the travel book by lonely planet

Lonely Planet Journey Books

Lonely planet the travel book: a journey through every country in the world, lonely planet.

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2004

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The Travel Book: A Journey Through Every Country in the World (Lonely Planet) Hardcover – 1 Oct. 2016

There is a newer edition of this item:.

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Take a journey through every country in the world. 850 images. 230 countries. One complete picture.

With details of every United Nations-approved country in the world, and a few more principalities and dependencies besides, Lonely Planet's Travel Book is the ultimate introduction to a world of travel and the essential travel reference book for every household!

Each country is profiled by Lonely Planet's expert authors and features details of when to visit, what to see and do, and how to learn more about the country's culture from its film, music, food and drink. Every entry has a map and statistics about the country.

All brand new, incredible photography illustrates each country, depicting what life is like in each nation from photographic portraits of people, beautiful landscape photographs and vibrant street photography.

This premium packaged 448-page book with beautiful rainbow foil on the cover will make an impressive gift.

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, gift and lifestyle books and stationery, as well as an award-winning website, magazines, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.

TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

• Print length 448 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Lonely Planet
• Publication date 1 Oct. 2016
• Dimensions 27.81 x 3.94 x 35.43 cm
• ISBN-10 9781786571205
• ISBN-13 978-1786571205
• See all details

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Product description

From the back cover, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 178657120X
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lonely Planet; 3rd edition (1 Oct. 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781786571205
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1786571205
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 27.81 x 3.94 x 35.43 cm
• 292 in World Atlases & Maps
• 787 in Travel Pictorials
• 2,653 in Travel Reference & Tips

About the authors

Lonely planet.

With over 150 million guidebooks in print, Lonely Planet is a trusted source for any traveler. Since our inception in 1973, we've inspired generations of travelers to discover amazing places and enabled curious travelers to get off the beaten paths to appreciate different cultures and become agents of positive change.

Stephen Lioy

When not in the field researching as a guidebook author, Stephen Lioy is a photographer, hiker, and travel blogger based in Central Asia. A “once in a lifetime” Eurotrip and post-university move to China set the stage for what would eventually become a semi-nomadic lifestyle based on sharing his experiences with would-be travellers and helping provide that initial push out of comfort zones and into all that the planet has to offer. Follow Stephen's travels at www.monkboughtlunch.com or see his photography at www.stephenlioy.com.

Joseph Bindloss

Joe Bindloss has been writing travel books for more than a decade, roaming across India, Nepal, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and Australasia. As well as writing guidebooks for Lonely Planet, Time Out and other publishers, Joe writes for numerous newspapers, magazines and websites, including the Guardian, the Independent, Wanderlust and Real Travel. Joe was born in Cyprus but grew up in rural East Anglia. He studied science and journalism in Brighton and London. Since then, Joe has lived all over the place, including in Chicago, Manila and Melbourne. He is currently based in Northeast London with his partner, press photographer Linda Nylind.

Robin Barton

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5 big travel lessons and one ‘mistake’ from 50 years of Lonely Planet

Tony Wheeler has spent half a century traversing the globe but still carries a guidebook. Naturally, it’s his own.

“Just a couple days ago in Brazil, I went to Iguazu Falls,” Wheeler, 76, said during a recent video call from a hotel guest room in New York City . “I went across to Argentina and had the Lonely Planet guidebook. It said to take the walk close to the river level because everybody heads to the top one. You know, the guidebook got it right.”

Wheeler and his wife, Maureen, founded Lonely Planet guidebooks 50 years ago. In 1972, the newly married couple bought a ratty old car in London and drove east, across Europe, and then farther east, to Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, where they sold their vehicle. In Australia, their final stop, one adventure ended and another began.

Their first publication, “Across Asia on the Cheap,” spawned more than 150 million guidebooks covering 221 countries. It also heralded a new generation of travelers who were young, adventurous and scrappy. Like true rebels, they ventured where few parents had gone before.

“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.”

In 2011, the Wheelers, who split their time between London and Melbourne, Australia, sold their publishing company. Red Ventures, which also owns the Points Guy , took over in 2020. Although they are no longer actively involved in the series and have upgraded their travel style, they still embody the spirit of the “ backpacker’s bible.”

The day after Tony returned from South America, he shared some of the lessons he has learned from his 50 spins around the Lonely Planet.

1. Always carry on

Mishaps happen to even the most seasoned traveler, and you just have to roll with it.

