NEW YORK -- They drove from Europe to Afghanistan in a car that cost $150, spent their first anniversary at the Taj Mahal, and hitched a ride on a yacht from Asia to Australia.

Everyone they spoke to wanted to know where they'd gone and how they did it. And so Maureen and Tony Wheeler wrote and self-published their first guidebook, "Across Asia on the Cheap," more than 30 years ago, and the Lonely Planet series was born. Now they've written "Unlikely Destinations: The Lonely Planet Story" (Tuttle Publishing, $16.95), describing the evolution of their company.

One anecdote concerns the creation of the name "Lonely Planet." Around the time that they were finishing their first book, the Wheelers had just seen a rock'n'roll movie, "Mad Dogs & Englishmen," and Tony Wheeler kept singing the words to a Joe Cocker song from the film called "Space Captain." The lyrics included a line about "traveling across the sky, this lovely planet caught my eye."

But Wheeler misremembered the phrase as "lonely planet." The error stuck, becoming the name of a company that now has offices on three continents, more than 600 titles in print and annual sales of over 6 million books.

The Wheelers, in the U.S. on a book tour, gave a talk about "Unlikely Destinations" and their travels June 4 at a Borders store in Manhattan. The audience asked for advice on everything from getting into North Korea to traveling around Malaysia. One fan noted at the talk that "Unlikely Destinations" is a good business how-to book in addition to being an interesting travel memoir.

In response, Tony Wheeler said: "The thing about business is: Do what you really believe in. We didn't start Lonely Planet because we wanted to sell lots of guidebooks. We did it because we wanted to travel."

The book, $16.95, is just now out in the U.S. from Tuttle Publishing, but it was originally published two years ago in Australia by Penguin with the title "Once While Travelling: The Lonely Planet Story."

First Published: June 15, 2007, 12:45 p.m.