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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Denise Mattia is a freelance photojournalist living in New York City. She is the recipient of two degrees in Theatre and Art and a grant for her work in reef conservation. Her worldwide travel features and photographs (topside and underwater) appear in national and international publications. She is president of the New York Travel Writers Association and an active member of SATW, IFWTWA and PATA.

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.

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.

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 Offbeat Travel and is a regular guest on Travel radio talk shows. She is a member of North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA), International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) and the Recording Academy. Her photographs and articles 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.

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.

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

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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