Travel Blog: Life of a Travel Writer
The Harsh Economic Realities of Travel Publishing
by Jim Benning | 04.26.02 | 6:59 PM ET
Why has Lonely Planet, the undisputed king of indie travel guidebook publishing, been forced to lay off workers and move all of its book production to Australia? East Bay Express, a Northern California weekly, takes a long hard look at the company. And on a vaguely related note: Veteran writer Jeff Greenwald has decided to self-publish his new book, Scratching the Surface.
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Yahoo! BuzzRobert Young Pelton Doesn’t Need Your Stinking Permission!
by Michael Yessis | 04.25.02 | 7:54 PM ET
Robert Young Pelton, author of the notorious travel guide “The World’s Most Dangerous Places,” goes where the action is, and that means he’s been spending a lot of time in the Middle East. Mark Scheffler, who recently interviewed Pelton for Salon, calls Pelton a “sort of anti-travel writer.” Pelton just calls himself a writer. The interview touches on his “anti-travel” writing, but mostly covers U.S. military actions and lazy war correspondents.
Remembering Paul Grimes
by Michael Yessis | 04.24.02 | 7:53 PM ET
“It’s Very Interesting What People Leave in Parked Cars”
by Jim Benning | 04.23.02 | 7:50 PM ET
Lonely Planet recently launched a series of conversations with travel writers and adventurers. The inaugural event took place in Berkeley, California earlier this month and featured LP editor Don George interviewing writer Jan Morris.
Remembering Thor Heyerdahl
by Michael Yessis | 04.19.02 | 7:40 PM ET
Norwegian explorer and archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, who famously sailed from Peru to Polynesia on a primitive balsa-log raft called Kon-Tiki in 1947, died Thursday in his sleep at his home in Italy.
Lonely Planet’s Traveler at Large to Remain at Large
by Jim Benning | 03.28.02 | 7:32 PM ET
Fans of Don George’s weekly “Traveler at large” column at Lonely Planet’s Web site will be happy to know that both he and his column were not affected by recent job cuts at the travel guidebook publisher. “My job remains almost exactly the same as before, and my column will go on as ever,” he told World Hum.
Judging Hong Kong by its Cover
by Jim Benning | 03.27.02 | 7:28 PM ET
If you can’t judge a book by its cover, can you at least judge a city by its cover? Hong Kong tourism officials hope potential visitors won’t. That’s because Lonely Planet’s latest guide to the city features not enticing junks and colored lights on its cover but the Bank of China skyscraper enshrouded in what looks like smog—not exactly an inviting image. Lonely Planet apparently isn’t talking, but CNN.com offers a report on the matter, along with a photo of the cover in question. According to the article, a local lawmaker recently lamented to a wire service, “Travel guides usually show pictures with blue sky, white clouds, clear water and fine sand.” Yeah! Where’s Hong Kong beach? Where are the curling waves? The girls? Now there’s a cover!
Travel Writers Talk of Boredom and Lack of Fun. Then They Drink Beer.
by Michael Yessis | 03.22.02 | 5:52 PM ET
Lonely Planet Lays off 75 Employees
by Michael Yessis | 03.21.02 | 10:01 PM ET
You wouldn’t know it traveling around Asia these days, where every cargo-pant-wearing backpacker trudging into a roach-infested hostel is clutching a Lonely Planet guidebook, but the venerable indie travel publisher is suffering. LP announced this week that it is laying off 75 employees, or roughly 15 percent of its workforce, as a result of the lagging economy. Most of the cuts will be made at the company’s Oakland offices, where 152 people work as editors, designers and map makers, according to an Associated Press report. The move apparently will not affect the number of guidebooks published, so you’ll still be able to get the latest on Zimbabwe budget accommodations.
Guidebook Sales Exceed Reduced Expectations
by Michael Yessis | 03.13.02 | 8:31 PM ET
Major guidebook publishers who downgraded their sales projections after Sept. 11 are selling more books than expected, the Associated Press reports. Fodor’s, Rough Guide and Avalon are among the happy publishers. Globe Pequot isn’t. The Connecticut-based publisher laid off nine percent of its employees in late January.
Jeffrey Tayler on the Writing Life
by Jim Benning | 03.12.02 | 8:28 PM ET
In the latest installment in his series of interviews with travel writers, Rolf Potts queries Atlantic Monthly contributor Jeffrey Tayler, author of Siberian Dawn and Facing the Congo. Among other things, Tayler reveals the secret to spotting bad Peace Corps writing and explains how he came to the writing life. “My writing derived from the conviction I conceived during my college years: one should lead one’s life as if one were the protagonist of an epic novel, with the outcome predetermined and chapter after chapter of edifying, traumatic, and exhilarating events to be suffered through,” he says.
Interview with Robert Young Pelton
by Michael Yessis | 03.05.02 | 2:29 PM ET
Kojo Nnamdi, host of the Public Radio program Public Interest, interviewed Robert Young Pelton last week. Pelton, the author of The World’s Most Dangerous Places, spoke about several of his adventures, including his recent experiences in Afghanistan where he famously interviewed American Taliban John Walker Lindh for CNN.
Why Rent a Car When You Might Miss a War Tale or Two
by Jim Benning | 03.04.02 | 11:41 AM ET
John Flinn hasn’t often rented a car in his more than two decades of travel. For starters, the Californian confesses, he doesn’t like to drive. But that’s not the only reason he prefers other modes of transport, Flinn writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. “Trains and buses are filled with local people: village housewives heading into the city to do their Saturday shopping, schoolchildren in blue blazers and ties, white-haired former RAF pilots who don’t need much prodding to tell you about their role in the Battle of Britain,” he writes. “Passengers and conductors are often affable and gregarious sorts, eager to share tips about your destination. When you’re driving, you meet none of these people; you’re sealed into a solitary metal box hurtling along the motorway.”
Interviews with Bud Greenspan, Andrew Solomon and Suzanne Vega
by Michael Yessis | 02.22.02 | 11:55 PM ET
The Savvy Traveler jumped on the Olympic bandwagon last week, talking with documentary filmmaker Bud Greenspan about life on the road and his decades-long infatuation with the Games. “Since I’ve been doing this I’ve probably got seven or eight million miles under my belt,” says Greenspan. “I spend as much time on planes as I do on the ground sometimes.” Previously, Savvy Traveler writer-at-large Tony Kahn spoke with Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, and the show’s host, Diana Nyad, tracked down musician Suzanne Vega, who comes from a family of traveling musicians.
Former Los Angeles Times Travel Editor Dies
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.02 | 1:20 AM ET
Jerry Hulse, who ran the Los Angeles Times travel section from 1960 through 1991, has passed away. In its obit, the Times reports that, in 1970, the Columbia Journalism Review said that Hulse was “widely considered to be the best travel writer in the country.”
