Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet, wants you to get out of your comfort zone and explore away from the main drag.
Tony Wheeler has spent half a century traversing the globe but still carries a guidebook. Naturally, it’s his own.
“These were books for people in their 20s with no money,” he said. “If their parents had gone to Europe, they were going to Asia. If they were in Europe, they were going down to Spain and across to Morocco. Instead of escaping the States to Mexico, they’d go down to South America. Their horizons were getting larger, wider.”
Speaking of lost luggage, he avoids it by limiting himself to carry-on. He said an opera singer friend would have significantly reduced her stress level had she followed suit. On her flight from Munich to his London home, the airline lost her bags. Several days later, a delivery man drove up in a vehicle packed with hundreds of pieces of luggage waiting to be reunited with their owners.Of all the travel guides, Wheeler said Burma caused them the most angst.
“Things are not always as unsafe as you fear they are,” he said. “Once you get to a place and are out in the streets, you will feel if it is okay or not.” Another option: Skip the popular destination for a lesser-visited city, such as Ravenna, which he described as the opposite of Venice. “It almost felt like it was undertouristed,” he said.This year, Wheeler has traveled by train in a dozen countries. He said his best train experience was on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train from Seattle to San Francisco.
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