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About the Authors
 Randy Antin
Search Marketing Manager
I'm a traitor from the South to the North--California that is, having grown up in Los Angeles and now living in San Francisco. Throw in spending four years in Michigan and a stint in Prague and you have my life. I used to want to walk the world as my life goal but realized it's a big, big place. So, I choose to drive or fly.
My most annoying travel experience:...was to be taken off an Amsterdam-Paris train and semi-stripped search for drugs in the train station by Belgian police.
Most recent great adventure: Snowboarding in the Alps.
Favorite building: La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Antoni Gaudi--the Dr. Seuss of architects.
My list of 5 things to do in the next 5 years:
Drink port in Portugal.
Kayak in Baja California.
Sandboard the dunes of Namibia.
Everything in New Zealand and Australia (I'm combining these two).
Hang out with Bjork in Iceland.
I can: Needlepoint and dance like a madman (although not at the same time).
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 Rachel Berg
Lead Writer
Born in Waikiki, I was relocated to the mainland before learning enough words to protest the move, and subsequently grew up in a politically charged D.C.-area household. After a summer in a Mexican mountain village, four years amidst Michigan snowdrifts, and a semester in Spain, I headed to the Golden State, where I spent a year in Venice Beach before moving to San Francisco.
Favorite places (so far): Madrid, Dead Sea, Jamaica, Maui, Bethany Beach.
Someday I’ll get to: Alaska, Australia, Brazil, Himalayas, Moorea.
Best travel tale: Unwittingly arrived in Copenhagen the same day as biker Bjarne Riss, who was just returning to his home country after winning the year’s Tour de France. The city’s pride overflowed as it erupted into a hero’s welcome with street parades and celebrations that lasted well into the night.
Favorite travelogue: The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen.
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 Nicole Clausing
Freelance Writer
I'm a transplanted New Englander who moved to the Bay Area 10 years ago. The biggest adventure of my life was three months spent backpacking through China after college. My partner and I now live in Oakland, CA, and will entertain the idea of traveling just about anywhere.
Favorite places (so far) : France, Sweden, Taiwan, New Mexico, Los Angeles.
Someday I'll get to: Istanbul, Australia, and the five U.S. states I haven't been to yet.
Best travel tale: Accidentally leaving a Thanksgiving turkey on a train headed for Inner Mongolia. With the help of train-station staff, Chinese police, and several would-be dinner guests, the turkey was recovered several days later--still frozen.
Favorite travelogue: Iron and Silk, by Mark Salzman.
I can: Speak Mandarin.
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 Adam Davis
Manager, Editorial and Promotional Content
I’ve been to more countries than ballparks, more islands than countries, and more bars in the East Village than islands.
Favorite beaches: Hapuna Beach, Island of Hawaii; Chun's Reef (on the North Shore), Oahu; Laguna Beach, California; Carrizalillo (near Puerto Escondido), Mexico.
Someday I’ll get to: Rio, New Orleans, Italy.
Best bad travel tale with a happy ending: Losing my wallet on the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island, and needing to get on a plane the next day with no I.D. (which I somehow managed to do). When I got home an e-mail was waiting for me that said: "my girl find your wallet on the corny island." My wallet was mailed back to me with everything in it--except the cash.
I can: Hitchhike.
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 Kristen Martin
Freelance Writer
I hail from Allentown, Pennsylvania, home of the Great Allentown Fair and Yocco’s the Hot Dog King. I’ve lived in New London, Connecticut; Philadelphia; and New York City; and currently make my home in San Francisco. My fantasy vacation is a trek in the Himalayas and upcoming travel plans include two weeks on the South Island of New Zealand.
Favorite places (so far): Acadia National Park, Maine; Inishmore, Ireland; Florence, Italy.
Someday I'll get to: Patagonia, Nepal, Rome.
Best travel tale: Camping solo in the backcountry of Denali National Park, stomping grounds of the grizzly bear, armed only with unscented toothpaste, two "bear bells," and a lifeguard whistle.
Favorite travelogue: On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
I can: Write a sonnet.
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 Lorraine Sanders
Freelance Writer
I'm originally from Richmond, Virginia, and moved to the Bay Area in 2000 after living the better part of a year in London and then backpacking for two months. My most harrowing adventure involved a month of solo travel through Thailand in 2000. My days involved such varied activities as reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment for eight straight hours to feeding wild monkeys with my hands. I love my San Francisco digs, but the thought of travel is always at the forefront of my mind.
Favorite places: London, Sweden, Estonia, Thailand, Mallorca, Virginia Beach, and Providence (RI).
Someday I'll get to: Hawaii, Bali, Micronesia, Mauritius, a cruise.
