Geo answer

Travel writing is on our radar for today’s Geo Quiz. We’re looking for a country that’s stirred up some trouble in the travel guide industry.

An author for the Lonely Planet guidebooks claims he plagiarized or invented parts of his books. He says in one case, he didn’t even visit the country he wrote about.

And that’s the country we’re looking for today. It’s the 4th largest in South America. This country is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

It’s about twice the size of France. So you can’t miss it.

But apparently the travel writer says he DID miss it…and now he claims guidebooks in general can’t be trusted.

We’ll find out more about that… and we’ll reveal the answer …

We’re perusing travel guides for today’s Geo Quiz.

A former writer for the Lonely Planet books has published his OWN book on the industry.

It’s called “Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?”

Thomas KohnstammThomas KohnstammThomas Kohnstamm says he accepted freebies and made up parts of the guides he penned.

Kohnstamm is quoted saying, “They didn’t pay me enough to go to Colombia….I wrote the book in San Francisco.”

And Colombia’s the answer to our quiz today. Lonely Planet, which is partly owned by the BBC, says it’s reviewing Kohnstamm’s work. Meantime, we decided to do a reality check with a seasoned travel writer.

Ginger Otis contributed to the Lonely Planet guide, South America On a Shoestring. She says travel writing isn’t always such a juicy assignment: