Clay Hubbs has had a long double career as a college professor and a journalist. In 1977 he combined his two interests to start Transitions Abroad magazine “for people who travel to learn.” The bimonthly magazine and its website focus on the life-changing alternatives to mainstream tourism.

David Downie is a native San Franciscan who moved to Paris in the 1980s and divides his time between France and Italy. His travel, food and arts features have appeared in magazines and newspapers worldwide, including Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Gastronomica,the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the San Francisco Sunday Chronicle, and the Sunday Times of London. He’s is the author of two thrillers — most recently Paris City of Night — and a dozen nonfiction books.

Karin Muller is the author of three books — Hitchhiking Vietnam : A Woman’s Solo Journey in an Elusive Land, Inca Road: A Woman’s Journey into an Ancient Empire, and Japanland : A Year in Search of Wa — all of which she simultaneously produced as television documentaries for the likes of PBS, MSNBC Explorer, and National Geographic’s global channel. From 1987 to 1990 she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines, and she speaks English, Spanish, German, and Tagalog. She has a blackbelt in both judo and jujistu, and flies hang gliders competitively.

Tom Haines is the staff travel writer at The Boston Globe. During more than a decade as a journalist, Tom has reported on economics, politics and culture in dozens of countries and on five continents. As the Globe‘s travel writer, Tom has covered guns and cricket in Guyana, trumpets and nationalism in Serbia, and Gandhi’s legacy in rural India. In 2005 and 2003, he was named Travel Journalist of the Year by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. His story about an Ethiopian village facing famine appeared in the 2004 edition of Best American Travel Writing. A native of Pittsburgh, Tom now lives north of Boston with his wife and two children.

John Flinn writes a weekly column and feature articles for the award-winning San Francisco Chronicle travel section. He’s journeyed on assignment to more than 20 countries, including Bhutan, Cuba, the Cook Islands and Croatia, and written more than 400 travel articles. Prior to his job at the Chronicle, Flinn was a feature writer for the San Francisco Examiner, where he was paid to, among other things, fly with the Blue Angels, climb El Capitan, wrestle a bear and go on a date with Miss America.

Amanda Jones is a writer and photographer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work appears in books, magazines and newspapers worldwide, including Vogue, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country, Islands, Brides, Food & Wine, Condé Nast Traveller, the London Sunday Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She has been published in several travel anthologies including Salon.com’s Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance, and Lonely Planet’s literary anthologies The Kindness of Strangers and By The Seat of My Pants.

Karl Taro Greenfeld has written three books about Asia; the newest, China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century’s First Great Epidemic, is out this month from HarperCollins in the US and Penguin in the UK. His previous books were Speed Tribes and Standard Deviations. A longtime staff writer and editor for TIME and Sports Illustrated, his travel writing has appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, Salon, The Wall Street Journal, Details, Arena and TIME, among other publications, and has been anthologized in Lonely Planet travel books.

Franz Wisner is a reformed cubicle worker and the author of Honeymoon With My Brother, the true story of how Franz was left at the altar, then decided to take a two-year, 53-country honeymoon with his younger brother, Kurt. The best-selling memoir is currently being made into a movie by Sony Pictures. In addition, Franz has penned numerous articles and opinion pieces for The San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Redbook Magazine, and Coast Magazine, among others.

Lea Aschkenas has written for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Salon.com. She has also contributed stories to Travelers’ Tales Central America, Travelers’ Tales Cuba, The Unsavvy Traveler, and The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2006. In her book, Es Cuba : Life and Love on an Illegal Island, she examines the personal legacy of politics via the window of her relationship with a Cuban man and with the three generations of Cuban women she lived with in the year 2000.

Author and filmmaker Robert Young Pelton has made a career out of traveling through the world’s most dangerous places. In addition to writing a regular column for National Geographic Adventure, Pelton has worked for the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, ABC News, CBS 60 Minutes, and CNN. As an author, he is best known for his classic underground guide to surviving danger, The World’s Most Dangerous Places, now in its fifth edition.

Joshua Berman co-authored Moon Handbooks: Nicaragua and wrote the latest edition of Moon Handbooks Belize. In addition to “guidebook writer,” Joshua’s varied resume includes wildland firefighter, Outward Bound instructor, freelance writer, and tourism consultant.