I’m Iain Stewart, author of dozens of books for Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and other travel publishers. Over the years I’ve covered destinations including Indonesia and Ibiza, Guatemala and Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Turkey.
This series is partly a nostalgia trip back to those days when a hitting the road meant packing a blue-spined guidebook, sharpening your wits and trusting travel tips from randoms.
A world of dodgy bus timetables, hand-drawn maps and pushy touts.
We’ll meet the writers who research the books, readers who used them and hear misadventures from the road.
Kevin Raub worked for many years as a music journalist for Rolling Stone, living the rock ’n’ roll life in New York, before he shifted to travel writing and moved to Brazil. We chat about his journeys in Latin America, researching Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and Honduras.
www.kevinraub.net
23 Jul 2026
In Africa with Stuart Butler
A journalist for Geographical magazine and many other publications, tune in for tales of voodoo (vodún) in West Africa, hammerhead sharks and kidnappers and his origins in Basil Faulty-land .
Stuart worked for Lonely Planet for many years. He describes his experiences in Africa: the Western Sahara and Chad, Benin, Uganda and both Congos with a little detour across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen.
22 Jun 2026
Afghanistan with Paul Clammer
Paul Clammer first visited Afghanistan a few weeks before the Twin Towers attack and later founded the website Kabul Caravan.
He reminisces on writing the first edition of Lonely Planet Afghanistan, his life in Kabul and visiting Herat and the northern regions. A snapshot of an optimistic era before the return of the Taliban.
Best known for taking on challenging destinations, Paul has also authored books on Haiti, Sudan and North Africa.
‘Black Crown’, his biography of Henri Christophe (one of the leaders of the Haiti Revolution), received rave reviews.
https://www.instagram.com/paulclammerwriter
www.facebook.com/groups/afghanistantravelexperience (http://www.facebook.com/groups/afghanistantravelexperience)
https://www.youtube.com/@WanderingEmma (https://www.youtube.com/@WanderingEmma)
https://untamedborders.com/destinations/afghanistan (https://untamedborders.com/destinations/afghanistan)
3 Jun 2026
Our Man In Iran – Andrew Burke
Andrew Burke has worked on Lonely Planet guides to Senegal and Gambia, South Africa and many Asian destinations including Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. He’s also been a journalist for the FT, South China Morning Post and Australian Financial Review.
In this episode we focus on his numerous trips to Iran, a country he believes redefines traditions of hospitality. Expect tales of private parties in North Tehran, desert weddings, dealing with the Revolutionary Guard and the kindness of strangers.
(05:25) First Impressions, Tehran
(13:12) a desert homestay
(17:33) Iranian hospitality, and a wedding
(30:46) sights including Yazd
(34:48) cuisine and pre-Islamic culture
(40:45) North Tehran
(43:53) arrested by the Revolutionary Guards
27 May 2026
Mark Elliot (1) the Asia Overlander
Author Mark Elliot needs little introduction in Lonely Planet circles. Always prepared to go the extra mile, his dedication has resulted in seven KGB arrests (and counting). He’s crossed Lake Baikal by truck, dropped his trousers at a travel expo talk to make a point (to wide acclaim) and pioneered ‘Treasure Maps’ while writing Asia Overland, recognised as one of the greatest guidebooks ever written.
(01:10) Iran in the 1980s
(08:00) researching Asia Overland
(12:12) Azeribaijan
(15:00) the trouser-drop tale
(21:35) KGB and Siberia
(25:33) Lake Baikal
(29:12) in Russia, smiling is insane
(31.00) Indonesia, the Spice Islands at war
19 May 2026
Celeste Brash
Celeste Brash has had an extraordinary life and writing career. She's worked on 100 or so titles for Lonely Planet, covering destinations including French Polynesia, Southeast Asia , Central and South America, Mexico and the USA, usually travelling solo.
Her research trips have included negotiating the jungles and mangroves of the Mosquito Coast, hiking through tribal villages in the Luzon highlands and a testing trip to Pitcairn island.
Hold tight for some astonishing tales: a gunfight in Tegucigalpa, dodging hairy buffalo meat in Philippines and searching for Splash and Throb in Pattaya.
(02:55) Lonely Planet beginnings
(07:43) researching Sulawesi, Indonesia
(16:35) Thailand tales, Phuket rewrites, Pattaya
(20:53) Luzon, Philippines
(26:19) Pitcairn Island
(32:55) Honduras: guns , drugs 'n' bugs
(41:45) Gender and travel
(49:35) Guyana gig
(55:35) National Geographic and pearl farming
https://www.instagram.com/cjbrash
https://www.instagram.com/kamokapearl
12 May 2026
Nick Ray - Lonely Planet 'ledge
Nick Ray is a genuine LP 'ledge of over 20 years standing.
He talks about life in Cambodia, dodging bullets on the border, researching Rwanda, working on Top Gear Vietnam with Jeremy Clarkson and other tall tales.
(01.25) Watford - the sort of town that makes you want to travel
(06:52) researching Lonely Planet Cambodia
(18:50) around Vietnam
(24:48) Myanmar
(28:13) Indonesia: Gilis, Sumba, Bali
(36:13) Rwanda
(46:28) Cambodia today
(57:15) travel disasters, Ha Giang, border hassles
(65:17) working on Top Gear Vietnam
5 May 2026
Adam Skolnick
Stories from the road with Lonely Planet writer Adam Skolnick and his research trips which include Indonesia, Nicaragua and Mongolia. Adam recounts meeting Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert in Bali, the cocaine economy in Central America, his love of freediving and his new novel American Tiger.
(0:00) whales in Southern California
(07:54) Getting into Lonely Planet
(11:45) Lonely Planet Indonesia
(19:00) meeting Elizabeth Gilbert in Bali
(20:33) on to Papua and Raja Ampat
(30:18) research in Thailand
(38:48) Mongolia
(42:28) Mosquito Coast Nicaragua
(50:37) working with David Goggins
(55:06) American Tiger novel
13 Mar 2026
Introducing Planet Lonely
I’m Iain Stewart, author of dozens of books for Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and other travel publishers. Over the years I’ve covered destinations including Indonesia and Ibiza, Guatemala and Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Turkey.
This series is partly a nostalgia trip back to those days when a hitting the road meant packing a blue-spined guidebook, sharpening your wits and trusting travel tips from randoms.
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