Wherever You Go: A Guide to Mindful, Sustainable, and Life-Changing Travel

by Daniel Houghton

From the former CEO of renowned travel guide publisher Lonely Planet, a look at how travel can transform not only the traveler, but also the world.

Imagine your job was to travel the world, then report back on how everyone else should do it. That’s what happened to Daniel Houghton when, fresh out of Western Kentucky University, he took the helm of legendary travel publisher Lonely Planet, then owned by a billionaire who had taken a shine to his work. Suddenly, he was not only jetting off to parts unknown, but closing business deals in foreign languages and scrambling to learn fifty different sets of table manners.

As the son of a Delta pilot and a flight attendant, Daniel had always loved to travel, but after Lonely Planet it morphed into a mission—to spread the word about travel’s unique power to change hearts and minds. In Wherever You Go , he speaks for, and to, a new generation, who want more out of travel than a list of experiences. They use it to develop empathy and cultural awareness, whether flying across the world or just heading to a different neighborhood for dinner.

Daniel shares his own tips, as well as drawing on interviews with travel legends like Richard Branson, pros like Delta’s longest-serving flight attendant ever, and everyday folks with fascinating stories. You’ll meet Kevan Chandler, a young man in a wheelchair who realized his dream of seeing Europe thanks to six friends who carried him around in a homemade backpack; Captain Lee Rosbach of Bravo’s Below Deck , who guides his young crew to all ends of the earth; and Laura Dekker, the youngest person ever to sail single-handedly around the world. They talk about everything—from their favorite places and their worst misadventures to the environmental and economic impacts of travel. And everyone attests to how their cross-cultural experiences have shaped their worldviews, their politics, their relationships, and even their careers.

Whether you’ve booked your next trip or you’re still Instagram-dreaming, let Wherever You Go inspire you to roam beyond your comfort zone.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 2019

Reviews

[Obsidian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

So I am seriously annoyed by this book. This book was supposed to be a memoir of the former CEO of Lonely Planet, Daniel Houghton that showed how travel changed his life and how it impacts everyone around you. Instead, we have Houghton dancing around what sounds like troublesome parts of his life (somewhere in there he got divorced) and just interviewing the rich and famous in traveler circles. Reading about how Houghton was treated as he took over the reigns of Lonely Planet is also really boring. I don't care how your coworkers were not that confident in you when they first met you (how did this person not know what a P&L report was??) or the hazing (maybe?) he supposedly experienced when he went to Beijing. The book even focuses at him trying to get their office digs ready for the BBC to come and discuss with the owner of Houghton's company about them taking over Lonely Planet.

I always say a mark of a good memoir is how open the author is with the readers. Great memoirs are hard to do. Great memoirs about a particular event, theme, etc. are really hard to do. I would have loved a book about travel actually being about travel, not him just talking about how many miles he traveled in a year. I wanted to hear about the countries/cities he visited, not how fast he had to run through an airport. I wanted to hear about the people he met, not how he became friendly with a cab driver in London who still picks him up free of charge. This whole book felt off.

The writing also was not that that great. Houghton mostly focuses on working at Lonely Planet and then provides one to two interviews in between "peeks" at his job. So the whole book is just a very short chapter about him, then pages of interviews in between each chapter. Also can I say that reading interviews of the rich and famous and how travel impacts them was just tone-deaf as hell. One guy he interviewed drove 1920s Aston Martin's through some of the "stan" countries over a period of months. What regular travel can do that?

The flow of the book was off from beginning to end. I think that this book maybe could have been punched up a bit if Houghton eventually includes pictures of something in the finished version of this book. For a supposedly great photographer, I can't imagine that the finished product has zero images.

[the grace review ౨ৎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boy oh, fuckin' boy... this was horrible LMAO! This book was marketed as a memoir of Houghton's life and how travel changed his but instead, it was a rich white man interviewing other rich (mainly), white people. The privilege REEKED in this book.

The only damn reason I finished it was because I was reading it for a read-a-thon...

[Hubert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sort of a waste of time, full of platitudes, interviews blend together, hard to separate out the various informants. Also promised as "mindful" and "sustainable" - and nothing mentioned about fossil fuel consumption! Author comes off as rather privileged. Repetitive - yes, travel and meeting new people in new cultures makes one more empathic, more knowledgeable about the world, and more willing to see things in new perspectives, and allows us to realize the common humanity in us all. Surprise!

