Tony Wheeler > Quotes

“From Unlikely Destinations: The Lonely Planet Story, re: the travel book boom of the 1970s
Surprisingly, none of the new developments in travel publishing came from established companies. The changes in the air seemed to completely bypass them and when they did wake up to the upsurge in growth it was too late -- they'd been overtaken. Much the same happened a decade later with computer books. Just as the travel book explosion was led by travelers who got into publishing rather than publishers getting into travel, so the computer book explosion was led by computer geeks getting into publishing. The regular publishers never saw it coming.”
― Tony Wheeler

“I’ve been surprised at how calm and orderly everything is in Zimbabwe; visitor numbers were clearly down, but Harare was neat and peaceful. It certainly didn’t look like a disaster zone. The hotels all seemed to be operating efficiently”
― Tony Wheeler, Tony Wheeler's Dark Lands1

“Our curious Western relationship with the country reinforces their strange status. We beg them to buy yet another squadron of supersonic interceptors to go with their latest platoon of tanks, plead with them to keep the price of oil low, and praise them as reliable partners in the Middle East while turning a very blind eye to their extreme distaste for democracy, not to mention the fact that they supplied nearly all the 9/11 terrorists and continue to promote dissent in the Islamic world.”
― Tony Wheeler, Dark Lands

“when you have been once, you will sure as fate want to go again.”
― Tony Wheeler, Across Asia on the Cheap