In a Lonely Planet

Joe Cummings is an American travel writer, journalist, cultural commentator, and occasional actor and composer, considered one of the most influential figures in modern guidebook writing and cultural reporting on Southeast Asia. He is recognized for writing the very first edition of the Lonely Planet Thailand guidebook in 1982 . Cummings' work has received significant recognition, including being a two-time recipient of the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold Award for his writing, and Mexico's Pluma de Plata (Silver Quill) for outstanding foreign journalism on Mexico.