Best travel tale: I always try to be on my best behavior when traveling so as not to perpetuate the rumor that Americans are the world's token dum-dums. After nearly 18 hours of travel, my boyfriend Brian and I found ourselves lost, tired, and sitting in a tiny gas station on the outskirts of Arta in Mallorca. It was then that we discovered that neither of us knew how to make our screaming orange Opal rental car go in reverse. We pushed, we argued, we tried everything we could think of. The car was a mystery to us and the clerk inside the gas station couldn't figure out what we were doing there, just sitting in the dirt parking lot, kicking our car. Enter two German tourists. They were laughing and having a grand time at pump 2. Brian finally managed to communicate the problem to the couple using a savvy mixture of pantomime and pointing. The girlfriend agreed to give Brian a little driving lesson. FYI: the secret of making a standard Opal go in reverse lies in simply pulling the stick shift up before trying to put it in reverse. One flick of the wrist, that was our answer. But the entire time she was giving the lesson, she was trying to stifle a laugh. By the end, she was pretty much just laughing in our faces. When she was done, she returned to her companion, and there was no question about it, they were straight-up laughing AT us. And hard. Though at first both Brian and I were slapping our foreheads, saying, "Doh! Stupid, stupid us," we soon realized that we had probably just given that couple their freshest tale of American buffoonery, a tale they would surely take and spread amongst their kinsmen. We felt that we had really done something positive to enhance someone else's vacation.
Favorite travelogue: The Beach, by Alex Garland, or any of Roald Dahl's books.
I can: Make candles and a mean Thanksgiving turkey.
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 Jessica Mordo
Freelance Writer
I’m a New York City native who’s called San Francisco home for four years now. I’ve also lived in Philadelphia and London. With EU citizenship pending, I hope to do the expat thing for a little while.
Favorite places (so far): Thailand, France, Hawaii, London, Prague.
Someday I'll get to: Swim with dolphins in Belize, explore all of New Zealand, climb a volcano in Iceland, trek in the jungle in South America, live in Spain.
Best travel tale: When I moved out West, I journeyed cross-country with my friends’ band on their first national tour.
Favorite travelogue: Video Night in Kathmandu by Pico Iyer.
I can: Make my own clothing.
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 Sarah Sung
Lead Writer
I was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Maryland, and spent some very memorable summers as a kid with my grandmother in South Carolina. After college in Vermont and study abroad in Sweden, I now call San Francisco home. Although I dream of winning a million dollars on The Amazing Race, for now, I'm content to explore on my own whenever the opportunity arises.
Favorite places (so far): Mojave Desert, Grand Canyon, Kona, Prague, Stockholm, Sundance (Utah), Vermont.
Someday I'll get to: Alaska, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Vancouver, Capri, Portugal, London, Chile, and New Zealand.
Best travel tale: I spent my junior year abroad in Sweden in 1994 when the Olympics were in Lillehammer, Norway. On the spur of the moment, about 12 of us decided to go to the Olympics for the weekend. We jumped on a train to Oslo, crammed like sardines into a teeny-tiny hotel room, took a train to Lillehammer, and miraculously got tickets to downhill skiing and a hockey game. We even found a place to stay, and nobody cared that we had to sleep on linoleum floors in an elementary school. I never felt luckier.
Most recent great adventure: Raced in a triathlon in Kona then took a helicopter tour over molten lava and around the entire island.
Next great adventure: Cycling through the South of France.
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 Lisa Zeng
Assistant Product Manager, Cruises
Born and raised in California, but having spent the summers of my youth on the New Hampshire coast, I’m a girl with a healthy dose of New England sensibilities, mixed with Left Coast lightheartedness.
Favorite places: Cinque Terre, Italy; North Shore of Kauai; Santa Cruz, CA; Glacier National Park, MT.
Someday I’ll get to: New York City and Washington, D.C. (sad, but true).
Best travel tale: Never having fished for anything in my life, I set out on a king salmon fishing trip on Alaska’s Talkeetna River with my husband in the summer of 2000. After surviving the 3am wake-up call, pouring rain, and unsightly thigh-high waders, I proudly caught the first--and largest--fish of the day! Needless to say, the seasoned anglers I was with weren’t amused by my hard-won, 32-pound catch.
I Can: Make hand-blown glass.
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 Amy Ziff
Editor-at-Large
I grew up in the Northeast and have at least briefly called eight states and two foreign countries home. Most recently, I’ve landed in Dallas, Texas. The best part about being in Dallas is that I’m centrally located in the country and familiarizing myself with territory I haven’t explored before. Eventually, I plan on visiting every state. I’m just over halfway so far. I love travel and investigating new places so that I can learn about people and places around the world.
Favorite places (so far): I love boutique hotels, small shops, tiny restaurants, and other treasures that tourists only hope to stumble upon. There is a roadside bar outside of Johnston Vermont where I’ve had as much fun as at any swanky club in New York or Los Angeles. Whenever I travel, it's my quest to find these local or insider spots.
Pretty much anywhere, dusk and dawn are my favorite times of day from San Gimigniano, Italy to Santa Cruz, California. A particularly gorgeous sunrise was on a trip to Crow territory in Big Sky country (a.k.a. Montana) where summer felt like another season all together, but the light appeared like a magic lantern and warmed me right up! Other favorites have been in Canada, England, France, Holland, Hawaii, New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, California, and Connecticut.
Someday I'll get to: Alaska, Australia, and Asia, not to mention all the other states on my list!
Favorite travelogue: Not exactly. I love reading about places and learning about other cultures through stories. Historical fiction can be a wonderful way to imagine settings abroad like Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and Lost in Translation by Nicole Moines. I also enjoyed A Year in Provence by Peter Mayles.
Where will I be in ten years: Writing from my porch overlooking the water in a spot like Martha's Vineyard. It will serve as my launching pad to continuously travel, learn, and explore.
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