Contributors

Leon McCarron Featured contributorLondon

Meet Leon

What’s it like to hike through the Balkan borderlands?

Leon McCarron February 18, 2019

What’s it like to hike through the Balkan borderlands?

Lola Akinmade Åkerström Featured contributorStockholm

Meet Lola

How three generations of the same family helped protect this stunning Uzbek biosphere

Ben Groundwater WriterSydney

Ben Groundwater is an award-winning travel writer, author, and broadcaster, whose ideal day on the road involves good food, interesting people, and the feeling that he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.

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John Borthwick WriterSydney

One of Australia’s leading travel writers, John Borthwick’s work appears in The Weekend Australian, Fairfax Traveller and many others—all of which keeps him too long away from surfing good waves or hiking some gob-smacking coastline.

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Erik Trinidad WriterNew York

Travel journalist and video producer Erik Trinidad may be based in Brooklyn, but he spends a lot of time criss-crossing the globe in search of high adventure, exotic food, and scientific curiosities. Credits include National Geographic and Discovery.com.

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Paula Froelich WriterNew York

Paula Froelich is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and creator and host of ‘A Broad Abroad’ web series. Originally from Ohio and Kentucky, she currently lives in New York with her lactose-intolerant dachshund, Karl.

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Shafik Meghji WriterLondon

Shafik Meghji is an award-winning travel journalist and broadcaster, and the co-author of over 30 Rough Guides. Recent adventures have taken him down the Mekong, across the Amazon, and through Patagonia’s Tierra del Fuego.

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Emma Thomson WriterLondon

Emma Thomson is an award-winning travel writer and guidebook author who often covers countries recovering from natural disaster or political upheaval to help travelers regain trust in these places.

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Nicola Bailey Photo EditorNew York

Nicola is an award-winning photographer who lives between her homes in Sydney, Australia and New York City. She has a particular interest in remote and challenging locations, and the visual stories that come out of them.

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Susan Portnoy Photographer & writerNew York

Susan Portnoy is an award-winning photographer and freelance travel writer as well as the creator of The Insatiable Traveler. Her work has appeared in USA Today, Mashable, The Globe & Mail, and Today.com, among others.

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David Whitley WriterSheffield, UK

British travel writer David Whitley spends a lot of time on the far side of the world, with a passion for all things outback and out-of-the-ordinary. Bylines include National Geographic Traveller, Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Sydney Morning Herald.

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Jo Stewart WriterMelbourne

Jo Stewart is an Australian travel writer who lives in Melbourne, but spends an inordinate amount of time at airports. She has visited all seven continents and is comfortable mixing it up at both ends—and everywhere in between—of the travel spectrum.

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James Stewart WriterLondon

James Stewart is an award-winnning journalist who writes for UK newspapers and magazines such as the Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph, and Wanderlust. A sailor, surfer and diver, he practically has salt water for blood.

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David Farley WriterNew York

Travel writer and author David Farley contributes regularly at AFAR magazine, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and BBC Travel, among others outlets.

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Kathleen Rellihan WriterNew York

Formerly editor-in-chief of Adventure.com, Kathleen has contributed to Travel Channel, Condé Nast Traveler, AFAR and more. She’s happiest in a remote destination with a mountain to climb, strangers to talk to, and no Wi-Fi signal in sight.

Andrew Fenton WriterMelbourne

Andrew Fenton is an Australian freelance journalist and travel writer. He’s been a national entertainment writer for News Corp, film journalist for The Advertiser and a staff writer on SA Weekend and The Melbourne Weekly.

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Tayla Gentle WriterMelbourne

Tayla Gentle is a freelance writer and producer specializing in adventure travel. Her work has featured in outlets such as Lonely Planet, AFAR, AWOL and Red Bull Australia. Her spirit country is Myanmar.

