Traveling along the Asian ‘hippie trail’ of the 1970s led Tony to create Lonely Planet Publications. From a single self-published title Lonely Planet has grown to more than 500 staff and offices in London and Oakland as well as the head office in Melbourne, Australia. Lonely Planet sells more than seven million books a year and has over 500 titles in print as well as one of the world’s most popular travel websites, a fully digital photo image library and a television production company. Tony still spends much of each year ‘on the road.’ In early 2009 he rode the Tanzania-Malawi section of the Tour d’Afrique, the four month, 12,000 km bicycle odyssey which covers the length of Africa each year. According to the New York Times Tony is ‘the trailblazing patron saint of the world’s backpackers and adventure travelers.