GLOBETROTTER
ILLUSTRATION: MUTI-FOLIO ART. PHOTOGRAPHS: LORENZO PENNATI, ANNIE SCHLECHTERSOMETHING TO DECLARE:
Why reading a magazine is the best way to fuel your travel dreamsI’ve seen things people wouldn’t believe. Trees weeping
dragon’s blood on the mysterious island of Socotra. Men
fighting crocodiles to drag building sand from the bed of the
Niger River. A tribe painted in the form of skeletons, waiting
at a bus stop in Papua New Guinea.
Stephen Fry has given me a lift in a London black cab between the
towering rock sculptures of Monument Valley. Dolly Parton has
welcomed me to her Tennessee mountain home and Peter Jackson has
guided me through the fantastical landscapes of Middle-earth.
There have been raucous celebrations along the way. Watching
bridges open beneath a midnight sun to mark the summer solstice in
St Petersburg. Stepping smartly across flaming coals before a Hindu
temple in Mauritius. Singing, dancing and drinking amid fields of
wildflowers on the fairy-tale islands of Stockholm’s archipelago.
Nature has confronted me in all its wild glory. I’ve swum among
rainbow-coloured reef fish with the Bajau Laut ‘sea gypsies’ of Malaysia
and watched tigers stalk through India’s Satpura National Park,
inspiration for The Jungle Book. I’ve picnicked among goths, rockers
and kids dressed as Pokémon creatures as cherry blossoms unfurled
around Tokyo’s Harajuku district.
There have been so many surprises and discoveries. I’ve witnessed
the aurora australis drift across the winter night skies of Tasmania. I’ve
tasted the fruits of an 8,000-year-old winemaking tradition in Georgia
and I’ve peered into a turquoise volcanic crater lake from the peak of
Gunung Rinjani on the Indonesian island of Lombok.
And yet I haven’t, strictly speaking, sampled this great diversity
of travel experiences in person. As the editor of Lonely Planet Traveller
since its launch – and so through helping to imagine, commission, hone
and polish the stories that have filled our first 100 issues –
I’ve found myself continuously taken on a mind-
expanding journey through the eyes of our writers and
photographers. I thank them for their endless efforts to
introduce insightful characters, deliver an
atmospheric sense of place and generally make the
world seem both more approachable and less
predictable.
You may, like me, have read the magazine since
issue one or this may be the first copy you’ve ever
picked up. Either way, I hope we’ve fed your love of
travel, expanded your wish list and even given you
a break from the swirl of practicalities,
politics, digital noise and everyday
intrigue that congests our lives.PETER GRUNERT
is the group editor
of Lonely Planet’s
magazines in the UK
and USA. He recently
managed a trip to
Dollywood, but still
longs to meet Dolly
Parton in person.