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Graeme Green WriterMexico

Graeme Green is a UK travel writer, photographer and editor, currently based in Mexico. He writes about adventure travel, wildlife and culture for The Sunday Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Wanderlust and BBC Travel.

Alex King WriterAthens, Greece

Alex King is a British freelance journalist based between Athens and London. Before moving to Athens, he was staff writer at Huck Magazine. He now contributes regularly to Huck, Vice, Noisey, Dazed & Confused, VolteFace, If You Leave, Bikevibe Journal & more.

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Corinne Redfern WriterPhnom Penh, Cambodia

Corinne Redfern is an award-winning roving journalist with a focus on women’s rights and human interest stories. Ex-features director for Marie Claire, bylines include The Guardian, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Stylist, and ELLE.

Julie Schwietert Collazo WriterNew York

Julie Schwietert Collazo is a bilingual journalist whose areas of expertise are Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. She has also authored or contributed to Michelin Havana, Fodor’s Puerto Rico, DK Eyewitness Mexico, and MOON New York State.

Sarah Reid WriterSydney

Sarah Reid is an Australian travel writer, currently living out of a backpack somewhere in Africa. She specializes in sustainable travel and writes for a range of travel publications in Australia, the UK, the US and beyond.

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Andrew Eames WriterLondon

Travel writer, broadcaster and ex-newspaper journalist Andrew Eames writes for UK publications from the Financial Times to the Sunday Mirror. He’s also the author of five books and often speaks at travel writing seminars.

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Kristin Kent WriterBritish Columbia

Canadian travel journalist Kristin Kent is not one to pass up a quest—She’s slept on sea ice in polar bear country and sailed the roaring Pacific Ocean. When not on assignment, she’s often exploring her home province, beautiful British Columbia.

Noah Charney WriterSlovenia

Professor of art history, best-selling author, and founder of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art, Noah Charney writes on art and culture for Salon, The Observer, and The Guardian. He lives in Slovenia with his family and hairless dog, Eyck.

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Shoshi Parks WriterSan Francisco

Shoshi Parks is a San Francisco-based anthropologist and freelance writer sharing stories of travel, history and culture. Her work has appeared in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, Fodor’s, and YES! Magazine.

Marco Ferrarese WriterPenang, Malaysia

Marco Ferrarese is a Penang-based author, travel writer and former punk rock star. He has reported from the lesser-known tracks of 60+ countries, hitchhiked from China to Italy, and written guidebooks for Rough Guides and Fodor’s.

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Cam Hassard WriterBerlin

Cam Hassard is managing editor at Caddie Magazine and features writer for Junkee, AWOL, Carryology, Fairfax Media, and more. He’s eaten ant salad in Laos, hauled trucks from NYC to Vegas, and destroyed himself on the Camino de Santiago. Originally from Melbourne, he currently calls Berlin home.

Juliet Rix WriterLondon

Juliet Rix is an award-winning travel writer and journalist for The Times, Telegraph, Independent, The Guardian, and BBC Radio. She’s also the author of the latest Bradt guide to Malta & Gozo, published in January 2018.

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Mark Daffey WriterMelbourne

After an early career spent sorting through shoeboxes filled with receipts so that his tax accounting clients could escape on overseas holidays, Australian Mark Daffey now accepts travel assignments to places considered off the beaten track for a range of publications.

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Stacey McKenna WriterColorado

Stacey McKenna is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers travel, nature, science and adventure. Whether airing out family roots or excavating the truth behind a Bahamian wild horse extinction, she’s always seeking deep stories with wide-angle context.

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Tracey Croke WriterSydney

Tracey Croke is an award-winning travel journalist addicted to roughty-toughty off-track adventure and gallivanting on her mountain bike. She is a highly-qualified expert in following whims and getting lost.

Caroline Eden WriterEdinburgh

A regular contributor to The Guardian, FT, Telegraph and BBC Radio 4, Caroline specializes in emerging destinations, mainly in the ex-USSR. She’s also the author of ‘Samarkand—recipes and stories from Central Asia and the Caucasus.’

