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LONELY NO MORE
Our global communication with Lonely Planet Founder Tony Wheeler.
No collection of independent travel icons could ever truly be complete, of course, without at least a cursory mention of Tony and Maureen Wheeler, arguably the two people more responsible for changing the way backpackers move about the world than anyone else on earth. By now, their story is the stuff of (travel) legend: after finishing a mammoth London to Australia (via Asia) overland trip in the early 70s, the Wheelers were mobbed with questions from friends about how, exactly, they'd gotten from point A to point B in one piece. Across Asia on the Cheap was their answer, a hand-collated, trimmed and stapled booklet that the couple put together on their kitchen table. At the end of a second Southeast Asian trek, the Wheelers took up residence in a Singapore hotel room to write South-East Asia on a Shoestring, also known as the Yellow Bible, and probably the most influencial modern travel guide ever produced. Thirty years later, Lonely Planet shows few signs of slowing down. Young Pioneers recently phoned Tony Wheeler at his Melbourne home; here are a few highlights from that conversation.
Young Pioneers: When the company first started looking like it was going to become a real job, do you remember feeling guilty for not trying to build a career in a more conventional profession?
Tony Wheeler: Yes and no. It was a very hand to mouth existence for a number of years, so there wasn't much money in it. It was a real case of survival for a number of years. But we were enjoying what we were doing. It really felt... it was really interesting. You felt like you were doing something that was worthwhile and interesting. And at that age, if you haven't got high demands - if you haven't got a family to support, or you don't feel that you should be on some sort of bandwagon going somewhere, then money shouldn't worry you too much.
YP: How did your parents feel about what you were doing?
TW: Well, they used to joke about the fact that I had two university degrees and hadn't got a real job yet. But they could see what I was doing was fun, and my father - he's always been interested in travel in particular - was enthusiastic about it.
YP: Speaking of degrees, I understand that you went to London Business School. How helpful do you think that experience was, as far as staring your company was concerned?
TW: Well, business schools don't create entrepreneurs, let's face it. They create people who work for banks. And going to business school and then sort of starting up your own business and doing the crazy sort of thing that we did - of living hand to mouth when all your friends are on their second BMW - it doesn't make much sense.
YP: What do you think you would have ended up doing if you hadn't started Lonely Planet?
TW: I don't know. Originally I was an engineer, but I've always been interested in journalism and publishing. I failed my first year at university because I was spending so much time working on the university newspaper instead of going to classes. So who knows? I might have gotten into that. I worked for two years between university and doing my MBA, but I never had a real interest in what I was doing until Lonely Planet came along. It was just so much more interesting than anything I'd ever done before. There was no way I was going to do anything else!
YP: What's your worst-selling guidebook?
TW: That's a really hard question to answer. There have been books that we would put out and that just didn't sell, and then there are other books, like our guide to Yemen, which I like very much. It's a fascinating country, and if it wasn't where it is and if it wasn't for the political situation, it would have a lot of visitors. But of course it doesn't.
YP: We're a Pittsburgh-based publication, so I've got to ask you: when are we going to see a Pittsburgh city guide? We've been waiting forever!
TW: Look, I just don't think it would sell. I just don't think there'd be enough interest. And once upon a time, we would have done things, you know, even if they wouldn't sell. I still do things if they don't sell, if they're of real cutting-edge interest. But I'm afraid Pittsburgh is not cutting-edge interest.
YP: I'm afraid I have to agree with you.
TW: Now a guide to Baghdad would be cutting edge. There is a guidebook out to Kabul already. We haven't done it, unfortunately.
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ISSUE 01 / SPRING 04
News
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