Our Story

A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies. Lonely Planet was born.

Today, Lonely Planet has offices in Franklin, London, Melbourne, Oakland, Dublin, Beijing and Delhi, with more than 600 staff and writers. We share Tony’s belief that ‘a great guidebook should do three things: inform, educate and amuse’.

OUR WRITERS

Brett Atkinson

Central Vietnam

Brett Atkinson is based in Auckland, New Zealand, but is frequently on the road for Lonely Planet. He’s a full-time travel and food writer specialising in adventure travel, unusual destinations and surprising angles on more well-known destinations. He is featured regularly on the Lonely Planet website, and in newspapers, magazines and websites across New Zealand and Australia. Brett has covered areas as diverse as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Morocco, California and the South Pacific.

Lindsay Brown

Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia

Lindsay started travelling as young bushwalker exploring the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Then, as a marine biologist, he dived the coastal and island waters of southeastern Australia. He continued travelling whenever he could while employed at Lonely Planet as an editor and publishing manager. Since becoming a freelance writer and photographer he has coauthored more than 35 Lonely Planet guides to Australia, Bhutan, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea

Jayne D’Arcy

Timor-Leste

Taking the first step on a new country’s soil used to send shivers of excitement up Jayne’s spine: now everything about new sights and activities does. Keen to research by bike, she also loves checking out a new town’s early morning scene with a quick dawn run. Recent winner of an Australian award for best adventure travel story, she plans to keep on trekking. She’s worked in Ireland and Timor-Leste, and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. Instagram: @jayne.darcy.

David Eimer

Myanmar (Burma), Thailand

David has been a journalist and writer ever since abandoning the idea of a law career in 1990. After spells working in his native London and in Los Angeles, he moved to Beijing in 2005, where he contributed to a variety of newspapers and magazines in the UK. Since then, he has travelled and lived across China and in numerous cities in Southeast Asia, including Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Yangon. He has been covering China, Myanmar and Thailand for Lonely Planet since 2006. David also wrote the Plan Your Trip, Understand and Survival Guide chapters.

Paul Harding

Indonesia, Laos, Philippines

As a writer and photographer, Paul has been travelling the globe for the best part of two decades, with an interest in remote and offbeat places, islands and cultures. He’s an author and contributor to more than 50 Lonely Planet guides to countries and regions as diverse as India, Belize, Vanuatu, Iran, Indonesia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, Philippines and – his home patch – Australia.

Nick Ray

Cambodia

A Londoner of sorts, Nick comes from Watford, the sort of town that makes you want to travel. He lives in Phnom Penh with his wife, Kulikar, and children, Julian and Belle. He has written for countless guidebooks on the Mekong region, including Lonely Planet’s Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & Northern Thailand and Myanmar books, as well as Southeast Asia on a Shoestring. When not writing, he is often out exploring the remote parts of Cambodia as a location scout and manager for the world of television and film, including everything from Tomb Raider to Top Gear. Motorbikes are a part-time passion and he has travelled through most of Indochina on two wheels.

Tim Bewer

Thailand

After university Tim worked as a legislative assistant before quitting capitol life to backpack around West Africa. It was during this trip that the idea of becoming a travel writer and photographer was hatched, and he’s been at it ever since. He has visited more than 80 countries, including most in Southeast Asia. His first journey to Laos was in 1997, before the highway from Vientiane to the south was paved, and he’s returned nearly a dozen times since. He lives in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

Joe Bindloss

Southeast Asia regional content

Joe first got the travel bug on a grand tour of Asia in the early 1990s, and he’s been roaming around its temples and paddy fields ever since on dozens of assignments for Lonely Planet and other publishers, covering everywhere from Myanmar and Thailand to India and Nepal. When not on the road, Joe works as Lonely Planet’s Destination Editor for the Indian Subcontinent.

Greg Bloom

Philippines

Greg is a freelance writer, tour operator and travel planner based out of Siem Reap, Cambodia, and Manila, Philippines. Greg began his writing career in the late ‘90s in Ukraine, working as a journalist and later editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Post, an English-language weekly. As a freelance travel writer, he has contributed to some 35 Lonely Planet titles, mostly in Eastern Europe and Asia. Greg also researched the Plan Your Trip section and the Survival Guide section.

