After earning her B.A. in Sociology and Hispanic Studies, Diana taught English in the remote Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, and in Tokyo, Japan. During this time, she explored China and Tokyo in depth, and traveled throughout even more of Southeast Asia. She found the temples of Angkor particularly memorable, and she loved the cuisine of northern China. In the past few years, Diana has traveled to India, Turkey and Germany. She returns to Japan regularly and is just back from an extensive tour of Laos.

Favorite tours:	Highlights of Spain Essence of the South Island (NZ) Exclusive India Essence of Turkey Treasures of Yunnan Essence of Japan Highlights of Laos
Favorite hotels:	Amanbagh, India Four Seasons Istanbul The Peninsula, Beijing Anantara Resort, Golden Triangle Mandarin Oriental Bangkok
Favorite sites:	Huashan (Mt. Hua, from Xi'an) Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Barcelona Ephesus, Turkey Bhangarh, India Temples of Angkor
Favorite restaurants:	Lumiere, Hong Kong Roy's, Tokyo Il Mulino, Tokyo 360 Istanbul Home cooking of Madrid
Best shopping:	Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Callao/Plaza del Sol, Madrid Shaping Market, Dali
Favorite cities:	Tokyo, Barcelona, Singapore, Istanbul, Madrid, Shanghai

David Carson
David has a passion for food and exploring cultures different from his own. He is also an avid photographer and loves capturing scenes of dailylife, architecture, and local flora and fauna. He has a graduate degree in theater and is a founding member of the Metropolitan Playhouse in New York City. David has traveled widely, from France to Lithuania to South Africa.

John McGee
John loves experiencing local cultures. Wherever he travels, he seeks out traditional and contemporary art and architecture, visits museums, wanders city streets, hikes, meets local people, turns an ear to local music, scours markets for what’s typical to locals but unusual to visitors, forages for local food and drink, and buys lots of books. Originally from California, John has also lived in Copenhagen, Edinburgh and Tokyo. He has traveled extensively and intensively throughout most of Asia, Europe and New Zealand, large parts of North America, and a bit of Africa. Recently, John has spent considerable time in New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Ecuador & Galapagos, Switzerland, and Peru.

John has a BA in studio art from Occidental College and an MFA from Art Center College of Design. While living in Tokyo for six years, John wrote a weekly art column for Japan’s leading English-language magazine. He has also contributed articles on art, cuisine, shopping and travel to “Time Out” guidebooks, Art in America, Art+Auction, Four Seasons and many other publications.

Sonja Stoerr
Sonja grew up living overseas in Thailand, New Zealand, Dominican Republic and Kenya. She has traveled extensively to over 50 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and the South Pacific. She earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Skidmore College and also studied in Kenya and Tanzania. Some of her most memorable travel experiences include flying over New Zealand's Franz Josef Glacier, learning to cook okonomiyaki in Japan, exploring ancient temples in Cambodia and Burma, witnessing morning prayers on the Ganges River in India, visiting a Mayan family's home in Mexico, slurping on xiao long bao (soup dumplings) in Shanghai, a sunrise walk around Australia's Ayers Rock, a tapas tasting in Barcelona, hiking along Incan paths in Peru, exploring family heritage in Germany, getting blessed by a monk in Bhutan, meeting a pride of lions on a walking safari in South Africa, making friends with meerkats in Botswana, spending a night in a Bedouin tent in the Sahara Desert, and riding longtail boats on the klongs of Thailand. Sonja travels regularly to Africa and Mexico and her other recent trips include Australia, China, Israel and Morocco.

Jane Newton
One of Jane’s favorite pastimes is browsing food markets in search of authentic local cuisine. Luckily she has family throughout Europe, meaning she can indulge her culinary curiosity on regular visits to Greece, England, Italy and southern France. A Choate and Vassar alum, Jane has also studied French history and film at the Sorbonne in Paris. Her wide range of work experience includes editing a contemporary arts journal as well as a series of travel guidebooks. Jane and her husband and two daughters split their time between Manhattan and East Hampton.