I think you are talking about a later era. For me, the Lonely Planet era was after the overland routes to India closed but before smartphones became popular. F

I think you are talking about a later era. For me, the Lonely Planet era was after the overland routes to India closed but before smartphones became popular. Flying started becoming affordable, and infrastructure in the form of backpacker hostels and printed guidebooks largely replaced the word of mouth as a way of sharing information. It became increasingly likely that if you discovered something nice off the beaten path, other backpackers had already been there and documented the place in a guidebook.