The Lonely Planet Story
by Tony and Maureen Wheeler

Part autobiography, part corporate history, part travelogue this is a book with a difference. This is written in a major part by Tony with Maureen pitching in with personal stories or anecdotes.

A very interesting fast paced book that takes you through the start of Lonely planet in a Rented Apartment in Sydney till today when the same Lonely Planet is a Multi million dollar company with a Brand so well entrenched in the traveler psyche that it has become completely synonymous with Travel.

For a book about a Travel company, there is hardly a 2 page section about the wheelers in which either of them haven't been traveling to some place or the other. Flip open any page at Random and chances are that the Wheelers are in the middle of traveling to somewhere or have just arrived from somewhere.

It starts with Tony and Maureen, penniless and hungry in Sydney , and thinking of what to do next. They have just come to Australia after a RTW (Round the World trip), from UK > Europe > the Stans > Asia > to Australia. It is on this experience that they write their first book called "Across Asia on the cheap". Then the tale goes on with telling us of the Humble beginnings of Lonely Planet, when the complete Stock of LP could fit into the boot of Tony's car. He tells us how they then started with SE Asia guides gradually expanding and covering other bigger regions. How the marketing , folding , typesetting of the book was done in the initial days, by Tony, Maureen and friends.

From there on the book advances with the growth of LP and its international expansion, to Europe, USA and other places. There are amazing descriptions of real life travel adventures that he had while covering the regions for writing Guide books. The Book is also filled with little anecdotes by Maureen about certain incidents , one of my favorites being the description of how they met in a Park in UK.

The Later part of the book is filled with Advice for people interested in the Travel / Guide book industry and gives the reader a thorough feel of what it is like to run Lonely Planet or be a travel writer, its not as mushy as it sounds. As for the book i give my thumbs up to this ! This is a Page turner !