OffbeatTravel Contributors

Yvonne Addario is a world traveler, undersea explorer and part owner of a treasure ship that is still being recovered today. She writes for niche of actual and armchair adventurers who long to hear more of "the golden age of piracy" from the past to the present. She has published Diving for Sunken Treasure and written, designed and published Treasure Diving with Captain Dom, available through Barnes and Noble, many national and independent book/nautical sellers. Her articles have been published in both newspapers and magazines.

George Bailey has explored the far reaches of the world, including Antarctica. He contributes regularly to the QMI Agency's 43 daily newspapers across Canada, as well as numerous magazines. He has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, The Discovery Channel, Canada Am, and Live with Regis. He has published five books on Niagara Falls and one on Marilyn Monroe. Email:wonderful.life@sympatico.ca. Photos courtesy of George Bailey.

Teresa Bergen lives in Portland, Oregon and writes about health, fitness and travel. She's the author of Vegetarian Asia Travel Guide. In addition to writing, she teaches yoga and group fitness classes. You can learn more about Teresa at TeresaBergen.com

Hank Barton is a second generation trucker-philosopher with a penchant for the written word. He enjoys blogging about life on the open road. He writes for E-Gears, an online CDL Test authority that specializes in a variety of study guides.

Mark Bradley has always had a pent up desire to see the world going back to the time he saw his first movie travelogue at the tender age of ten years old. At the turn of the new millennium when it suddenly dawned on him -- it was time to see the world. He says "I pledged to visit all 50 US states by my 50th birthday in 2005" and did so with his final four states coming into view as he followed the Lewis and Clark Trail on the bicentennial of their epic journey. With five continents and fifty states in his rearview mirror, he looks forward to continuing to explore all this big, beautiful world has to offer.

Maureen C. Bruschi is a freelance travel and sports writer and photographer. She lived in Istanbul, Turkey for two years and has traveled to over 15 countries. She has been published in a number of publications including Travel Post Monthly, The Writer, BootsnAll Travel, TravelLady.com, BudgetTravel.com blog and USTA Middle States Section.

An award winning writer and photographer, Deborah Burst enjoys traveling and stocks her travel log with trips across the gulf coast, eastern seaboard and recently back to her childhood home in Bermuda. She scouts the backroads and waterways working as Louisiana Bureau Chief for Southern Breeze magazine, primary writer for the Louisiana Culinary Trails, travel columnist and photographer for St. Tammany News and Louisiana Road Trips magazine, and a frequent contributor to many other publications. Deb recently served as moderator for a Tennessee Williams Festival travel panel and keeps busy with local publications as a frequent contributor to the Northshore Report and a columnist with Covington Magazine. Deb is working on a book about historic trails through south Louisiana.

Michael Cervin is the author four Moon travel books, and two travel blogs He is the contributing travel writer, and restaurant critic for the Santa Barbara News Press. Notable publications include Decanter Magazine, Westways, Wine Enthusiast, Skywest, The Writer, Wine & Spirits, Food & Beverage World, and more than 80 others. He also contributes to NPR, and is a regular travel expert on the award-winning Around the World Radio, and The Big Blend's Vacation Station.

Alex V. Cook is a Baton Rouge writer whose work has appeared in the Oxford American, The Believer, The Wire, and DownBeat. In his book Louisiana Saturday Night music critic Cook uncovers south Louisiana's wellspring of musical tradition, showing us that indigenous music exists not as an artifact to be salvaged by preservationists, but serves as a living, breathing, singing, laughing, and crying part of Louisiana culture.

Caroline (Caz) Crutchley is a freelance, British born travel writer residing on Malta in the centre of the Mediterranean for some years. This is an ideal base for her independent travel trips to many of the usual travel destinations. However, her love of venturing off the beaten track has helped her discover places and people who with their stories have enriched the travel experience. Through her travel writing she hopes to encourage other less adventurous travellers to broaden their travel horizons too. Read about the GadAboutGirl.com

An avid traveler with an interest in international relations, Linda Fasteson views travel as the best way to better understand the people and places around us. Linda is a member of NATJA and a contributor to Travelworld International Magazine, Offbeat Travel, So Go Now, Real Travel Adventures International, to CNHI newspapers, and is the Contributing Feature Writer on travel for the wire served Explore Magazine, a monthly magazine for active adults.

Bob Fisher is a freelance Canadian travel journalist, a retired high school teacher, and former marketing manager at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) and a member the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA). He writes in-depth, conceptual travel articles that explore the aesthetic and universal layers of meaning inherent in a destination. Bob prepares and contributes the Destination Canada feature to Talking Travel and is the Associate Producer of Destination Worldview.

