"I felt that travel writing was becoming less a matter of 'writing,' and more a matter of guide-bookish details, compressed into ever-shrinking travel sections," Tedeschi says. The result has been to attract some of the finest writers anywhere, whose work on the site has won numerous awards.

It was all an extension of Tedeschi's personal passion. Writing on the world about him has taken him to locations far and wide, in many cases simply because he hadn't been there yet. Aside from his pieces for naturaltraveler.com, his articles have run in more than 100 newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune. Additionally, his articles and photography have appeared in dozens of magazines. Two of his articles for naturaltraveler.com have been awarded the Canadian Tourism Commission's prestigious Northern Lights Award for Internet reporting. Beyond his nonfiction work, Tedeschi is author, co-author or a major contributor to more than a dozen books, including his latest novel, "Unfinished Business."

Tedeschi's other passion is the guitar, born of the period during the 1960s when he was co-editor of the New York University student newspaper, covering the new music scene in Greenwich Village, completely reordered by the emergence of Bob Dylan. When fame and fortune called, "it came down to a choice between Dylan and me," he says, "and he had the better voice." Nonetheless, Tedeschi has a CD in the works, he calls "Stuck in the '60s, Vol. 2," which showcases his inability to shake the stylings of early rock 'n rollers, bluesmen and folkies.

He and his wife, Candy, live on Long Island, have raised three daughters and dote on their families, including four grandchildren, all of whom he is determined to turn into guitar-playing globetrotters.

She's searched for Komodo dragons on the island of Rinca, been attacked by pirates while on a boat off the coast of Bali, brought back the recipe for bat soup from Palau and snorkeled with sea turtles off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

An inveterate traveler, Bauer has taken our readers through such disparate adventures as the Washington D.C. urban experience and the wilds of Yap, a luxury train ride through the Australian outback and a look at the art scene in Rio de Janeiro.

She is a three-time Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award-winner, for both writing and editing and has contributed to a wide-range of publications from National Geographic Traveler to Harper's Bazaar.

Accomplished with a camera, as well as with a keyboard, Bauer's photos have won several awards from the Society of American Travel Writers.

She currently contributes to Art & Antiques, ARTnews, AAA's Home & Away, and writes travel for the Gannett newspapers in Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and Indianapolis.

Not surprisingly, Bauer's passions are art and travel. She lives in an old house on a hill with two dogs and a foster parrot. She practices yoga, eats meat, loves to cook and wants to build a "Spiral Jetty" out of lavender in her back yard.

Baker has written for more than 150 publications worldwide as far-ranging as Caribbean Travel & Life, Elle, Islands, National Geographic Traveler, National Wildlife, National Times, Newsweek International, The Robb Report, Saveur, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor and South China Morning Post.

His numerous books include best-selling guidebooks on Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Bahamas, and elsewhere on behalf of such publishers as Avalon Travel Publishing, Frommer's, Lonely Planet, National Geographic Society, and Prentice Hall. He has also contributed chapters to books on behalf of Time-Life and the Discovery Channel.

Among his many honors, Baker is a six-time winner of the Society of American Travel Writers' prestigious Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award. His literary travelogue, "Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba," won both the Lowell Thomas Travel Book of the Year and the Grand Prize in the North American Travel Journalists Association Awards of Excellence.

Baker was born and raised in Yorkshire, England. He received a B.A. with honors in Geography at the University of London's University College, during which time he participated in two Sahara research expeditions and an exchange program at Krakow University, Poland. He later earned master's degrees in Latin American Studies from Liverpool University, and in Education from the University of London's Institute of Education. He began his writing career in 1978 as a contributing editor on Latin America for Land & Liberty, a London-based political journal. In 1980, he received a Scripps-Howard Foundation Scholarship in Journalism to attend the University of California, Berkeley. He has made his living as a professional travel writer and photographer since 1983. He also writes frequently on natural sciences and tourism-related issues.

A member of the National Press Club, most of Kaltenheuser 's topics focus on business, law, politics and ethics, with occasional op-ed pontifications; but when lucky, he works in travel and culture, rounding off much of the world's loosely defined four corners. He is partial to adventure/eco-travel, and also pursues carnivals across different cultures, admiring their unique melting pots and common themes of renewal and a clean slate, frequent subjects of his work in naturaltraveler.com. He is an award-winning photographer.

Kaltenheuser also does media consulting - Have Pen Will Travel. Despite a highly varied career, he has never been accused of exercising undue influence in Washington, and denies all responsibility for the current mischief. Occasionally he observes elections in far-flung countries, from the Balkans to Kazakhstan, trying not to take a small comfort in others' mistakes.

When he's not searching the globe for desserts, Rosenthal is often checking out top-of-the-line kitchens at posh resorts and urban gastronomic centers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe. He is currently collaborating with Craig Shelton of The Ryland Inn and Julian Serrano of Picasso at Bellagio on cookbook projects and will be writing exclusively for naturaltraveler.com during this important phase of testing recipes and conducting "field research."

Rosenthal has a master's degree in science (MSJ) from Northwestern University in Chicago – the best restaurant city in the U.S. He worked at the Los Angeles Times as a copy editor on the arts & leisure desk, before focusing on book writing projects with baseball greats Nolan Ryan, Tony Gwynn, Randy Johnson and Don Mattingly. He has lived and traveled all over the world and prefers Rome to Paris and Miami to Los Angeles.

With his friend Chris Maynard, he is co-author of the legendary "Manifold Destiny: The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engine," and of "The Bad For You Cookbook," a collection of high-calorie recipes. Scheller has also written the companion volumes to the popular Discovery Channel shows "American Chopper" and "American Hot Rod." He and his wife, Kay, are the authors of "Best Vermont Drives," published under their own Jasper Heights Press imprint.

He and his wife live at the end of a dirt road, 17 miles south of the Canadian border. His cycling companion, son Dave, is an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, although Scheller hopes the two of them still have a few bike adventures to share - especially if Dave follows in his dad's footsteps and doesn't actually get a job when he graduates.

In his office, Scheller has a Frederick Remington print of two Canadian voyageurs in a canoe and an 18th-century engraving of the Grand Canal, reminders that one of his ambitions is to paddle through Venice - if his 16-foot Merrimack will fit in one of Alitalia's overhead compartments.

Ostdick is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, and a former board member of The Press Club of Dallas. Much of his work involves travel, outdoor adventure, and family travel (he likes to hike, bike, and camp) but he's also written extensively on consumer technology (Personal Technology section, The Dallas Morning News), about business people and trends for both corporate and editorial publications, and environmental issues (Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine).

Ostdick coordinated many award-winning projects while at The Dallas Morning News and during his tenure as editor-in-chief American Way magazine earned many regional and national "Best Magazine" honors. Most recently, he earned a 2006 Northern Lights Award from the Canadian Tourism Commission and three of his stories garnered recognition at the 2006 SATW Central States Chapter Writing Competition.

During 2003, John and naturaltraveler.com founding editor, Tony Tedeschi, instructed bartenders throughout rural Argentina in the proper technique for making the perfect martini. Both considered making that calling a career but thought better of it.

Ostdick lives in Dallas with his writer-editor wife, Michelle, and children, Hunter and Madeline.

Together, they’ve authored more than 30 books, including Adventure New England (Ragged Mountain Press/McGraw-Hill), Fun Places to Go With Children in New England (Chronicle Books), Hiking USA (Lonely Planet), Frommer’s Irreverent Guide to Boston and Michelin’s Must-See Guides to Orlando, Hawaiian Islands, and Boston.

Their Wild Encounters: The Best Animal Adventure Trips in the U.S., featuring a collection of must-see natural events and seasonal excursions to spectacular wildlife happenings, was one of Willow Creek’s top-selling titles in Great Britain. In winter, 2004-2005, they wore out Hot Chili long underwear and fleece jackets, while researching Snowshoeing Routes New England, a Mountaineers Books title that hit the shelves last year (and is, alas, selling slowly.)

Their work has appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers, including Better Homes and Gardens, FamilyFun, Family Circle, GOMagazine, Cooking Light, Diversion, Yankee, Boston Globe Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, and more.

They each write, travel, and market their work, share a Diet Coke addiction, and know each other’s wicked, little secrets. They have no idea how many countries they’ve visited and, though active members of the Society of American Travel Writers, they’ve never entered a writing contest.

Bair lives with her family on a quiet pond in Beverly, Massachusetts. Wright lives in a 200-year-old house in Durham, New Hampshire, with her husband, two dogs, two cats and two college-bound kids.

Most of Alice's more current adventures are focused on Maine, where she plans to relocate after grad school. A single mother of 3, Alice works at a school for at-risk youth while attending Salem State College, pursuing a Masters in Education. She lives with her 8 year-old daughter, Addie and two cats, Jersey Girl and Richie. With the older children having moved on, Addie joins Alice in her travels and activities. This is Addie’s third season cross-country skiing and she began mountain biking last year.

Alice credits her childhood family vacations to New England as being instrumental to her settling there.

After a decade and a half working as a Network Producer at CBC and Global Television, in 1995, Gertler launched his own media venture, Radar Media Company. His writing and production clients include: The Economist, Time Out London, Appleton Jamaica Rum, Discovery Channel, Bravo, Newsworld, Outpost Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Prime Television and CTV Travel. Kim also is a regular contributor to the Shelf Life column in the food in The National Post "I'm interested in what we bring to the table in addition to our appetite or the daily need for nourishment.

"The idea that we can literally taste, devour and digest culture is very appetizing. In every meal, there's a message, a journey, and some great stories."

Though Gertler has an honours degree in arts from U of T and is an alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre he emphasizes the value of time logged as a student working summers in steamy restaurant kitchens in Banff and Toronto.

The kitchen is the ultimate crucible of learning experiences... a place of great drama where unheralded heroics and tragic meltdowns occur on a daily basis. The kitchen is a school, a stage, even a world view.

Kim learned to cook from his Slovakian mother, the late sculptor Anita Gertler. I learned from watching my mom that food cam be an ongoing dialogue of discovery: The rituals of growing it, preparing it and enjoying it communicate the distinctions and the common ground between cultures, and what they bring to the table.

Grey’s articles have appeared in Washingtonian Magazine, National Wildlife, Chesapeake Life, WildBird, The Group Travel Leader, and many state, regional and national publications. She contributes regularly to Virginia Wildlife, Gannett newspapers, Leisure Publications, and Grapevine Magazine (Eastern Home and Travel).

Most recently, she placed first in photography in Virginia Outdoor Writer Association's annual contest. Photo essays, "Natural Selection" and "Journey to the Bottom of the Earth" and “Treasures in Wood” also won VOWA awards. The State Governor’s Award was bestowed for "Summer Shade," an image of the James River and Blue Ridge Mountains.

Wherever she goes, Grey strives be a friendly ambassador to wildlife and to people. She hopes that her images and engaging stories will lift the human spirit.