Lonely Planet's bad trip

[Gerardo A]

"...Thomas Kohnstamm admitted to the Daily Telegraph that he didn't really go to Colombia before writing the Lonely Planet guide to that country because "they didn't pay me enough." Instead, he pumped a girlfriend who worked at the Colombian Consulate for information. The publisher is now reviewing the titles Mr. Kohnstamm has written for it..."

The guy also claims he dealt drugs in order to raise food money during one of his assignments in South America. Interesting story. I usually trust the Lonely Planet and other guides, and enjoy their writing style.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3742731.ece
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...013605,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/04/13...net/index.html

[Jimmy Cantiello]

So the gist of the story is that the guy's a sleazeball.

[Surfer]

Lonely Planet's office is based in West Oakland, in fact, when I worked for the East Bay Conservation Corps back in 2001, our office was in the same building as theirs. I got to know a few of their employees, nice people. They would give us outdated editions of various guides for free.

[clinthopson]

Creative journalism seems to be the standard these days.

OTOH, I've used several of the lonely Planet books and they've been very helpful.

[jesus marion joseph]

Best vacation I never had.