His father worked for the British Overseas Airways Corporation as an airport manager, so he grew up in Pakistan, the Bahamas, Canada, the United States and England, never spending as much as two years in the same school.
[2] Wheeler holds an engineering degree from Warwick University and an MBA from London Business School.
After travelling across Europe with Maureen Wheeler, they arrived in Melbourne in 1972 and put out their first book, Across Asia on the Cheap in 1973.
[citation needed] His books since Lonely Planet include Bad Lands and Unlikely Destinations.
[4] In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Tony and Maureen Wheeler were both appointed as Officers of the Order of Australia (AO), each for "distinguished service to business and commerce as a publisher of travel guides, and as a benefactor to a range of Australian arts and aid organisations".