Celeste Brash

Thailand

Like many California natives, Celeste now lives in Portland, Oregon. She arrived however after 15 years in French Polynesia, a year and a half in Southeast Asia and a stint teaching English as a second language (in an American accent) in Brighton, England – among other things. She’s been writing guidebooks for Lonely Planet since 2005 and her travel articles have appeared in publications from BBC Travel to National Geographic. She’s currently writing a book about her five years on a remote pearl farm in the Tuamotu Atolls and is represented by the Donald Maass Agency, New York.

Austin Bush

Vietnam, Thailand

Austin originally came to Thailand in 1999 as part of a language study program hosted by Chiang Mai University. The lure of city life, employment and spicy food eventually led him to Bangkok and have managed to keep him there since. Austin works as a writer and photographer, and has contributed text and photos to more than 20 Lonely Planet titles including Bangkok; The Food Book; Food Lover’s Guide to the World; Ko Samui Encounter; Laos; Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei; Myanmar (Burma); Pocket Bangkok; Phuket Encounter; Thailand; Thailand’s Islands & Beaches; Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & Northern Thailand; and The World’s Best Street Food.

Ria de Jong

Singapore

Born in Sri Lanka to Dutch/Australian parents, Ria has always relished the hustle and excitement of this continent of contrasts. After growing up in Townsville, Australia, Ria moved to Sydney as a features writer before packing her bags for a five-year stint in the Philippines. Having moved to Singapore in 2015 with her husband and two small children, Ria is loving discovering every nook and cranny of this tiny nation. This is Ria’s second Southeast Asia on a Shoestring update.

Michael Grosberg

Philippines

Michael has worked on more than 45 Lonely Planet guidebooks. Whether covering Myanmar or New Jersey, each project has added to his rich and complicated psyche and taken years from his (still?) relatively young life. Prior to his freelance writing career, other international work included development on the island of Rota in the western Pacific; time in South Africa where he investigated and wrote about political violence and helped train newly elected government representatives; and a stint teaching in Quito, Ecuador. He received a Masters in Comparative Literature and taught literature and writing as an adjunct professor at several New York City area colleges.

Damian Harper

Thailand

With two degrees (one in modern and classical Chinese from SOAS), Damian has been writing for Lonely Planet for more than two decades, contributing to titles as covering destinations as diverse as China, Beijing, Shanghai, Vietnam, Thailand, Ireland, London, Mallorca, Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei, Hong Kong, China’s Southwest and the UK. A seasoned guidebook writer, Damian has penned articles for numerous newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, and currently makes Surrey, England, his home. A self-taught trumpet novice, his other hobbies include collecting modern first editions, photography and Taekwondo. Follow Damian on Instagram (damian.harper).

Ashley Harrell

Cambodia, Indonesia

After a brief stint selling day spa coupons door-to-door in South Florida, Ashley decided she’d rather be a writer. She went to journalism grad school, convinced a newspaper to hire her, and starting covering wildlife, crime and tourism, sometimes all in the same story. Fuelling her zest for storytelling and the unknown, she travelled widely and moved often, from a tiny NYC apartment to a vast California ranch to a jungle cabin in Costa Rica, where she started writing for Lonely Planet. From there her travels became more exotic and farther flung, and she still laughs when paychecks arrive.

Trent Holden

Indonesia

A Geelong-based writer, located just outside Melbourne, Trent has worked for Lonely Planet since 2005. He’s contributed to 30-plus guidebooks covering Asia, Africa and Australia. With a penchant for megacities, Trent’s in his element when assigned to cover a nation’s capital – the more chaotic the better – to unearth cool bars, art, street food and underground subculture. On the flipside he also writes books to idyllic tropical islands across Asia, in between going on safari to national parks in Africa and the subcontinent. When not travelling, Trent works as a freelance editor, reviewer and spending all his money catching live gigs. You can catch him on Twitter @hombreholden.

