老澳门六合彩开奖记录

For more than 40 years, independent travellers have relied on 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 to provide advice and information, on anything from the cheapest beds to the best place for scuba diving. And for all that time, the legendary guidebooks have been created by 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 worldwide team of writers.

In LP鈥檚 early days, armed only with notebook, pen and shoe leather, these intrepid men and women created ground-breaking guidebooks to destinations such as China, Africa and India. In more recent times, the pen may have been replaced by a mobile phone, but LP writers still walk the streets, ride the trains and check the hotels, to ensure travellers always have recent and reliable information.

Then as now, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 writers have always been proud to 鈥渢ell it like it is鈥. So in this new series we ask some of LP鈥檚 old-hand writers to tell a few tales from their own travels, to reminisce a little, and compare their experiences past and present.

First cab off the rank is David Else, global nomad and LP old-hand, now entering his fourth decade as a professional travel writer.

David Else at his writing desk in 1987 and below in the London 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 office in 2017
David Else at his writing desk in 1987 and below in the London 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 office in 2017 漏 David Else

The ferry came to a sudden halt with a gut-wrenching sound of metal on rock. Despite attempts by the crew (who鈥檇 been enjoying local hooch), the boat was stuck, and I was as close as I鈥檝e ever been to shipwrecked.

This memorable event happened off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, where I鈥檇 taken the decrepit ferry to a remote island with a single hotel that needed checking for 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 West Africa guidebook. But thanks to the drunken captain that plan was scuppered, and I was marooned on a reef near a completely different island. As I waded ashore in the dark, trying to keep my backpack dry, and trying not to think about sharks, I thought to myself 鈥渢he things I do for 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥.

That was in the mid-1990s. I鈥檇 been hired by LP to cover six countries in West Africa, but it wasn鈥檛 my first time in this part of the world. I鈥檇 originally started travelling in Africa in the 1980s, where my trips included riding on trucks through Sudan, sailing by dhow to Zanzibar, and even reaching the fabled city of Timbuktu.

(Clockwise from left) David in Namibia in 1991; 老澳门六合彩开奖记录's Trekking East Africa guidebook and David in Egypt in 1989
(Clockwise from left) David in Namibia in 1991; 老澳门六合彩开奖记录's Trekking East Africa guidebook and David in Egypt in 1989 漏 David Else

To fund my adventures I wrote articles and took photos for magazines and newspapers, and created some slim guidebooks for a couple of UK-based publishers. Everything was print, of course. This was years before the era of 鈥榙igital products鈥 such as ebooks and travel websites, let alone blogs and Instagram.

Alongside my early writing, I worked for travel companies in places like Egypt, Namibia and Tanzania, organising safaris and leading treks on Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and other mountain areas. It was this experience that led to my first gig with 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 in 1991. Looking back, it was remarkably easy, yet a major turning point in my life.

At a trade book fair in London I met Tony Wheeler, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 founder, just about the time LP was expanding and developing a series of trekking guidebooks. I said to Tony, "Would you be interested in a book about East Africa?", Tony said "Yes", and that was it. Of course, I had to prove I could string some decent words together and knew my way around the destination, but once I鈥檇 passed the 鈥渁uthor test鈥, I started to work on the first edition of Trekking in East Africa. Over the next decade I spent more time in Africa than I did at home, eventually writing about 40 books for LP.

(Clockwise from left) 1993 David Else & local guide Matthew on summit of Kilimanjaro; 1993 David Else exploring the Rift Valley between Kenya and Tanzania in 1993; building a makeshift fridge in the bush in Botswana in 1996
(Clockwise from left) 1993 David Else & local guide Matthew on summit of Kilimanjaro; 1993 David Else exploring the Rift Valley between Kenya and Tanzania in 1993; building a makeshift fridge in the bush in Botswana in 1996 漏 Rod Grant

On my early trips in those pre-internet days, communication was by air mail letter. Anyone wanting to contact me would write to the Poste Restante (a mail-holding service) in Niamey, Harare or whatever city they knew I鈥檇 be passing through. Then I鈥檇 go to the main post office and queue in a dusty corridor, hoping for a red-and-blue-edged envelope with news from home.

When the fax machine was invented, it felt so amazingly modern. Receiving messages that were only days old, instead of weeks or even months old, certainly made my planet feel less lonely.

Then came email. But wifi was still a way off, so travellers used public computers in internet cafes. At least messages could be received and sent the same day, but download speeds were glacial. Oh, the many hours I spent in internet cafes from Cairo to Dakar, simply waiting for a screen to reload.

(Clockwise from left) David and his daughter hiking in Switzerland in 2007; with his wife Corinne on Mt Kenya in 1993 and with his daughter researching the England guidebook at the Angel of the North in 2005
(Clockwise from left) David and his daughter hiking in Switzerland in 2007; with his wife Corinne on Mt Kenya in 1993 and with his daughter researching the England guidebook at the Angel of the North in 2005 漏 David Else

Technology progressed and mobile phones appeared. I remember staying in a backpackers鈥 hostel in Cape Town, where a bunch of travellers were hanging out in the bar. Somebody got a phone out of their bag and made a call. Everyone else just stared in amazement that a mere backpacker had such a wondrous new-fangled device.

Away from encounters with technology, I had many other memorable moments on the road in Africa. I once hitched-hiked back from Senegal via Niger across the Sahara, and got lost in a sandstorm. While on a walking safari in Zimbabwe, I was charged by elephants, and on another visit nearly had my canoe flattened by a hippo leaping from a high bank into the water. Who even knew hippos could leap? Back in West Africa, I was once stuck in Bamako with scheduled flights grounded, but scored a ride on a smugglers' plane into Freetown in Guinea (US$100 cash, no receipt, no ticket, no questions). And all that's before I get onto the escapades I've had while sampling some of the continent's more disreputable hotels on behalf of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录's loyal readership.

Around the turn of the millennium I handed the Africa baton to other 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 writers, and focused instead on my own backyard, writing several editions of LP鈥檚 landmark England and Great Britain guidebooks. I still got my boots dirty by working on Walking in Britain, and still kept my travel bug alive with trips to India, Mexico, Greenland, France and Switzerland.

Cycling in Ethiopia in 2009 and David in Zanzibar in 2017 漏 Peter Bennett

During this time, my wife and I had children, and on some of my research tours around Britain I was joined by my young daughter. Since then, not surprisingly, family travel has become a specialist topic, and I鈥檝e written various articles for parents on locations from Disneyland to Sri Lanka.

In 2017, things turned full circle, and I went back to Africa to cover Zanzibar for 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 Tanzania and East Africa guidebooks. Of course, a lot had altered in Zanzibar since my first visit back in 1984 鈥 there were many more hotels, all with wifi, and regular high-speed boats rather than the occasional dhow 鈥 but the friendliness of the people, the labyrinthine streets of the Old Town and the unbelievably blue waters of the Indian Ocean were all unchanged.

My research included visiting a hotel on a small islet off the mainland. On the way back the tide was too low, the boat was beached, and 鈥 you guessed it 鈥 I had to wade ashore. A lifetime of travel, and I鈥檓 still saying 鈥渢he things I do for 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥.

I wouldn鈥檛 change it for the world.

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