUIDE
Space Captain (1970 song) by Jo Cocker (\"Once I was traveling across the sky, this lovely planet caught my eye\")
Arabian Nights (1974 film) by Pier Paolo Pasolini
DESTINATION INSPIRATION
Socotra, Yemen
Karachi, Pakistan
The Bahamas
London
Iran
Afghanistan
Freak Street, Kathmandu
Bangkok
Singapore
Kuta, Bali
Western Australia
Paddington, Sydney
Tehran, Iran
Shiraz, Iran
Iraq
Siggy’s, Kabul, Afghanistan
Pyongyang, North Korea
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
The Falkland Islands
Cartagena, Colombia
Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Antarctica
The Himalayas, Nepal
The Australian Outback
Montevideo, Uruguay
You can find more of Tony’s travels at tonywheeler.com.au
If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate and review so others can discover this podcast as well. If you’re looking for some more travel inspiration, you can find me on Instagram @escape.artist.podcast or visit www.escapeartistpodcast.com
See you next week for another episode of The Escape Artist!
Xx Edwina
(Music by the talented Giselle Rosselli)