James Sturz is a freelance writer and novelist. His travel articles have run in Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Cigar Aficionado, Blue and Lexus. His first novel Sasso, was one of The Sunday Telegraph‘s top picks for 2001. Sturz also teaches travel writing in New York City for Mediabistro.

Isabella Tree writes about travel for the Sunday Times, Evening Standard and the Observer. Her 1991 book, The Bird Man: The Extraordinary Story of John Gould, was reissued by Ebury Press this year. She is currently at work on a novel set in Kathmandu.

After ten years at Lonely Planet, where he specialized in southern South America, Wayne Bernhardson moved to Moon Handbooks, where he has published books on Guatemala and Chile. Moon Handbooks Buenos Aires will appear in October 2003, and Moon Handbooks Argentina is in the works.

After writing a book about Courtney Love (Courtney Love: Queen of Noise), which Courtney didn’t like, Melissa Rossi decided to become a world traveler, and has visited most European countries. She has also lived in assorted parts of Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. Fluent in “Spitalnishsian” — an Italian, Spanish blend with a dash of Russian thrown in — Rossi has written for such publications as National Geographic Traveler, Newsweek, MSNBC and George, and is the author of What Every American Should Know about the Rest of the World.

Tony Wheeler was born in Britain but grew up in Pakistan, the West Indies and the USA. His family returned to Britain shortly before he finished school and after studying engineering at Warwick University and a short spell as a car designer he returned to university at the London Business School. Then, with his wife Maureen, he joined the Asian ‘hippie trail’ of the early ’70s. A year later they founded Lonely Planet Publications.

Tom Clynes is an author and journalist whose passion for discovery has taken him around the world. Tom writes about and photographs adventure, culture, issues and personalities for a wide range of publications, and is a contributing editor for the magazine National Geographic Adventure.

After years of assigning other writers to travel the globe — as editor of the award-winning Islands for 13 years and founding editor of National Geographic Traveler before that — Joan Tapper is now on the other side of the desk. As contributing editor for travel for Santa Barbara Magazine, she writes a column in every issue and does destination stories (as well as features about people, arts, and culture) for other publications.

Rick Steves hosts the popular public television series, “Rick Steves’ Europe,” and is the author of 24 European travel books. In addition to his guidebooks, Steves writes columns for various newspapers and magazines, and he appears frequently on television and radio talk shows and online travel chats as a leading authority on independent European travel.

Born in Sydney, Australia, he traveled around Asia and South America before becoming a foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires. Now a world traveler living in New York, he contributes to publications such as Esquire, Outside, Islands, the New York Times and London Sunday Times. His book Route 66 A.D.: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists, was released in 2002; the paperback edition, to be published this month, will be titled Pagan Holiday.

David Stanley has visited 175 countries and crossed six continents overland. His travel writing career began in 1979, and over the next two decades he produced nine trailblazing guides for Moon Handbooks and Lonely Planet. After five years in Amsterdam, David returned to Canada in 1996.

Bill Dalton founded Moon Publications in 1973, with the publication of his groundbreaking Indonesia Handbook. The Moon Handbooks series has since become known for its award-winning, well-written and exceptionally informative guides. His travels have taken him to 81 countries around the world, and he is considered the foremost travel expert on Indonesia.