[Diana Barbera · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely feel compelled to leave a negative review about a book but this book is BAD and a complete and utter waste of time. It is written in an annoying interview format better suited for a podcast about self-congratulatory affluent people than a travel book. The author asks other privileged people questions that have little to do with the supposed subject matter and somehow makes it all sound inane and dull. Hard pass.

[Rebekah Bonney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not one to give 1 star reviews, but this was really really such a poorly executed book. As in, he probably could have kept the title and should have 100% gotten a ghost writer. Even then, I don’t know if this would have been much better.

The book’s subtitle “A guide to mindful, sustainable, and life-changing travel” along with the fact that he was the ex CEO of Lonely Planet is what made me buy this book (I’ve already printed the label to return it). You would think it would include a guide on the objectives listed above, or at least be an inspiring read from one of the CEOs of a well know company in the travel sector. Nope.

The book is mostly filled with interviews. These interviews are not well done and mainly end on an incomplete, what-was-the-point-of-that note. Oftentimes it’s from higher-ups who travel hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of miles per year for work. It’s all paid, they have lots of money to spare, and it’s completely detached from the common traveller. It’s so inapplicable—and you know what, circumnavigating the globe twice (different ways each time, btw) within two weeks doesn’t really strike me as sustainable or mindful travel. This guy is completely tone-deaf to his own words.

I’m not going to go into much more depth as to why this book is such a poor read, the other reviews do a good job letting you know the other multitudes of reasons you should SPEND YOUR MONEY ON ANY OTHER TRAVEL BOOK. I looked forward to reading this book only because it would be over sooner. I have a thing about having dnf books.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description:
Daniel Houghton, the former CEO of Lonely Planet, is on a mission to spread the word about travel's unique power to change hearts and minds. He speaks for, and to, a new generation who want more out of travel than a list of experiences. They use it to develop empathy and cultural awareness, whether flying across the world or just heading to a different neighborhood for dinner. Daniel shares his own stories and tips, as well as drawing on interviews with legendary adventurers, travel professionals, and everyday folks.

Genre:
Adult; Non-Fiction; Traveling Tips; Interview about Traveling Experiences

Contents:
Introduction: Why Travel Matters
Chapter 1: Finding Your Sea Legs: Comfort Is the Enemy of Progress
Chapter 2: What's P&L?: Taking Every Opportunity
Chapter 3: Expanding Your Palette: The Subconscious Effect of Travel
Chapter 4: Expecting the Unexpected: Riding the Waves of Change
Chapter 5: Living Spontaneously: Get Rid of the Guidebook
Chapter 6: How to Embrace the Spirit of Adventure
Chapter 7: Expand Your Mind: How Travel Changes You
Chapter 8: Just Go!
Epilogue: Before you Go: A Travel Checklist and Best Practices

Subjects:
Travel -- Anecdotes.
Travel -- Guidebooks.
Travel -- Psychological aspects.
Mindfulness (Psychology)
Travel.
Branson, Richard Charles Nicholas (1950- )
McBride, James (1964-)
Marquet, David L
Tip, Bruce Poon (1967-)
Clifford, Charlie- TUMI bag-
Rosenthal, Philip (1960- )
Mills, Doug
Lynda, Lloyd
Dixon, Fred- CEO, NYC & Company
Jauncey, Jeremy -CEO, Beautiful Destinations
Captain Lee Rosbach
Chandler, Kevan
Costa, Anisa Kamadoli (Chief Sustainability Officer at Tiffany & Co.)
Jarvis, Chase Aaron (1971-) Photographer, CEO of CreativeLive
Saro-Wiwa, Noo (1976-) Author, Freelance Journalist
Dekker , Laura (1995- ) Dutch sailor
Mansfield, Stephen Lee (1958 - ) Author
Wheeler, Tony (1946 -) Co-Founder of the Lonely Planet guidebook company

List of Articles, Interviews, Context, etc.

A Conversation With Daniel Houghton (Podcast by Travel with Hawkeye)


Interview with Daniel Houghton, CEO of Lonely Planet (Podcast by The Heartbeat Podcast)

Interview with Daniel Houghton (Youtube)

Forbes Profile: Daniel Houghton

Daniel Houghton Profile (Twitter)


Reactions:
Daniel Houghton, former CEO of the Lonely Planet, chronicles his travel experiences and tells how he became CEO of the travel company at young age. He also interviews other well-season travelers about their travel experiences. About half of the book is written about the author's experiences and his personal and professional life; and the other half consists of interviews conducted by the author.

[Ingrid98684 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reeks of white male privilege. Didn't even make it through the second chapter before calling it quits.