Anita Isalska

Malaysia, Thailand

Anita Isalska is a travel journalist, editor and copywriter. After several merry years as a staff writer and editor – a few of them in Lonely Planet’s London office – Anita now works freelance between Australia, the UK and any Alpine chalet with good wi-fi. Anita writes about France, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and off-beat travel. Read her stuff on www.anitaisalska.com.

Mark Johanson

Laos

Mark Johanson grew up in Virginia and has called five different countries home over the last decade. His travel-writing career began as something of a quarter-life crisis, and he’s happily spent the past eight years circling the globe reporting for Australian travel magazines (such as Get Lost), British newspapers (such as The Guardian), American lifestyles (such as Men’s Journal) and global media outlets (such as CNN and BBC). When not on the road, you’ll find him gazing at the Andes from his home in Santiago, Chile. Follow the adventure at www.markjohanson.com.

Hugh McNaughtan

Indonesia

A former English lecturer, Hugh swapped grant applications for visa applications, and turned his love of travel intro a full-time thing. Having done a bit of restaurant-reviewing in his home town (Melbourne) he’s now eaten his way across four continents. He’s never happier than when on the road with his two daughters. Except perhaps on the cricket field…

Rebecca Milner

Southeast Asia regional content

California born, longtime Tokyo resident (15 years and counting!), Rebecca has coauthored Lonely Planet guides to Tokyo, Japan, Korea and China. She is also a freelance writer covering travel, food and culture, published in The Guardian, the Independent, the Sunday Times Travel Magazine, the Japan Times and more. After spending the better part of her twenties working to travel – doing odd jobs in Tokyo to make money to spend months at a time backpacking around Asia – Rebecca was fortunate enough to turn the tables in 2010, joining the Lonely Planet team of freelance authors.

Simon Richmond

Malaysia

Journalist and photographer Simon Richmond has specialised as a travel writer since the early 1990s and first worked for Lonely Planet in 1999 on their Central Asia guide. He’s long since stopped counting the number of guidebooks he’s researched and written for the company, but countries covered including Australia, China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Turkey. His travel features have been published in newspapers and magazines around the world, including in the UK’s Independent, Guardian, Times, Daily Telegraph and Royal Geographical Society Magazine; and Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald and Australian newspapers and Australian Financial Review Magazine.

Iain Stewart

Vietnam

Iain trained as journalist in the 1990s and then worked as a news reporter and a restaurant critic in London. He started writing travel guides in 1997 and has since penned more than 60 books for destinations as diverse as Ibiza and Cambodia. Iain’s contributed to Lonely Planet titles including Mexico, Indonesia, Central America, Croatia, Vietnam, Bali & Lombok and Southeast Asia. He also writes regularly for the Independent, The Observer and The Daily Telegraph and tweets at @iaintravel. He’ll consider working anywhere there’s a palm tree or two and a beach of a generally sandy persuasion. Iain lives in Brighton (UK) within firing range of the city’s wonderful south-facing horizon.

Andy Symington

Thailand

Andy has written or worked on more than a hundred books and other updates for Lonely Planet (especially in Europe and Latin America) and other publishing companies, and has published articles on numerous subjects for a variety of newspapers, magazines and websites. He part-owns and operates a rock bar, has written a novel, and is currently working on several fiction and nonfiction writing projects. Originally from Australia, Andy moved to northern Spain many years ago. When he’s not off with a backpack in some far-flung corner of the world, he can probably be found watching the tragically poor local football side or tasting local wines after a long walk in the nearby mountains.

Phillip Tang

Vietnam

Phillip Tang grew up on a typically Australian diet of pho and fish’n’chips before moving to Mexico City. A degree in Chinese- and Latin-American cultures launched him into travel and then writing about it for Lonely Planet’s Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam guides. Writing at hellophillip.com, photos @mrtangtangtang, and tweets @philliptang.

Contributing Writers & Researchers

Isabel Albiston, Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Adam Skolnick

Published by Lonely Planet Global Limited

CRN 554153

19th edition – October 2018

ISBN 978 1 78868 148 3

© Lonely Planet 2018 Photographs © as indicated 2018

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