People like Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet is a large travel guide book publisher. As of 2011, the company had sold 120 million books since inception.

Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked on an overland trip through Europe and Asia to Australia, following the route of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition.

The company name originates from the misheard "lovely planet" in a song written by Matthew Moore. Lonely Planet's first book, Across Asia on the Cheap, had 94 pages, was written by the couple in their home. The original print run consisted of stapled booklets.

Tony returned to Asia to write Across Asia on the Cheap: A Complete Guide to Making the Overland Trip, published in 1975.