This was published 5 years ago
Travel tips: Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler
By Sue Williams
Tony Wheeler.
THE NUMBER OF COUNTRIES I'VE VISITED ... is 175. You don't have to be a UN member to be on my list, but I do have my conditions on what constitutes a "visit"; transiting the airport doesn't count.
ANY PASSPORT MISHAPS? I lost a passport once, at Dubai Airport. I had it at check in, but lost it going through security, left it somewhere pre-departure, left it on the flight? I have absolutely no idea. Fortunately, I had a second passport with me, but it was a major pain.
I GOT MY FIRST PASSPORT WHEN ... I was six. I've got a US visa in it that I applied for when I was seven.
MY PASSPORT PHOTO IS ... dull. Without a smile, it doesn't look like me at all.
I CAN'T STOP GOING BACK TO … Italy, partly because although Lonely Planet is now more than 10 years behind me, its Italian partners still like to invite me back as it's the biggest publisher of guidebooks in Italian. This year it was to the Grand Hotel di Rimini where I was given Room 315 – where Fellini, who was born in Rimini, always stayed. Later I met his niece and closest relative Francesa Fellini.
AISLE OR WINDOW? Thank God there are people who want the aisle seat, so there's less competition for the windows.
MY LAST TRAVEL DESTINATION WAS ... Azerbaijan, last month, just a few days, because I'd never been there (although I'd driven along the border, on the Iran side for a distance once). I enjoyed it, very friendly people, lots to see including some weird modern architecture.
MY NEXT ONE IS... The Maldives, almost a week, again because I've never been there, but have looked down on them many times between Dubai and the WA coast. It's a good stopover between Oz and the UK.
I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO ... the scuba diving (what else?). It will be the 36th country where I've dived.
WHAT I REALLY WANT FROM MY NEXT TRIP IS ... good scuba diving obviously, but since [my wife] Maureen is not a diver, I want her to have a good time doing whatever one does when one's partner is underwater. Otherwise all my diving trips would be solo.
I LOVE TO TRAVEL BECAUSE ... it never gets boring. It's uncomfortable sometimes, but there's always inspiration for another trip, a photo of something or some artefact in a museum (the Pergamon Museum in Berlin was a killer in that respect), a book (Ali & Nino was an inspiration for Azerbaijan), music (Layla & Majnun, recently performed at the Melbourne Arts Festival, for Azerbaijan again). Or people who've been there and pass their enthusiasm on.
MY TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY IS ... just go! I'm still delighted when you go some place and think 'Wow! Well, I never expected that!' or 'That was a complete surprise!'
THE ONE TRAVEL MISTAKE I ALWAYS MAKE IS ... never having enough time, although I guess it would be disappointing to leave a place and think 'done that, don't need to go back there'.
THE ONE THING I REALLY DO GET RIGHT WHEN I TRAVEL IS ... travelling light. It's a rare trip where I have to check baggage – after all, nobody important knows that I only have three of anything, one on, one in the wash, one drip-drying on the shower rail. I'm amazed at people lugging gigantic bags around.
IF I HAD TO SIT IN THE MIDDLE SEAT THE OTHER PASSENGERS I'D WANT ON EITHER SIDE OF ME WOULD BE ... Year of the Cat singer-songwriter Al Stewart. I've been a fan since I was at university and saw him at the Royal Albert Hall just a year or two ago. His amazing story songs combine history and travel like nobody else. On the other side I'll have writer Geoff Dyer – Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, Yoga for People Who Don't Want to be Bothered With It, Paris Trance.
THE ONE FAMOUS TRAVELLER I REALLY ADMIRE IS ... Richard Burton (the translate-the-Kama-Sutra one, not the Elizabeth-Taylor-serial-husband one), for his ability to learn languages (the fault I'm going to work on next lifetime) and his sheer dedication to "getting there". Getting circumcised so you can sneak in to Mecca is seriously dedicated trip preparation!
THE ONE FAMOUS PERSON I'D LIKE TO TRAVEL WITH IS ... Joseph Banks on the Endeavour. It would be a real-life Close Encounters of the Third Kind trip and he was one of the first people to describe this crazy Pacific Ocean activity: surfing. And he may have been one of the first Europeans to return with one of those crazy Polynesian inventions: a tattoo.
AIRLINE FOOD IS ... often surprisingly good, given the hassles getting it on to that tray in front of you. But one of the pleasures of travelling at the sharp end is the privilege of dining in the airline lounge pre-departure, or even after arrival as well.
AIRPORT SECURITY IS ... amazing; amazing that 17 years after 9/11 so few places have developed anything new on security. Far too often it's still too short a lead in to unpack and organise your stuff before the X-ray machine and then a total jumble after the machine.
HOTELS ARE ... either boring or exciting. Interesting hotels are always worth searching out and very often I do. Getting there is half the fun, why shouldn't staying there fit that equation as well?
I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO TO ... Yemen. Absurdly, when visiting the Yemen has been a possibility (and there have been times) I've never got there. I kick myself. The book Travels in Dictionary Land and the classic 1974 Pasolini film Arabian Nights are inspirations.
I'VE NEVER WANTED TO GO TO ... cruise ships and cruise ship-land, wherever that might be. Big cruise ships that is, the ones that don't go anywhere. Little cruise ships are OK, after all how else do you get to Antarctica? And (see windows and aisles above) the fact that so many people do love big cruise ships is great; it leaves more room elsewhere.
Tony Wheeler wrote his first guide book with wife Maureen in Melbourne in 1973, Across Asia on the Cheap. It grew into the travel book empire that the BBC bought into, making the couple worth a tidy $190 million. While Tony still writes books, the couple also run a charitable foundation, Planet Wheeler.
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