Will Thomas Kohnstamm Go To Hell With Other Travel Writers? : Kathika Travel Website

By Amanda Kendle

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Travel guide book writer Thomas Kohnstamm is probably delighted with the media storm that surrounded the recent release of his book Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?. Its long subtitle, A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism seems to sum up what’s been reported about Kohnstamm and the book lately.

Kohnstamm is a travel writer who used to write for Lonely Planet, and the stories circulating had claims like he had written a guide book to Colombia without ever visiting the country (in fact, he just updated the history section, and nobody asked him to visit Colombia in person), and that he violated the ethics of Lonely Planet guide book writers by accepting free hotel rooms and other “gifts” during his research travels. In support of him, plenty of other guide book writers have admitted to doing the same thing, since the pay rates for guide book writers rarely leave much cash left over at the end of a journey.

The book itself is more a tale of Kohnstamm’s personal travels and his decision to become a travel writer, and it’s full of girls and drugs and plenty of other interesting action. It’s probably a good read for other would-be guide book writers, and young travelers who are out to have plenty of fun. After all the media hype, it probably won’t live up to everybody’s expectations, but it probably isn’t meant to.