Annapurna Mellor PhotographerManchester, UK

Annapurna Mellor is a travel photographer and writer based in the UK, published in the likes of Lonely Planet Magazine and National Geographic Traveller. Her work focuses on people and culture, and she has a particular love for India.

Claire Boobbyer WriterLondon

Travel writer, photographer, and Cuba expert, Claire regularly writes about Latin America, Vietnam, and Laos. She fell in love with Latin America some 20 years ago after backpacking from Chile to the Colombian coast.

Travis Hodges PhotographerHanoi, Vietnam

Travis is a British photographer currently based in Vietnam. His work, focusing on social issues and globalization, has received numerous awards and been published and exhibited internationally.

Kerry Walker WriterBrecon Beacons, Wales

Kerry Walker is an award-winning travel writer, photographer, prolific Lonely Planet guidebook author, and the Telegraph’s expert for Wales where she’s based. An adventure addict, she loves mountains, cold places and wilderness.

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Jenny Hart WriterNew York

Jenny Hart is a travel writer based in Brooklyn, NY. She contributes to a variety of publications, including Travel Weekly, Southwest: The Magazine, and VICE. She loves scuba diving, horseback riding, and singing karaoke.

John Malathronas WriterLondon

John Malathronas is a London-based travel writer whose foreign language skills allow him to get under the skin of a destination. He has authored or co-authored 20 books and has bylines in CNN Travel, National Geographic Traveller and the Daily Telegraph.

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Ian Lloyd Neubauer WriterSydney

Sydney-based freelance photojournalist Ian Lloyd Neubauer specializes in off-road motorbike travel, sharks and Papua New Guinea. His work has appeared in TIME, The Economist, The Guardian, The Telegraph, BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera.

Mike MacEacheran WriterEdinburgh

Mike MacEacheran is an award-winning Edinburgh-based travel writer and guidebook author who has filed stories from 107 countries for The Guardian, Sunday Times, Lonely Planet, BBC Travel, The Independent, Rough Guides and CN Traveller UK.

Sue Watt WriterLondon

Sue Watt is an award-winning London-based writer with a passion for African travel and conservation. Her bylines appear in The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Luxury Travel Magazine.

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Nevin Martell WriterWashington, DC

Nevin Martell is a freelance writer who has been published by the Washington Post, New York Times and Travel + Leisure. He has also authored eight books, including the travelogue-memoir, Freak Show Without a Tent.

Jini Reddy WriterLondon

Eco-spiritual by nature and a cultural cocktail by birth, Jini Reddy is an author and features writer who contributes to UK national media. Her first book, Wild Times, was published in 2016 and she is working on her second, for Bloomsbury Books.

Huw Kingston WriterSydney

Writer and environmentalist Huw Kingston has spent over 30 years undertaking long, human-powered journeys in wild places, and has long been involved campaigning against single-use plastics.

Nicola Zolin Photographer & writerVenice/Rome/Athens

Nicola Zolin is a photojournalist and writer, interested in the social and environmental transformations at the borders of Europe, Middle East and Asia. His stories deal with the idea of freedom and liberation from society’s structures.

Jacob Little WriterCornwall and Bristol, UK

Jacob Little is an outdoor writer and photographer from southwest England. He’s interested in windswept clifftops, rugged coastlines and the small communities that make coastal England so diverse, and champions rural travel, wild crafts and dying traditions.

James Shackell WriterMelbourne

James Shackell is a freelance journalist with words in The Huffington Post, Red Bull, Canadian Traveler and Smith Journal. One day, he’ll be bumped to business class, and you’ll never hear the end of it.

Jody MacDonald PhotographerIdaho

Award-winning adventure sport and documentary photographer Jody MacDonald spent the last decade as resident photographer on a 60-foot catamaran on a global kiteboarding, paragliding and surfing expedition.

