Cassandra Overby grew up hiking and camping in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of the United States. She started adventuring internationally in college, when study abroad programs in Austria and Germany got her firmly hooked on travel. Her adventures have taken her all over the world, from Central America to Southeast Asia, but she loves exploring…

Daniel Scheffler is a travel writer who writes about cultural travel, identity and the human stories that shape how we move through the world. Scheffler is also the host of Without Maps, a travel podcast about how movement shapes identity, plus Wayfinder, an iHeart Media Original Travel podcast. He covers transformative travel experiences, with a focus…

Brendan Shanahan is a writer and painter, living in Australia. He has been a journalist, tour guide, and advertising creative. He is best known for the books In Turkey I Am Beautiful (2008), The Secret Life of the Gold Coast (2004), and Mr Snack and the Lady Water: Travel Tales From My Lost Years (2013).…

Angie Chuang is an author and educator based in Denver, Colorado. Her debut memoir, The Four Words for Home (Aquarius Press / Willow Books 2014), was based on her journalistic coverage of Afghan immigrants and travel to Afghanistan after 9/11. Her scholarly crossover book, American Otherness: News Media Representations of Identity and Belonging (Routledge 2025)…

Longtime New York Times contributor Perry Garfinkel has also written for National Geographic Magazine, The Travel Channel, Travel & Leisure, and AARP the Magazine, among many others. A former reporter and editor for newspapers and magazines, he helped launch New Age Journal and EcoTraveler Magazine (both defunct). He has written four books (including national bestseller…

Caroline Van Hemert is an Alaska-based writer and wildlife biologist. She’s the author of The Sun is a Compass, winner of the Banff Mountain Book Award. Her essays and articles explore the intersections between science and adventure travel, and have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Outside, Vogue, High Country News, and…

An EMMY-nominated producer, on-camera host, camera operator, writer, and award-winning photographer, Rachel Rudwall has traveled all seven continents, lived in three countries, and journeyed through 80+ nations – all in the name of storytelling. Her global audience spans over 250,000 adventurous souls, and clients include Google, TIME, Nat Geo, AFAR, Discovery, TEDx, and more. How…

Erin Levi is a Connecticut-born, Montréal-based travel journalist whose work spans the Himalayas, Central Asia, and beyond. A polyglot and lifelong traveler, she has trekked to Sir Edmund Hillary’s favorite viewpoint of Mount Everest, sipped Chasselas and danced on tables with the Cent-Suisses, a historic Swiss Guard unit, during a once-in-a-generation Swiss winegrowers’ festival in…

Jen Rose Smith is an award-winning writer and editor living in Vermont’s Green Mountains, where she writes deeply reported features on travel, culture, sustainability, adventure, and place. Her work has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Geographic, BBC Travel, and many other outlets. Recent stories include a feature for the…

Natalie Compton is a travel reporter for the Washington Post. Originally from California, she has covered travel, food, and alcohol from every continent. How did you get started traveling? My dad did a lot of domestic travel for work (very George Clooney in Up in the Air) and my mom was always happy to tag…

Mark Orwoll is the author of four books, including Just One Little Hitch (Pleasant Villain Press, 2024), a travel memoir. For 30 years he was on the editorial staff of Travel + Leisure magazine, most recently as the International Editor. He has won numerous accolades over the years, including the Silver Award in the 2025 Lowell Thomas competition’s Travel Journalist…