During his recent trip in Brazil, the airline repeatedly canceled his flight to New York. He spent four hours standing in line at the airport counter trying to sort it out. “You can fly across the Atlantic in the Concorde in that amount of time and have a meal, as well,” he said dryly.

Also this year, an incident in France forced the railway to shut down its entire line. Then a torrential rainstorm hit. “I was standing around on a platform with rain pouring down for four hours,” he said.

Wheeler gamely acknowledged that a traveler’s best material often comes from plans that went awry.

“People like to hear the bad stuff,” he said. “No one wants to hear that my flight left on time, my seat was the one I wanted, I liked the meal and my baggage turned up.”

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.

2. Travel for the people, not the politics

Of all the travel guides, Wheeler said Burma caused them the most angst. At the time, people were urged to boycott the country to avoid indirectly aiding the brutal military regime. After several research trips, the couple decided to publish the book in 1979, but encouraged travelers to support local businesses and not government-owned ones.

“The locals really wanted the tourists, and it wasn’t just for the money,” Wheeler said. “It was for the communication with the outside world.”

Wheeler is similarly conflicted by Iran. “The government’s awful, but the people are wonderful,” he said. To illustrate this point, he described the heartwarming interactions he repeatedly experienced in restaurants. Diners would notice that he was eating alone and spoke English and would invite him to join them at their table.

“How often does that happen in a restaurant in England or America?” he said. “In Iran, that does happen and I think it’s kind of amazing.”

The eighth edition of “Lonely Planet Iran” is scheduled for released next December, an update to the 2017 version.

3. Trust your research and instincts

On the subject of crime, Wheeler has been fortunate: He has been a victim only once, when he was mugged in Bogotá, Colombia. He said travelers should thoroughly research a destination but also trust their instincts.

“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.”

On a family trip in Guatemala City, the Wheelers set out at night in search of food. The streets were empty and unnerving. But the next morning, they discovered an entirely different city — vibrant, lively, safe.

Wheeler has ventured to more than 170 countries, including many that have faced conflict, such as Syria, Libya and Yemen. He does not take safety lightly. He is intrigued by Nigeria — “It’s the center for movies in Africa and has a lot of entrepreneurial activity ” — but is cautious about visiting Africa’s most populous nation because of safety concerns. Many foreign offices, including the State Department, advise travelers against visiting Nigeria.

“You start with the idea that it’s not going to be totally safe,” he said, “but I’d like to see it one day.”

4. Explore ‘two streets over’ from main drag

For countless travelers, Lonely Planet opened the door to unknown or undiscovered places, but some critics say the books worked too well and have led to overcrowding. Wheeler’s solution to overtourism is actually a Lonely Planet tenet. He recommends always going “two streets over” from the main drag for sightseeing as well as shopping, dining and lodging.

“Everyone is in St. Mark’s Square,” he said of Venice. “There are other parts of the city you can go to and find churches that are not crowded with tourists.”

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.

5. Choose a train over plane

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.

“It was a nice train, and there was quite a lot of conversation at the tables in the bar,” he said. “It was what train travel is supposed to be.”

When possible, he chooses more eco-friendly modes of travel. For a return trip from Lugano, Switzerland, he took the slower but greener route home: train from Zurich to Paris, then Eurostar to London. In Uruguay and Paraguay, he relied on trains and buses, which have vastly improved since his last overland adventures.

“My bus travel years in South America was a long time ago,” he said. “It felt dangerous all the time, the buses were uncomfortable and the bus stations were not good places to be.”

This time around, the bus station in Montevideo, Uruguay, was modern and had a great breakfast spot. The buses were comfortable and safe. The seats came with belts that people actually wore. There was a toilet onboard.

“It was definitely a real change from 40 years ago,” he said.

6. ‘A 50-year mistake’

The company’s name did not stem from a romantic notion about connecting travelers or making the world a less forlorn place, but instead from a 1971 documentary film called “Mad Dogs and Englishmen.”

Over too much red wine at a Chilean restaurant in Sydney, the Wheelers discussed the film’s song “Space Captain” and the opening lines sung by Joe Cocker: “Once I was traveling across the sky; this lovely planet caught my eye.”

Smitten with the lyrics, Tony suggested calling the series, “Lonely Planet.” Maureen agreed, but pointed out the misheard word. “It’s been a 50-year mistake,” he said.

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