Kelly Paras WriterWashington, DC

Seeker of adventures big and small, near and far, Kelly is a freelance writer, photographer and digital consultant based in Washington, DC. She’s an avid solo traveler, road trip and backpacking enthusiast and has a knack for tracking down the odd/awesome wherever she goes.

Jonathan Arlan WriterKansas City, Missouri

Jonathan Arlan is the author of the travel book Mountain Lines: A Journey through the French Alps. He has lived in Cairo, Belgrade, Osaka, New York City, and New Orleans, and loves each and every one of these places, but is currently based in his hometown, Kansas City.

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Nikki Bayley WriterVancouver

Nikki Bayley is an award-winning travel writer, Rough Guide author, and spirits, food and wine journalist for outlets such as The Guardian, Globe & Mail, and Diffords.com. Based in Vancouver since 2012, her focuses on exploring Canada.

Nori Jemil PhotographerLondon and Perth

Award-winning photographer and travel writer Nori Jemil lives between London and Perth, Australia. She writes for numerous publications including Rough Guides and National Geographic Traveller UK, and teaches travel photography courses.

Max Olijnyk WriterNew Zealand

Max Olijnyk is a writer, editor, photographer, and ageing skateboarder. An ex-Melbourne resident, he now lives in New Zealand with his family. His first book Some Stories was released in 2016 and his favorite destination is New York City.

Valerie Conners WriterLocation independent

Valerie Conners is an editor, producer, writer, and nomad at heart. Her work is featured in Travelers’ Tales Best Women’s Travel Writing, Condé Nast Traveler, BBC Travel, and many more. She always strives to “do it now.”

Anisha Shah WriterLondon

Anisha Shah is a former BBC reporter who left to document lesser-known travel destinations. Drawn to raw and offbeat destinations, wildlife and culture, she has traveled to 106 countries, her bylines include BBC Travel, CNN International and Lonely Planet.

Bill Fink WriterOakland, CA

From biking the backroads of the Philippines to sipping cognac in French chateaus, Bill Fink’s global adventures have appeared in over 50 outlets, including National Geographic Traveler, AFAR, Frommer’s and BBC Travel.

Jon Holmes WriterLondon

Jon Holmes is a multi-award-winning writer and broadcaster. Aside from travel writing, he’s a double BAFTA-winning comedy writer, has strings of Radio Academy awards for his shows on BBC and commercial radio in the UK, and is an Amazon-bestselling author.

Anja Mutic WriterNew York and Croatia

An award-winning travel writer and guidebook author, Anja Mutic is always seeking the beauty between the cracks. She writes for The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and BBC Travel, among others.

Marianna Jamadi PhotographerCalifornia

Marianna Jamadi is a half-Finnish, half-Indonesian globetrotting photographer in search of authentic experiences. Nomadic in spirit, but steady in heart, she is based in Long Beach, CA, when she is not crossing borders and oceans.

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Nicholas JR White PhotographerDevon, UK

Nicholas JR White is an award-winning photographer based in Dartmoor National Park, in South West England. His work examines our relationship with landscape and the ways in which we interact with our natural spaces.

Michelle Arrouas WriterBerlin

Michelle Arrouas is a Danish-French freelance journalist based in Berlin, covering international affairs, European politics and travel. Recent bylines include BBC Capital, Harper’s Bazaar, CNN’s Explore Parts Unknown, and Roads & Kingdoms.

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Stav Dimitropoulos WriterAthens

Athens-based journalist Stav Dimitropoulos has written for numerous publications including BBC Travel, Discover Magazine, Nieman Journalism Lab, Earth Island Journal and Womankind—she’s also reported for CBC, CBS Radio and Fox TV.

Joshua Cunningham Photographer & writerLondon

Joshua Cunningham is a London-based writer, photographer and overland travel enthusiast. He recently authored his first book, Escape by Bike, based on his experience cycling from London to Hong Kong in 2015.

