Fifty years ago, a book changed the world. It changed the way we navigated places and experienced different cultures. And it all came about by accident.
In October 1973, the first in what would become the Lonely Planet imprint was published. The previous year, newlyweds Tony and Maureen Wheeler had left England with £400 between them, a second-hand minivan bought for £50 and an aim to reach Australia, but not much of a plan beyond that.
“When Maureen and I met, one of the first topics of conversation was travel, so travel had always been on our itinerary from the start,” Tony Wheeler tells The Big Issue.
“We just decided we would do the Asia Overland Trip
