Thomas Kohnstamm also claims in a new book that he accepted free travel, in contravention of the company's policy. His revelations have rocked the travel publisher, which sells more than six million guides a year.

Mr Kohnstamm, whose book is titled Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?, said yesterday that he had worked on more than a dozen books for Lonely Planet, including its titles on Brazil, Colombia, the Caribbean, Venezuela, Chile and South America. In one case, he said he had not even visited the country he wrote about. "They didn't pay me enough to go Colombia," he said. "I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating -- an intern in the Colombian Consulate. "They don't pay enough for what they expect the authors to do."

An email to management, posted on the company's authors' forum, describes Mr Kohnstamm's book as "a car crash waiting to happen". "Why did you (management) not understand that when you hire a constant stream of new, unvetted people, pay them poorly and set them loose, that someone, somehow was going to screw you?" author Jeanne Oliver wrote. Ms Oliver, an experienced travel writer having written for Lonely Planet on eastern Europe, France, Germany and Greece, admitted to sending the email, but did not wish to comment further. Other writers believe some practices described in the book are widespread. Lonely Planet forbids their authors from accepting gifts or discounts.

Just as they craft advertising campaigns to woo vacationers, tourism promoters spend considerable time and resources subsidizing travel writers' itineraries. Armed with free airline tickets, complimentary meals and VIP access, travel publicists around the country sponsor junkets for hundreds -- if not thousands -- of writers each year, industry executives said.

"Everybody wants to run a press trip. Every bed-and-breakfast, every hotel, every tour operator," said James Plouf, who runs travelwriters.com, where publicists pay $900 a year to advertise junkets. "We won't accept the press trip if there's not some kind of subsidy." The site counts 15,000 people as members, and posts about 200 trips a year, including a cycling trip through Ethiopia, a Hawaiian food tour and a visit to North Carolina's Swag Country Inn. The Greater Miami tourism bureau alone estimates it provides free or discounted trips to more than 300 writers a year.

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"I hate to be a cynic about this," said Kelly McBride, an ethics instructor at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg. But unless the article appears in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune or other major publication, "I assume the work is tainted when it comes to travel journalism. . . . I assume the judgment of the writer has been compromised by getting free meals or free plane rides."

Local tourism officials said that, as a rule, large U.S. newspapers do not accept free trips. But policies vary throughout the media industry. The Miami Herald bars staff reporters from accepting subsidies but will print freelance articles about free trips, travel editor Jane Wooldridge said.

I've been on my own doing my own thing for so long, that it never occurred to me that travel could put a strain on a relationship. Now that I have a serious boyfriend, it's an issue. So, as I meet more and more married travel writers, I want to ask them, how do you do it? How do you deal with the leaving, with the return? Yesterday I happened to talk to two people from different perspectives. One married woman said that it is a strain on their relationship, but that she's not necessarily ready to give up her thriving career. Then I talked to a man, who is divorced, who can't imagine how being a travel writer works when you're in a relationship.