Tag: Brit Guide

30 Years of Orlando!

It was 30 years ago this week that Simon’s first book was published, and led to a career in Orlando travel-writing that continues to this day. The Brit Guide to Orlando & Walt Disney World was unique in that it was aimed purely at the UK market to Central Florida, which no-one (surprisingly) had tried before. Our “little project” has since led to half a lifetime in the travel world, with book sales in excess of half a million, and counting!

There have been other travel adventures, to be sure, including trips to Alaska, Hawaii, Chile and Slovenia, plus our epic Year On The Road RV adventure, which this blog is named for. But Orlando has always been the abiding driving force, a constant in our world of regular globe-trotting.

The Brit Guide was always Simon’s specialty, though, an ever-evolving collection of user-friendly content, images and style that owed a lot to his newspaper background, but added his own personal experiences as a holiday-maker to the overall mix. In 2004, it led to him moving from the UK to Florida, to continue his love affair with the destination (and meet the love of his life!), which branched out into coverage for a wide range of media, including the BBC, the Telegraph, Independent and Sky Travel.

There were more books, online content aplenty and, of course, social media. Simon has appeared on TV, radio and various podcasts, and continues to write for a number of different outlets, despite now being in his Medicare years (which he hates!). Happily, there is also a new Orlando book in the offing, picking up where the Brit Guide left off in 2024. We’ll have more about that in due course, but, in the meantime, our new book – 111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss – continues to be another major strand to the Veness Travel Media output, and something that has been really well received here in The City Beautiful.

All in all, it has been an action-packed 30 years of Orlando and much, much more, and we hope to bring even more to you in the next decade or so (God willing). So, just because the Brit Guide faded away last year, that doesn’t mean the end of our relationship with British visitors. It will just be re-born in a whole new package. Just like Orlando does every year!

A Brit Guide Farewell

It is with sadness that we announce, officially, that we have severed ties with our publisher of the Brit Guide to Orlando, which we have written for the last 29 years. It has been a while in the works after some deep disappointments in the past few years, concluding with the publication of the 2024 edition in black and white, against our knowledge or even consultation.

It has been a good run, though. For much of the 29 years we have been the best-selling travel guide of any kind in the UK, and we have sold in excess of 250,000 copies in all. We have been a big part of many visitors’ Orlando holidays and have had some wonderful feedback and made lifelong friends as a result.

We will still be happy to meet up with people when they’re here, and we will continue to post on various social media about our work here in the Theme Park Capital of the World. And our work definitely won’t stop. As the old saying goes, as one door closes, another opens, and that will certainly be our intention going forward.

So, stay tuned to us here on the Veness Travel Media blog, and Follow us on Instagram, BlueSky Social and YouTube. You never know where we will turn up next!