[Elaine Best · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wherever You Go was tough for me to get through. I was pretty excited to start it as I have used Lonely Planet many times for trips through the US as well as abroad. By far, they are my favorite resource to turn to when planning trips.

You can imagine how disappointed I was in reading this then. Aside from numerous grammatical errors, this book just made me uncomfortable. Like, something didn’t sit right. Houghton earned the amazing opportunity to travel frequently for his job and yet the stories of what he experienced on his travels—how beautiful different cultures are, etc.—are few and far between. We learn about his rise to CEO-dom at LP as if he wants his readers to praise him for being a boy wonder. He interviews ‘power players’ in travel who don’t seem to be doing anything other than tooting their own horns. The choppiness between Houghton’s own memoir portions and the interviews is very disconcerting—no transition at all, let alone smooth ones.

[Janae · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an American currently living in Europe I am enthralled by all things travel related. I mean, I am in Europe. I must take advantage of all the traveling. As I read this book I related so much to the wanderlust of David Houghton. I enjoyed learning the snippets of back story about his airline employed parents instilling that love.
I did struggle with the flow of the book. I didnt find the transition from interviews and then back to David's own story to be smooth. There were also some additional spots as a reader that I would would recommend be tended to such as grammar, and perhaps some odd phrases.
Overall, learning about David's success with his business and the joy he finds in his personal travel was great. I learned quite a few travel trips, like always having a plus one. I especially enjoyed the added travel tips to the epilogue.

[Ozgun · Rating 1 out of 5]

A kid could write a better book

[Bryce · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well......it got me through my flight at least.

[Cricri & les chats · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a guidebook—it’s a catalog of privilege disguised as advice.

This book is anything but “mindful,” “sustainable,” or “life-changing.” Instead, it’s a collection of interviews with wealthy CEOs, including one who shamelessly drops a link to sell his own $600 suitcase. Another interviewee boasts about paying a steep price to be guided across a dangerous mountain by a local kid (and insists he doesn’t feel guilty about his privilege—just “lucky”), while another talks about hiring people at an exclusive price in an ultra-private location to access sites normally off-limits to tourists. The “advice” also includes taking Ubers just to wander around a city, or booking a random flight “just because you can” for a weekend getaway (sustainable, really?). You’ll even find accounts of traveling on extravagant luxury yachts—along with comments about how today’s kids (cheap labor?) are “lazy” and not grateful enough for the “opportunity” to work on these boats.

Toward the end, there are two or three interviews with genuinely inspiring guests (notably Kevan Chandler and Noo Saro-Wiwa), but even those are filtered through the author’s simplistic and privileged reactions.

In the end, this book is the exact opposite of what it promises—it’s a joke. I really love Lonely Planet, which is why it saddens me to feel so let down by the perspective of its CEO.

Forget mindfulness and sustainability—this is basically a love letter to luxury travel for the ultra-wealthy.

[Tory Turello - readtowander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Tiller press, the author Daniel Houghton and Netgalley for this ebook.

As a lover of travel myself I enjoyed this book. I hope that it will inspire non-travelers to take the leap and as for me it made me excited for my next trips and possibly look into a career in travel, although most people in the book just seemed to be at the right place at the right time when getting into their jobs. As a previous employee of a cruise ship it did make me sad that they were so looked down on by people in the book. Without my travel and work experience on a cruise ship, I would not be the avid traveler and thanks to them I’ve seen over 50 countries and have found places I want to go back to in the future for longer vacations. The format felt a little strange going between the author’s story and the interviews, but I appreciated the different interviews as they were people with a variety of jobs in the travel industry. I do feel however that they are all well known and high ranking people and maybe dare I say a more normal person would have been an interesting interview to have in between them. For example, I loved hearing the story of the Delta flight attendant. I’m not sure this is a book for everyone, but I would recommend it to someone who is in a travel funk or is interested in travelling having rarely or never done it before.

[Tammy (tales.of.tammy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A travel book unlike any other I have read, Wherever You Go looks at the experiences Houghton himself has had, as well as many notable people in the travel industry.
My expectations of this book and what it would be were quite different from the reality. While it was informative and I certainly enjoyed hearing about different peoples experiences, I had hoped for something a bit different and less interview style. I would have preferred more short story style and maybe each person focusing on a different aspect of travel. The title alone set my expectations: a guide to mindful, sustainable and life-changing travel. There is nothing wrong with the writing, the stories are interesting, it just did not meet my expectations based on the title. I wanted more on ideas to make travel a reality, ways of travelling in an environmentally friendly way (where my mind went when I read sustainable), and maybe how to start. I have been planning my first European adventure and other than not overplanning (which I agree with), I did not feel I came away with anything useful for my trip.
I would still recommend anyone interested in travel try this book as you may be looking for something different than I was!!!

[Jesse Paterson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the few books I've picked up and then put down without finishing. By halfway through the book, it was clear that there was no focus. This was not a book about how to travel in a fulfilling way, but rather a rambling and self-indulgent memoir ("Look at me and congratulate me on my accomplishments") interspersed with unfocused snippets of conversations the author had had with other rich people ("I loved staying in such and such world famous resort, and spent soooo much money on a guide so that I could have an 'authentic' experience").

Save your time, and look elsewhere for meaningful travel advice, because this doesn't even come close.

[Ericteur · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although it could have been a nice book, i find the marketing really appalling. In dutch, the book is called ‘travelling for worldimprovers’ and as a subtitle ‘conscious and sustainable travel’. This book has nothing with sustainable travel, the writer only talks about his millions of airmiles and all the flights he took. Sustainable, ahuhn. What I can’t understand is that in these times, exploring and adventure can also be found in the small things. No need to fly for hours, there is so much to explore when you just put on your shoes and start walking, also from your own front door.

[Austin Mangelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be rather boring, and focused so much on random details and moments of Daniels life, and not enough on actual, meaningful travel experiences he’s had. He shares random experiences from his travels or career for maybe a page or two, then stuff the rest with interviews of other travelers, but unfortunately I don’t feel he chose a diverse enough group of travelers to interview. I’d say I got something valuable from about 1 of every 20 pages. Definitely disappointed with this book

[Carol Bakker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm teetering between two and three stars. It was okay (**), but I liked it (***) enough to finish it.

Houghton's story is unusual: made CEO of Lonely Planet at 25 without having a clue what a P&L was!!! While the story was curious and interesting, the writing was low shelf.

He interviews other travelers with stock questions. On the audiobook they speak their answers. Good reminders that you don't travel to duplicate your life at home. For me, eating at McDonalds in Paris is a specious and withering sin!!

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. By page 30 I was exhausted by this fawning ode to wealthy entrepreneurs of the travel industry. They got to share reminiscences about being scrappy and adventurous, even when they were clearly sometimes paying exorbitant sums for the privilege of discomfort. Perhaps he got to something mindful or sustainable later on but I hated him and the book he wrote so much when I stopped that I almost want to start boycotting Lonely Planet books out of some desire for petty vengeance, even if he is no longer the CEO.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not for critics, nor is it as bad as the reviews on Goodreads entail, and I wouldn't dismiss Houghton's words for mere folly. He has many redeeming elements in his book that allows readers to reflect on the current pandemic and cutoff of travelling.

Check out my full review at www.projectbooklist.com

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read or listen to a travelogue for a book challenge I am doing. This is not my first choice. The people he interviewed were sometimes funny, but alot of the time boring. I didnt know alot of the people he interviewed so that was tough. I did laugh and find myself agreeing with a few. I think I should have found a single journal of travel instead of interviews. With 10 minutes left in the audiobook I fell asleep.

[Cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is it possible for a book to be this boring?? I was expecting a terrific and informative book about Daniel Houghton's travels. Nope! Silly, wasteful book about a bunch of self made and smug rich, white men. I'll pass... He caught a great opportunity and totally blew this one.

I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Hung Cao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost a 5 star read. Love the idea behind it and the stories and perspectives of others of different backgrounds that travel. It was missing something though, and I can't put my finger on what that was. It may have been a good read at the right time as I plan on traveling internationally a bit more in the next year or two.

[Katra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was hoping for. A more accurate title may have been "Interviews with CEOs of Travel Companies." I'm sure travel has been meaningful for them, but their experiences and starting point were so far removed from my life conditions that I just couldn't relate.

[Jerry Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good interviews with travel pros. Coincidentally the quote from Mark Twain “Travel is fatal to prejudice” we just saw at the Mark Twain home in Hartford Connecticut. And there is a submariner connection.

[Thomas de Groot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slechtste boek in jaren

[Sandy T. Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but I would have previewed fewer interviews and more stories by Daniel.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book full of interesting discussion and the travel experiences of interesting people! Be sure to check it out, especially the audio version.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It reads like a campfire! Incredible piece on getting o it of our comfort spaces and learning more about ourselves through places and people!

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what the title implies at all- just stories of travel and not how to have sustainable travel