Stan Fridstein is a lifelong baseball fan. As for his career in baseball, it was tragically cut short when as a 10 year old, he discovered he couldn't hit a curve ball. Going Yard is a calling for Stan. His financial goal is to "not lose too much money" on the book. However, he believes that helping others realize the remarkable experiences he shared with his son will be reward enough. And if that doesn't work, there's always the good karma that comes out of helping others.S

Lisa Waterman Gray is a freelance writer and photographer, who has crafted thousands of stories and reviews for national, regional, and local print and online publications. Widely published in Greater Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri, she specializes in travel and food topics, and also writes human interest, health, and business stories. She was previously an editor for Kansas City Homes & Gardens and The Sun. The Countryman Press/W.W. Norton released Lisa's first national book, An Explorer's Guide: Kansas, in June 2011.

Bobbie Green grew up in southern California. She is a member of the North American Travel Journalist Association. She is a freelance writer and has been published in various Senior Wire Publications, The Desert Valley Times, Nevada Magazine, Mesquite Local.com, Travel World International, and Leisuretravelreports.com. Besides enjoying her love of travel by doing it as often as she can, she enjoys photography and attends numerous travel trade functions. Presently she is enjoying desert living in Mesquite Nevada.

Award winning journalist, Karen Hamlin is a native New Englander who moved south to Florida and now lives near Washington DC. Karen specializes in dropping into new situations and taking the reader along for the ride. First prize winner of the 2003 and 2004 North American Travel Journalists Association competition, Karen's peripatetic travels have taken her through most of Europe, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, China and the Middle East. Karen is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, International Travel Writers Alliance, and Washington Independent Writers. Now a veteran world traveler, she writes for national and regional magazines.

Known as the guru of accessible travel, Candy Harrington is the author of several accessible travel guides including the classic Barrier-Free Travels; A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers (www.barrierfreetravel.net). Here newest title, 22 Accessible Road Trips; Driving Vacations for Wheelers and Slow Walkers (www.22AccessibleRoadTrips.com) features 22 driving routes across the United States with information about wheelchair-accessible sites, lodging options, trails, attractions and restaurants along the way. It’s a great resource for Baby Boomers, couples, families, or anybody who wants to hit the road. Candy also blogs about accessible travel issues at www.barrierfreetravels.com.

Troy Herrick, a freelance travel writer, has traveled extensively in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and parts of South America. His articles have appeared in Live Life Travel, International Living, Offbeat Travel and Travels Thru History Magazines. He also penned the travel planning e-book entitled Turn Your Dream Vacation into Reality: A Game Plan for Seeing the World the Way You Want to See It based on his own travel experiences over the years. Plan your vacation at his Budget Travel Store and his PlanADreamTrip.com Diane Gagnon, a freelance photographer, has traveled extensively in North America, the Caribbean, Europe and parts of South America. Her photographs have accompanied Troy Herrick’s articles in Live Life Travel, Offbeat Travel and Travels Thru History Magazines.

Fyllis Hockman is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance travel writer. She writes regularly for Creators News Syndicate, and is a feature columnist for several online travel magazines. Ms. Hockman's travel stories also have appeared in the New York Post, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Providence Journal, Halifax Herald, Boston Herald, Gazette Newspapers, Asbury Park Press, New Hampshire Sunday News, Buffalo News and many other publications. She is the author of AAA Guidebook: A Photo Journey to Washington, D.C. and co-author of the Pelican Guide to Maryland. Ms. Hockman is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and Travel Journalists Guild.

Having written as a hobby for many years while serving in the Royal Air Force, Keith Kellett saw no reason to discontinue his hobby when he retired to a village in the south of England, near Stonehenge. With time on his hands, he produced more work, and found, to his surprise, it 'grew and grew' and was good enough to finance his other hobbies; travelling, photography and computers. He is trying hard to prevent it from becoming a full-time job.

Kaila Krayewski is an avid traveler and has been writing about her experiences since she started traveling seven years ago. Having backpacked around Southeast Asia, Kaila has now started up a travel support service, community, and magazine called BlondeTraveler. She currently resides on Koh Phangan, where she doesn't find nearly enough time to visit the beautiful beaches that drew her there in the first place, but loves it just the same.

W. Ruth Kozak has been a historical fiction writer since her teens and a travel journalist for more than 15 years. She also instructs classes on travel writing, creative and novel writing and memoirs. She has travelled extensively, often solo and always on a budget. Her travels inspired her to create a new travel ezine TravelThruHistory

Kristen Kuchar feels the only thing better than cheese, beer, and travel is combining them together. The freelance food writer lives in Chicago with her husband where they are always cooking, eating, and planning their next adventure. She writes for dozens of travel and food publications and has a Journalism and Magazine Writing and Editing degree from Columbia College. You can follow her on Twitter @KristenKuchar.

