By the time Tony co-founded Lonely Planet Publications in 1973, he already had the travel bug. And ever since, travel and discovery have been at the heart of his life and career.
I love absurd travel suggestions – ones you read and you think ‘where on earth did that come from?’ The Australian newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald featured a travel enquiry:
• If the only flight option is Ryanair, should we ditch that destination?
A couple were looking at a visit to Sardinia (good idea), but were contemplating scrapping the whole plan if it required flying with Ryanair. Michael Gebicki, the paper’s ‘Tripologist,’ answered the query with an absolute straight face, suggesting the possibility of flying with Wizz Air (now there is an airline I have had really bad experiences with) or taking a seven to eight hour ferry ride (well that could be fun), but never hinting at why anybody might hate Ryanair so much that they’d abandon a trip rather than board one of Michael O’Leary’s 737s.
Over the years I’ve taken Ryanair on quite a few occasions and they’ve always done exactly what they promised, got you there safely and relatively comfortably (OK the seats don’t recline, big deal for short flights?), didn’t lose my luggage and ran to schedule. The only Ryanair flight I’ve taken which was somewhat delayed was totally down to bad weather, you could see it out the window, and the pilot kept us informed on why things weren’t going to plan. Something which I’ve had too much experience of not happening on other airlines. And of course, underline this, Ryanair are cheap. Sometimes amazingly cheap.
▲ Equally important Ryanair – or rather Michael O’Leary – are often hilariously funny. Take their recent dispute with Elon Musk. Mr Tesla got angry with Ryanair for not installing Starlink Wi-Fi access on their aircraft. O’Leary suggested Musk was an idiot and ran a ‘Big Idiot’ seat sale. Wonderful. It’s not surprising The Economist suggested Ryanair might be the world’s most successful airline.
Then, at the other end of the cost spectrum, there’s Remote Travel. Now I have never taken a Remote Travel trip, but I’m on their mailing list and their trips often look fantastic. And often look absurd! Check their 15-day Everest Base Camp trip, a mere US$29,000 out of Kathmandu. I’ve done the Everest Base Camp trip and had a wonderful time, but certainly not in the comfort Remote Travel can offer. Take their trip and if at some point along the route up to the base camp your feet get a bit tired you snap your fingers and a helicopter pops down to save you walking for the rest of the afternoon. Even if you’re not in the market for helicopter hiking check their website, the pictures are terrific.
I love absurd travel suggestions – ones you read and you think ‘where on earth did that come from?’ The Australian newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald featured a travel enquiry: • If the only flight option is Ryanair, should we ditch that destination?...
There are lots of places still to visit on my travel bucket list and Greenland is certainly one of them. In recent weeks Taco Trump has emphasised that it could be important to get there sooner rather than later. After all if Trump succeeds in invading Greenland we co...
Melbourne has a new subway line – the Metro Tunnel – running through five new stations and currently having a soft opening, before the schedule launches full tilt on 1 February 2026. The new Parkville Station will probably be the most useful new station, since it’s at...
Melbourne photographer Paul Dodd asked me to take part in his photo project The Chair. I was one of 40-odd subjects, each photographed in his studio, seated on the same chair, under identical lighting conditions, and captured in timeless black and white. We were encou...
The last couple of years – travelling up the coast of Albania, around Greece close to Athens and by sea from Athens to Corfu, a Mediterranean stretch of Algeria – has made me think how much of a circuit of the Mediterranean I have managed to cover over the years. Li...
No question, a highlight of my 2025 travels was my visit to the Greek island of Hydra. I definitely should have read Charmian Clift’s Peel Me a Lotus, her love letter to Hydra, before my visit, but no problem, it worked equally well reading it back home in Australia, ...
In 1930, philosopher Will Durant met a man who said he was about to commit suicide unless someone gave him a good reason not to do so. This inspired Durant to contact 100 people involved in the arts, politics, religion and sciences to write what they felt life was all...
Australian artist and architect Robert Powell died on Ko Samui in Thailand in 2020. Although he is probably little recognised in Australia many visitors to Nepal – not just Australians – will have a Robert Powell print of one of the country’s iconic buildings on a wal...
Sam Dalrymple, still in his ‘20s, is the son of well-known writer William Dalrymple, and Shattered Lands: Five Partitions & the Making of Modern Asia is easily the most interesting historic – through to current events – title I’ve read this year. I’m also surprise...
◄ Until 28 January 2026 the British Library has an intriguing exhibition about ‘secret maps.’ Maureen and I were involved in getting the exhibition off the ground and I’m there with the Secret Maps poster at the British Library. As the library’s website announces i...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013