‘Tohoku Dreaming’, originally published in Flightless, Footscray: Lonely Planet Publications, 2008. The last job they gave me was book-ended by madness. It began somewhere in the labyrinthine insanity of Tokyo. I was trying to sleep in a tiny apartment, sweat pouring off me in great sheets. I was on assignment for one of the major [...]

Photo: Simon Sellars. Originally published on ballardian.com, 11 November 2008. Sorry for the long absence — I promised ‘daily updates’, well, that didn’t happen. It’s taken me ages to get my thoughts down about Barcelona and Kosmopolis because the experience was so rich, but contributing factors included jet lag, computer problems and a lengthy spell [...]

>> The first LA flyer, 2000 (designed by Daniel New) I was recently asked about my involvement in the Liquid Architecture festival, so I thought I’d explain it here. Liquid Architecture originated in 2000 at RMIT University when I was working at RMIT’s Union Arts as their special events officer. My brief was to devise [...]

In June 2007, I updated and rewrote Weissmann’s destination report for Melbourne. Weissman provides destination reports for travel buyers, planners and arrangers around the world.

In early 2007, I updated and rewrote Weissmann’s destination report for Sydney. Weissman provides destination reports for travel buyers, planners and arrangers around the world.

For the second edition of Bluelist, I wrote a profile of Japan’s Tohoku region. ‘Profile: Tohoku’ by Simon Sellars from Bluelist 2, Lonely Planet Publications, November 2006. TOHOKU Grim Up North? They call Tohoku the Japanese ‘deep south’ (even though it’s up north), a place where Japanese city slickers simply won’t go. Not only is [...]

‘Treading Lightly on the ‘Galapagos of Japan’ by Simon Sellars, published in Code Green, Lonely Planet Publications, May 2006. Ecotourism may be the world’s fastest growing travel trend but you’d be forgiven for thinking it never caught on in Japan. Relentless urbanisation has destroyed much of the country’s natural beauty; the government insists on hunting [...]

Bluelist is a fairly newish title from Lonely Planet. It collects the hottest travel trends from around the world, based on suggestions from LP readers, and extrapolates them into top-ten lists and feature articles. I worked on the title firstly as a consultant, testing out prototype formats and templates, adding feedback and future directions, and [...]

In 2004 I completed my first freelance writing job for Lonely Planet: travelling around the Netherlands, researching, updating and rewriting the Dutch chapters for the Western Europe and Europe On A Shoestring guidebooks. These were published in February and March 2005 respectively. I’m only including excerpts from the introductory material I wrote, rather than accommodation [...]

Illustration by Nick Howlett, from Abaddon #2. Originally published in Abaddon #2, Autumn 1999, under the pseudonym ‘Symon Brando’. + Download the Abaddon PDF. I shrug off the clucking of my family and make my way to International Departures. With the ticketing formalities over, I slump at the bar and order drinks. I sit and [...]