Laura LaBrie fell in love with exploring new places at the age of six when her father took her to Dunk Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Since then, she has nurtured an insatiable curiosity to see what's just around the bend. A member of ITWPA and editor of Det Life, a magazine for military families, Laura writes with a passion to share her experience with others. She has three grown children and two grandchildren and lives with her husband on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay.

Vickie Lillo is a Florida-based travel writer, multi-lingual, and an avid adventure traveler who appreciates meeting new people and experiencing new cultures from around the world. She is proud to say that she has already given the gift of the love for travel to her 13-year old son.

Mike Marino has made his "roadhead" bones and enjoy's nothing better than a greasy, unfolded map on the seat of the car...a bag of beef jerky and smoked fish and a cream soda to wash it all down as the highway and the steel belts play a meloldy of asphalt. Originally a product of the Motor City, Mike has lived in on the streets and on the beach in Hawaii, as well as in Haight Ashbury and the North Beach neighborhoods in San Francisco. Mike is also founder of the Experimental Theater Workshop, The Spare Change Artists Project, and the Dung Zen Sustainable Living Project. He is primarily though a freelance magazine writer of pop culture, car culture, travel and history for numerous publications and he enjoys Hawaiian shirts, classic cars, Ed Wood Movies, fuzzy dice and hula dashboard ornaments as well as a good Hemmingway cigar, Corona beer, hiking and backpacking and rummaging through flea markets and auto junkyards. email him at: theroadhead@yahoo.com

Linda Martin has always loved to travel and explore new places. She spent her childhood years growing up in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, explored Mexico studying folk art and visited ancient pyramids during her college years. She then shifted to exploring Europe and Japan. More recently she has traveled in a number of South American countries and retraced Magellan's Passage around Cape Horn. Besides a love of travel, Linda Martin is a published author of children's plays and stories and an animal lover ... especially her two Corgi dogs, Betsy and Panda.

Denise Mattia is a freelance photojournalist and Senior Editor of Tripwich.com, living and working in New York City, where she was born. Her travel features and photographs (topside and underwater) appear in national and international publications. She is an active member of SATW, ASJA, IFWTWA and is past president of NYTWA.

Both retired educators, Rick and Chris Millikan now share our world travel adventures with newspaper, magazine and travel-zine audiences. Living a robust life on the west coast of Canada, they often write about cycling experiences enjoyed in British Columbia. Reflecting on sunny visits to the South Pacific, they have recently become travel columnists for the Fiji Times Canada.

Born into a family of travelers, Darryl Musick carried on this tradition when he got married and started his own family. He evolved into a travel writer when he could not find any reliable information about wheelchair accessible travel…a necessity since his son uses one. Darryl has been writing since 1995 about travel in general and wheelchair travel in particular. He also produces a blog, The World on Wheels, documenting his family’s adventures. His articles have been published in Vagabundo Magazine, Emerging Horizons, Bootsnall.com, Uptake.com, and Disabled Dealer Magazine. A Southern California native, Darryl lives with his wife and son in the San Gabriel Valley, just east of Los Angeles. You can learn more about them at their blog at wheelstraveler.blogspot.com For more information, contact Darryl Musick at dmusick61@gmail.com.

Shivya Nath is an India-based writer who loves to seek out offbeat travel destinations that few have been to and fewer have written about. Join her virtually on her travels at The Shooting Star or on Twitter @shivya.

Rick Neal is a free-lance writer living in Vancouver, Canada. His credits include HackWriters.com and TravelThroughHistory.com. He has travelled to Mexico, Central America, Turkey, China, and Vietnam. He hopes to make South America his next destination.

Bonnie Neely is owner of RealTravelAdventures where you can subscribe free for twice monthly terrific stories and photos by many professional travel writers and photographers. Bonnie has been a professional travel writer for over thirty years and is published many times in every form of media. She also reviews hundreds of books for your travels in the ezine's BooksandAudio section.

A former college professor, Robert Painter is author of one of the highest ranked Southwestern Art and Travel books on Amazon.com. He has traveled extensively throughout Indian country attending virtually every major American Indian art show in the Western U.S. and visiting Native American communities throughout the country. Robert has recently completed cruises on the Crown Odyssey, the Silver Cloud, the Silver Shadow, the Norwegian Dream, Seven Seas Navigator and the Windjammer S/V Mandalay. He has traveled to Italy, Greece, Barbados, Russia, Denmark and more countries than we have room to list. Story and photos by Robert Painter: rpainter2006@comcast.net.

