The visit of Benoit Lucchini

This summer season I have received many surprises. Among them visits from many people from France, my beautiful country.
Many of them for surf lessons, others that I ran into speaking French in Santa Teresa and I greet them. From there a conversation and a brief but memorable friendship was born.
But the biggest surprise of all was to receive the visit of the editor in chief of the magazine Le Guide de Routard, Mr. Benoît Lucchini. I had the pleasure of being his surf instructor for a lesson and he was so pleased that he recorded a short video with me.
For those who don’t know about Benoit and the magazine he works for, I prepared this article for you.

Transcription of the video

Thank you Audrey!
This is Audrey, my surfing teacher.
This is the first time I’ve ever surfed in my life.
An hour and a half of surfing, I managed to stand up and catch the waves.
Great!
I’m not a great champion yet, but you’ll see.
Audrey has been here for 17 years.
We’re on one of Costa Rica’s most beautiful beaches.(Santa Teresa)
No sharks, no coral, just sand, no danger.
It’s really cool, it’s really cool and I’ve done some surfing.
Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. Good night.

What inspired Le Guide de Routard

Before talking about Mr. Lucchini, let’s review what “The Backpacker’s Guide” is all about. During the middle of the twentieth century, Europe was in the midst of reconstruction after World War II. Flights between the United States and Europe were becoming cheaper as civil aviation was booming.
With the low cost of airline tickets, a new generation of tourists was born; the Backpackers.
Arthur Frommer, a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, was serving in Europe. Seeing the need for backpackers to manage their travel budget, Arthur published a guidebook called “Europe for $5 a Day”. It was a resounding success.
Others sought to emulate it. Harvard University, for example, with its “Let’s Go” guides geared mostly for students.

Birth of Le Guide de Routard

n the early 70’s Philippe Gloaguen and Michel Duval decided to make a trip around the world. During this trip they wrote down everything they saw and did.
Upon their return to France, Jean-François Bizot, editor of a monthly magazine, convinced them to publish these notes as a guide for travelers.
The publishing house Editions Gedalge published in April 1973 the first edition of the first guide with Philipe and Michel as co-authors. In 1975, with the help of Gérald Gassiot-Talabot, Le Guide de Routard reappeared in bookstores with four volumes.
In the 2000s they launched their website and in 2011 their first mobile application.
By 2023 they have sold 55 million copies of their guides.

Benoit Lucchini and his start as a globetrotter

It was the 80s and a young Benoit Lucchini, about to enter university, met Pierre Josse, then editor-in-chief of the Guide de Routard. In conversation, the latter convinces him to go to Africa. This is how Benoit starts his first big trip in Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo.
He came back to France not to stay too long, as he flew to California and took a job as an “Au Pair”, a person who stays with a family as a cultural exchange, takes responsibilities and receives a small payment in return.
He then moved to New York for a few months and returned to the west coast after that. From Seattle until he took a fishing boat north for three months. There he saw his first aurora borealis in the midst of the hard work of fishing offshore.
Returning to France, he met Pierre Josse, who introduced him to Gloaguen, one of the founders of La Guide de Routard. Gloaguen, impressed with Lucchini’s experience, offers him a position within the company.

Benoit and Le Guide de Routard

Since then, Benoit has traveled to different destinations including his native France. Always looking for places, cafes, restaurants and hotels that allow backpacker travelers to have a unique experience at an affordable price.
He then mentions these places in his guidebooks.
In between trips he gives radio and TV interviews to promote the guides.
He also takes advantage of this time to visit his homeland, Corsica, to visit his wife and three children.

Benoit Lucchini in Costa Rica

I received Benoit’s visit a few months ago and I don’t know if he came on a work trip for a new guide or for pleasure. Anyway, in his last interview he spoke well of Costa Rica and the balance that the country has found between nature and human development.
Follow this link to watch his latest interview, in french.
We hope that Le Guide de Routard is considering another guidebook for Costa Rica. This guide would be a great help to know the beauties of the beaches and the jungles of this beautiful Central American country.
As always, if you are around Costa Rica and want a surf lesson, do not hesitate to contact me using this link or any of the buttons on the right side of the screen.
No IA was used in the writting of this article.