In late 1972， my wife and I had spent six months traveling through Asia when we landed in Bangkok from Calcutta. We’d bought an old car in London， driven it all the way to Kabul， sold it for a small profit， and carried on east by whatever transport came our way. We didn’t realize it at the time， but a travel revolution was about to take place in the region. In the next 40 years， travel was going to be on a growing track everywhere in the world， but nowhere would the change be as great as in Southeast Asia.

My wife and I continued south: We hitchhiked from Bangkok to Singapore， took a ship to Jakarta， and took a ride on a New Zealand boat sailing from Bali down to Australia. Sure， there were other tourists around—we certainly weren’t first-time pioneers—but compared with today’s numbers， they were very small.

Cheap airline tickets， high-speed rail， fast-holiday hotel... The world has become a much less lonely place in many ways in the four decades since the first Lonely Planet published in 1972. Yet I never forget that if you want to get away from the crowds， the empty places are still out there.

Earlier this year I was kicking around the Solomon Islands and ended up one day at a small resort just south of the port of Gizo. I took a resort boat and paddled out into the bay to an island a mile offshore. I pulled the boat onto the sand and there I was. How many people get to do that· Tourist numbers to the Solomons are still tiny despite scuba diving， comfortable places to stay， and fine local beers.

I’m a lucky traveler. I get that excitement of experiencing something by myself， far from the crowds， on a regular basis. You don’t have to walk to the remote corners of Tibet or boat to the backblocks of the Pacific to find your own place. Surprisingly， in our crowded world， it’s still extremely easy to escape the crowd. Could you find a more crowded European destination than Venice in the summer· Well， go there， walk a few blocks away from the crowds in St. Mark’s Square， choose any one of a dozen beautiful old churches， sit down on a bench， and look around. Chances are you’ll be by yourself.

The world is a more crowded place， the check-in lines are longer， the planes are bigger， the tourist numbers are larger， but if you want a lonely place you can still find it.

Bangkok曼谷

Calcutta加爾各答

Kabul喀布爾

region 地區(qū)

hitchhike搭便車

Jakarta雅加達

Bali巴厘島

Lonely Planet

《寂寞星球》旅行指南

kick around常換住處

Solomon Islands所羅門群島

Gizo吉佐

paddle劃槳

scuba dive 用水肺潛水

backblocks人煙稀少的腹地

Where was the greatest change of travel growth going to take place according to the text·

（Find the KEY in this issue）