Lorna Parkes WriterLeeds, UK

A Londoner who escaped to Yorkshire via Melbourne, Lorna Parkes is a travel writer, editor and co-author of dozens of Lonely Planet guidebooks and travel tomes who is both consummate urban foodie and jungle interloper in love with the tropics.

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Chris Hilton PhotographerDorset, UK

Chris Hilton is an award-winning photographer from Dorset, southwest England. His first ‘big trip’ was a solo hitch-hike around England and Wales aged 17, and the wanderlust has never left.

Paul Clammer WriterNottingham, UK

A one-time molecular biologist, travel writer and guidebook author Paul Clammer has written or contributed to over 30 Lonely Planet guides including Jamaica, Jordan and Morocco, and is the author of Bradt’s Haiti guidebook.

Ariel Sophia Bardi WriterNew Delhi

Ariel Sophia Bardi is a Japan-born, British and American-raised journalist and non-fiction writer. Happiest when crossing borders, she has been published in The Atlantic, Roads & Kingdoms, BBC Travel, VICE and The Guardian.

Ash Bhardwaj WriterLondon

Ash Bhardwaj is a travel writer, adventure filmmaker, and motivational speaker. Based in London, he has filmed in mountains, jungles and deserts around the world, and is now on a quest to meet his heroes and learn new skills.

Richard Mellor WriterLondon

Having started off in public relations for travel companies, Richard Mellor realized he preferred writing about foreign lands to promoting them to journalists—and swapped sides. London-based, he chiefly covers less-trodden parts of Britain and Europe.

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Kellie Lafranchi PhotographerMelbourne

Kellie Lafranchi is a freelance photographer who’s always chasing the light with camera in hand. Inspired by nature and generally curious, she specializes in documenting compelling visual subjects and the stories that unfold through them.

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Christopher Herwig PhotographerJordan

A Canadian-born photographer/videographer with over 20 years of experience, Christopher Herwig has worked in some of the world’s most remote regions for GEO, CNN Traveler, Geographical and Lonely Planet, and has published two volumes of his Soviet bus stop photos.

Mary Novakovich WriterHertfordshire, England

Mary Novakovich is an award-winning travel writer who specializes in Italy, France and Eastern Europe. With bylines in The Guardian, Independent and Telegraph, she has also written guidebooks for Insight Guides and Frommer’s.

Priyanka Sacheti WriterBangalore, India

Priyanka Sacheti is a Bangalore-based writer. Raised in Oman and educated in the UK, she writes about gender, art, culture and history and has been published in many international publications. She’s currently a co-editor with Mashallah News.

Jenna Schnuer WriterAnchorage

Jenna Schnuer is an Anchorage-based New Yorker and freelance writer whose writing credits include The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Delta Sky, and Extra Crispy. In 2017, she joined the podcast fray with Life (After Cancer).

Taryn Stenvei WriterMelbourne

Writer, editor, and sometimes music manager, Taryn Stenvei previously edited Beat Magazine and was the founding editor of travel title AWOL. She now freelances from home in Melbourne, turning records over and talking to her dog.

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Robert Annis Writer Indianapolis

After nearly a decade at The Indianapolis Star, Robert Annis broke free of the shackles of gainful employment and now freelances full-time, specializing in outdoor travel journalism with bylines in National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Afar, Bicycling and Men’s Journal.

Nicole Trilivas WriterLondon

Nicole Trilivas writes about travel, food, and drink. Her work has appeared in Forbes.com, Time Out London, Condé Nast Brides, NYTimes.com, Fodor’s, HuffPost, Wanderlust, Afar, and Suitcase. She’s the author of the novel, ‘Girls Who Travel’.

Eileen Guo WriterNew York

Focusing on communities and sub-culture on the fringe, Eileen writes about how our connections to places shape our beliefs and identity. Favorite adventures include local foods, wild, outdoor spaces, and cultural immersion.