An award-winning travel writer, Kate Armstrong has had her travel articles published around the world in Australian and international newspapers and magazines. Over the last 17 years, she's notched up over 57 Lonely Planet guides and trade titles.

Unearthing quirky aspects of a city and country is her 'thing'. Kate loves chatting, eating, drinking and dancing her way into cultures. For the last eight years she’s been based in and out of Washington DC and has thrived on the city’s cuisine scene and cultural renaissance.

Mark Baker is one of Australia’s most experienced journalists. He is a former Senior Editor of The Age, Editor of The Canberra Times and Managing Editor (National) of Fairfax Media. During 13 years as a foreign correspondent for Fairfax, News Corp and The Financial Times he had postings in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Papua New Guinea. He covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was wounded while covering the civil war in Bougainville in the early 1990s. He has also served as Political Editor and Canberra Bureau Chief of The Age. Mark Baker is now publisher of the independent online magazine Inside Story. His most recent book was Philip Schuler: The Remarkable Life of One of Australia’s Greatest War Correspondents.

Born to northern Italian parents, Australian travel writer Cristian Bonetto spends significant amounts of time in Italy each year.

While he loathes playing favourites, he will admit that Rome has a particular hold on him. Not only does he love its nail-biting backstory, extraordinary architecture and ivy-clad back streets, he’s also drawn to its less obvious, everyday charms, from vintage espresso bars to avant-garde concept stores, off-the-radar boutiques and suburban street art. Together, they keep his camera clicking and his notebooks full of scribbles and stories. Cristian began his writing life as a playwright, running a small theatre company and producing a handful of comedies.

In 2003, his play Il Cortile (The Courtyard) was awarded an Australia Council grant and was performed in numerous Italian cities, including Rome. After a short stint writing scripts for Australian soaps Home & Away and Neighbours in the early 2000s, Cristian turned his hand to travel writing.

Since 2006, he has written more than 30 travel guides for Lonely Planet, for destinations as varied as Naples, Venice, Copenhagen, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore and Brisbane. He is also a globe-trotting host of travel videos and a travel writer for UK newspaper The Telegraph.

Based at the foot of the French Pyrenees mountains, Stuart Butler is an avid hiker who has taken to trails all across the world. He is the author of numerous hiking guidebooks covering destinations as diverse as the Himalayas, England, Sri Lanka, the Ethiopian highlands, the Balkans, Scandinavia and, of course, his beloved Pyrenees among others.

Stuart also writes travel guidebooks for Lonely Planet, Rough Guide and Bradt and is a regular contributor to many international newspapers and magazines for whom he writes about hiking, wildlife, and conservation issues. Stuart is also an award-winning photographer.

Anthony Ham is a freelance writer and photographer who, over the last eighteen years, has built a reputation as a trusted guide and expert companion for a generation of adventurous readers and safari travellers.

A veteran nature and travel writer, Anthony's work has appeared in newspapers and magazines in Australia and worldwide, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly, Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR - US), National Geographic Traveler (US), BBC Wildlife (UK), Lonely Planet Magazine (UK), Africa Geographic (UK), The Independent (UK), Travel Africa (UK), and others.

London-based Helena Smith has been walking on the hygge side of life as a freelance travel writer and photographer for the last 15 years. One of her first assignments was to travel around Denmark, and she still returns regularly to enjoy saunas – alternating with icy lake plunges – healthy smorrebrod, impeccable Scandi design aesthetics and a population that is considered to be the happiest in the world.

Helena has written about Copenhagen for Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and Bradt, and she also has her own London food blog, eathackney.com. Happiest herself when cycling, swimming, looking at art and browsing a flea market, Helena wholeheartedly gives Copenhagen her vote.