Profession: globetrotter

Forty years have gone by since they left London in a minivan and then published their first guidebook. “What roads did you travel from Afghanistan to India? Didn’t you catch any diseases? And how did two kids with just 27 cents left in their pockets manage to travel for six more months?” Such were the oft-repeated questions that pushed Tony and Maureen Wheeler to create the Lonely Planet series. In this dialogue with Gabriele Romagnoli, a traveller and keen observer of different cultures, Tony Wheeler will reveal his past as a tireless globetrotter and examine the history of his publications, which revolutionized the very notion of travel and guidebooks. He will explain how a penniless 20-year-old with a passion for exploration became the owner of a company worth millions, without ever losing his curiosity and drive. As Wheeler once wrote, “all you’ve got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over. So go!”.