Travel experts have revealed a country he will never visit again – and two are popular holiday destinations. Tony Wheeler, who founded Lonely Planet with his wife in 1973, said there are four countries that will never return to blog posts on his website.
His list tops in Russia, where travel experts visited several times. Wheeler's dislike for the return comes from acts of violence in Russia, including the Ukrainian invasion in 2022, the Malaysia Airlines plane shooting in 2014, and the 2018 attempted assassination of Salisbury.
Next was Saudi Arabia. Wheeler said that “so many reasons” would not come back while having “a very interesting time” in 2002.
He noted that murder of journalists such as Jamal Kashogi, murder of East African domestic workers subject to extreme exploitation, and exotic wildlife treatments are kept as pets.
Wheeler also said he would not visit Bali despite “so many good things” about the Indonesian island. He said he wouldn't come back until “they're sorting out the ridiculous traffic.”
He said Bali has “great art and dance, great food, great shopping, great shopping” but doesn't want to spend two hours in a car just 18 miles.
The last country on Wheeler's list is the United States. Travel experts work in 47 of the 50 states, but in connection with President Trump, we no longer see “the orange man and his associated scoundrels running through the place.”
Wheeler said, “I'm happy to be able to keep it shoulder to shoulder with Russia and North Korea at the bottom of (his) dance cards.”