Born in Germany, Inka Piegsa-Quischotte has lived and worked as an international attorney in Spain, Switzerland and the UK for many years. Two years ago she turned novelist and travel writer and now lives between Miami and Istanbul as basis for her many journeys either West or East. Her articles have been published in GoNomad, The Expeditioner, Literary Traveler, Travel with a Challenge, Europe up Close, Neos Kosmos newspaper, Lighthouse Digest and In The Know Traveler among others. She contributes regularly to Europe a la carte, as well as OffbeatTravel.com and is the Beirut expert for NileGuide. Her personal travel blog is called GlamourGrannyTravels.com Her new book is Istanbul: City of the green-eyed beauty. It's an unconventional guide to Istanbul. Combining travel with literature, Inka follow the footsteps of three writers: Pierre Loti, Barbara Nadel and Orhan Pamuk.

Patrice Raplee is an experienced travel photojournalist and editor of Travel Excursion and Seattle Spotlight for Positively Entertainment magazine. In addition, she writes a monthly travel column for the award-wining site OffbeatTravel.com and is a regular contributor on travel radio shows. She is a member of North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA), International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) and the Recording Academy. Her articles and photographs have appeared in numerous international publications, as well as NW newspapers such as the Seattle Times, the Stranger and Seattle Weekly. Patrice travels the globe to cover destinations that feature fascinating culture, art, culinary, history and soft adventure. Photos courtesy of Patrice Raplee.

Nell Raun-Linde, a free-lance writer with a travel specialty, has been published in AAA, Senior, regional, inflight, wine and web magazines, as well as in San Francisco Bay Area newspapers and others in the U.S. She resides in historic Benicia, a small California town, incorporated before the gold rush. An almost-around-the-world traveler has a passion not only for travel but for reading, history and family.

Neala Schwartzberg is a freelance writer specializing in travel-related stories, and editor of the OffbeatTravel series of websites. She is a member of International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) and World Federation of Journalists and Travel Writers / Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Écrivains du Tourisme (FIJET). Her articles have appeared in Newsdays Parents & Children, AAA Journey, Wild Blue Yonder, and New Mexico Magazine as well as other local and national publications. For many years she was the editor of a parenting publication and edited their book Raising Young Children Well. Email her at Neala@offbeattravel.com

Shelley Seale is a freelance writer by trade, but a vagabond by nature. Her absolute favorite thing to do is travel, and she loves exploring - and even getting lost in - new and foreign places. She has written for National Geographic, Andrew Harper Traveler, Go Nomad, BootsnAll Travel, Just Cause magazine and many others. She has written several books, including The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India and the Insiders Guide to Seattle. You can visit her website HowToTravelForFree.net

Lesley Stones is a former Brit who is now proudly South African. She started her career by reviewing rock bands for a national UK music paper, then worked for various newspapers before spending four fun-filled years in Cairo, where she ended up editing a technology magazine. Lesley was the Information Technology Editor for a daily business newspaper for 12 years before quitting to go freelance, specialising in travel & leisure writing and being opinionated about life in general. Her absolute passions are travel, theatre, the cinema, wining and dining.

Chris Tharp lives in Busan, South Korea, where he writes, teaches, and screams into microphones. He's a regular columnist for Busan Haps magazine, and his award-winning writing can be found around the web. His book, "Dispatches from the Peninsula: Six Years in South Korea", was recently published by Hong Kong's Signal 8 Press and is available through Amazon and other fine booksellers.

Jon Voelkel grew up in Peru, Costa Rica and Colombia. Pamela Craik Voelkel grew up in a sedate seaside town in the north of England. In 2001, the Voelkels moved to rural Vermont and began work on 'Middleworld', the first book they have written together and the first of the Jaguar Stones series, followed by the End of the World Club. Read about the Voelkels and their books at JaguarStones.com

Michael Patrick Welch is the author of the memoir Commonplace (Screw Music Forever Press), Y’all’s Problem (Dirty Coast) and the New Orleans novel The Donkey Show (Equator Books). He has freelanced for Gambit Weekly for many years, served as a staff writer/editorial assistant at the St Petersburg Times and penned a column in New Orleans’ oldest music magazine, OffBeat. His freelance work has also appeared in Newsweek, Spin, and several Village Voice publications. Welch also teaches a music writing class for public school kids (myspace.com/mrmichaelsclass) and acts as bandleader for electro-rock-n-R & B band, The White Bitch. Email him at michaelpatrickwelch@gmail.com

Julian Worker has written articles on Middle Eastern and European architecture for the US magazine Skipping Stones. He has written travel articles that were published in The Toronto Globe and Mail, Fate Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, and Northwest Travel. He has also taken many photographs that have appeared in travel guides by National Geographic, Thomas Cook and The Rough Guides.

A former Navy brat who traveled and lived abroad extensively, Suzanne Wright is an Arizona-based food and travel writer. She has written numerous travel, food and decor features for numerous international, national and regional publications. Her articles have appeared in Elite Traveler, Wine & Spirits, Veranda, Atlanta Magazine, The Tennessean, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Piedmont Review, Charlotte Place, Where, On Magazine and others. A suitcase is always packed and her passport always up to date. Follow her at WanderWomanOnline.

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