PHOTOGRAPHS: JONATHAN STOKES, SIMON URWIN, CATRIONA GREW
‘Make it happen.’ You’ll see this mantra preached throughout our pages. It’s the practical call to action that supports so many of the armchair travel moments in each issue. This month, you’ll equally find the phrase rolled out as we guide you through age-old hilltop towns in Sicily (p49) and the fast-evolving heart of Los Angeles (p76). It’s our way of offering the planning advice to shift a travel experience from your wish-list, hopefully, to a reality. Making it happen runs right through Lonely Planet’s 45-year history. While I can say that no other travel magazine anywhere in the world has such experience and expertise to call on, I also want to grab this chance to flag a regular feature we recently introduced in our new Journal section: Unplanned (p44). This is where we celebrate the complete opposite: the mess of travel; the unplanned events that can be the happiest and most memorable. In this issue it’s the turn of our magazine’s newest staff member, Catriona Grew, to reveal an instance of triumph born from adversity – how the panic of stepping onto the wrong bus in Turkey led to the wonderment of exploring Cappadocia. Sometimes you just have to put yourself in the way of opportunity.
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