Lonely Planet travel books have been the so-called “backpacker's bible” for 50 years, ever since Tony Wheeler and his wife Maureen self-published a guide based on their own adventure driving across Europe and Asia.Maureen, left, and Tony Wheeler modelling the Lonely Planet T-shirt in 1979. The British couple published their first Lonely Planet guidebook in 1973, a year after backpacking across Europe and Asia to Australia.
Tony Wheeler said the initial guidebooks were aimed at young, penniless backpackers like himself and his wife. That "cheap" car took them across the European continent and a large chunk of Asia. They drove through Turkey and Iran, all the way to Afghanistan, where they sold it for a small profit in Kabul.
When they released the first Lonely Planet guidebook, Wheeler said they initially "did it for ourselves" and weren't sure how much of an audience there was for the guidebooks. But as it turned out, it attracted a lot of interest from fellow travellers. "We didn't do that. We were a small factor among many others. We didn't start putting in all the flights and building the international hotels."Digital nomads want to work from anywhere. Some worry that's creating problems for local communities