Don George wrote the book on travel writing, literally. His book, Lonely PLanet's Guide to Travel Writing, is the best-selling travel writing guide in the world. Don has been a pioneering travel writer and editor for 40 years. He has been travel editor at the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle, founder and editor of Salon's "Wanderlust" travel site, and global travel editor for Lonely Planet. He is currently an editor at large and columnist for National Geographic Traveler and the editor of BBC Travels "Words and Wanderluct" section. Don is the cofounder and chairman of the renowned Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographer Conference. He has visited 90 countries and has published hundreds of articles in dozens of magazines, newspapers, and websites worldwide. He has also edited ten award-winning literary travel anthologies. He speaks and teaches regularly at conferences and on campuses around the world, and he is frequently interviewed on TV, radio, and online as a travel expert.

Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist long based in both California and Japan. He is the author of numerous books about crossing cultures, among them Video Night in Kathmandu", The Lady and the Monk, "and The Global Soul". An essayist for Time" since 1986, he also publishes regularly in Harper s", The New York Review of Books", The New York Times", and many other publications across the globe.