Jeffrey Tayler, a former Peace Corp worker, is the author of “Siberian Dawn” and “Facing the Congo.” He has published numerous articles in Atlantic Monthly, Spin, Harper’s and Condé Nast Traveler. He is a regular commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Two of Tayler’s travel essays were selected by Bill Bryson for the inaugural edition of “The Best American Travel Writing 2000”. He lives in Russia.

Christopher P. Baker has written for more than 150 publications as far-ranging as Newsweek, Elle, Islands, National Wildlife, the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, and the South China Morning Post. His numerous books include best-selling guidebooks to Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Bahamas, and elsewhere, and he penned the best-selling travelogue, Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro’s Cuba.

Elliott Hester’s stories have appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, Glamour, Maxim, Details and more than 30 newspapers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. He also writes Out of the Blue — a syndicated newspaper column that reaches more than 1.5 million readers. Hester’s first book, “Plane Insanity,” was published in January by St. Martin’s Press.

Tanya Shaffer is a San Francisco-based writer and actress. Her most recent solo show, “Let My Enemy Live Long!” based on her travels in West Africa, enjoyed an extended run in the San Francisco area and was awarded a 1999 Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Award for Solo Performance. Tanya was a frequent contributor to the now-extinct travel section of Salon.com.

Larry Habegger began publishing his writing about adventure and offbeat travel in 1980. His travel stories have appeared in magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including Outside, Travel & Leisure and the Los Angeles Times. Since 1985 Habegger has co-written a safety and security column, “World Travel Watch,” that has been syndicated in major newspapers in five countries. In 1993 Habegger and partners founded the publishing company Travelers’ Tales.

Holly Morris is the writer, director and host of the PBS travel/biography series “Adventure Divas.” The award-winning series pilot “Cuba: Paradox Found” began airing nationally in primetime in April 2000. Morris has published two books and writes for publications including The New York Times Book Review, abcnews.com, Blue Magazine, Ms. and Outside.

Ron Gluckman is an American journalist who has been roaming Asia for more than a decade. he mixes travel tales with news, analysis, features and business stories. His byline has appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. He is a regular contributor to Time and Asiaweek, and has been a guest discussing travel in Asia on CNN.

Jason Wilson is the series editor of The Best American Travel Writing and a contributing editor at Trips. He has written freelance pieces for a broad variety of publications, including Salon, the Washington Post Magazine, , The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler. Wilson’s travel writing has garnered two Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism awards.

Manja Sachet co-authored Open Road Publishing’s “Turkey Guide” with her husband, Adam Peck. While living in Turkey, she did business development for a Turkish ISP, and also wrote a handful of freelance articles for English-language publications in Istanbul.

Simon Winchester, having reported from almost everywhere during an award-winning 20-year career as a Guardian foreign correspondent, was appointed Asia-Pacific editor for Condé Nast Traveler in 1987, later becoming Editor-at-Large. He also contributes to a number of publications, including Harper’s, The Smithsonian, The National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, and the BBC. His writings have won him several awards, including Britain’s Journalist of the Year.

Doug Lansky grew up in Minnesota and graduated from Colorado College. After interning at “Late Night with David Letterman,” “Spy Magazine,” and “The New Yorker Magazine,” Lansky, hit the road in 1992. He has been traveling the world ever since, chronicling his adventures in his nationally syndicated humor column, “Vagabond.” He is also the author of two books.