Tony Wheeler was born in England but spent most of his younger years in Pakistan, the West Indies and the U.S. due to his father's occupation with British Airways. He returned to England to do a university degree in engineering, worked for a short time as an automotive design engineer, did an MBA, and then dropped out on the Asian overland trail with his wife, Maureen, in the early 1970s. That journey took many months to complete and proved too amazing to keep to themselves. Urged on by friends, they wrote about it in the first ever Lonely Planet guide – Across Asia On The Cheap. It was the start of a company that now has over 500 staff, 300 authors, publishes more than 500 titles and sells million books a year - a company that has become synonymous with independent travel itself. Tony has contributed to dozens of Lonely Planet guidebooks over the past three decades and retains a 25 percent stake in the company. He continues to travel every chance he gets.