By 1972, Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler     1     (complete) a life-changing journey from London to Australia, and written a booklet about a portion of it: Across Asia on the Cheap. As they sat in     2     Italian restaurant tasting a few glasses of wine, they tried to dream up the name for     3     (they) new publishing company.

“Once while travelling across the sky,” said Tony,     4     (repeat) the lyrics to the song Space Captain, as sung by Joe Cocker, “this lonely planet caught my eye.” The correct words were actually “lovely planet”,     5     somehow “lonely planet” stuck… and here we are today.

Our hippy-era name must never have sounded     6     (suitable) than it does right now, if your passion for travel     7     (contain) as you avoid mixing with others. I’m so glad we can deliver you some much-needed mental escapism with this issue: to transport you between the     8     (place) and people we hope you’ll soon be encountering in person again.

Let me finish my speech by saying thank you     9     my happy and highly creative team,     10     good humour and spirit of adventure I’ve so appreciated all these years.