WJ Contributors
WJ Contributors
Want to join Viv and Jill and the WJ community of writers? Visit our Writer’s Guidelines page to get started.
WAVEJourney contributors travel near and far to bring you the best travel stories; recommendations and tips for destinations; suggestions for activities; cruise, tour, restaurant and hotel reviews.
They include both professional travel writers, as well as WJ readers that love to share their travel experiences with others.
WJ Contributors Include:
Ethel and Terry DeMarr
Ethel DeMarr, and her husband, Terry, share their stories from their adventures around the world.
Jane Cassie
Jane Cassie’s articles have appeared in more over 2,000 newspapers and magazines. As well as being co-owner/editor of Travel Writers’ Tales, she is a member of SATW, TMAC and past President of BCATW. Website: www.janecassie.com
Cheryl Smyth
Cheryl Smyth has been a photographer for 20 years and has recently added writing to her repertoire. The desire of having her dog, Tessi, with her on her travels has inspired her to discover all that pet travel has to offer. Some of her travel stories and photography can be found on her website www.cstravelsandpics.ca.
Koala Vandruff
Deborah “Koala” Vandruff makes her home in Anchorage, Alaska. She has recently retired from her work as a nurse at the Alaska Native Medical Center and hopes this will give even more time for exploring the parts of the world she has on “the list” of must see places. Besides travel, she is an avid gardener which makes her love to travel to see and work on gardens. She has worked on WWOOF (worldwide workers on organic farms) farms in Mexico and Italy and plans to do many more. She has been published previously in a travel book “Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean – A Guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler” (published by National Geographic Society) and tries to keep a blog at www.sandkvistas.wordpress.com. She recently spent 3 months traveling through 6 countries in East Africa and is looking forward to fishing season in Alaska.
Linda Ball
Linda Ball is a freelance journalist/writer. Linda is a recent cancer survivor, and writing a book about that journey. She lives in West Seattle, has a son who lives in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and lives with her lovely little dog, Abbey, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She is originally from the great state of Alaska.
Lucy Komisar
Lucy Komisar is a New York journalist who writes about travel and theater, and also investigates the offshore bank and corporate secrecy system and how it services international crime & corruption. (That takes her to interesting places!) Visit her website: The Komisar Scoop
Stacey Wittig – Vagabonding Lulu
Stacey Wittig, “Vagabonding Lulu,” is a travel writer based in Flagstaff, AZ. Her trekking adventures have led her up the Inca Trail in Peru eating fried caterpillars and roasted guinea pig, across the plains of northern Spain on El Camino de Santiago enjoying tapas and steamed barnacles, and through the vineyards of Cinque Terre sipping Chianti Classic. “Northern Arizona is a remarkable place to call home,” declares the wandering writer who loves sour cream enchiladas at El Charro Restaurant in Flagstaff, AZ.
Patti Morrow
Patti Morrow was born with incurable wanderlust, eventually leading her to a career as a freelance travel writer and photographer. She specializes in women’s adventure travel and has traveled throughout most of the United States and 35 countries abroad.
Patti has been published in numerous media, including International Living, Women’s Home Journal, Travel Post Monthly, MORE magazine, WAVEJourney.com, and Diva Toolbox and was featured on Tori Johnson (of Good Morning America) Spark and Hustle.She is the editor of Luggage, Lipstick and Laptop, an online resource for women’s adventure travel, and is a member of ITWPA, AWAI, Intrepid Travel, Media Kitty, and TravelWriters.com.
Lex Foster
Lex Foster is WJ’s junior contributor. She was raised on a farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, and loves riding horses, hiking, swimming, baking, and exploring new places. Lex has been grooming dogs for the past 5 years to support herself. 2012 saw Lex in Europe on a Contiki tour, and Australia is her dream destination for 2013.
Habeeb Salloum
Habeeb Salloum lived his youth in Saskatchewan then, after serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1943-45, he moved to Toronto. For 36 years he worked for Revenue Canada from 1949 to 1985 while, at the same time, pursuing his literary and scholastic interests. After retirement, he became a full-time freelance writer and author.
Mr. Salloum, who is a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC), has travelled extensively to most parts of the world and has written comprehensively about the countries through which he travelled and about their cuisines. His special interests are: Canadian and international tourism; the cuisines of the Mediterranean countries and Latin-speaking worlds; the history of the Arabs in Canada especially Arab pioneering/homesteading in western Canada; the impact of Arab/Muslim Spain on the development of subsequent world history; and Arabic contributions to the English and Spanish vocabularies.
He has had hundreds of articles published about his tourism and gastronomic travels and has lectured about these subjects. His culinary interests and research have culminated into books. His most recent cookbooks are Bison Delights (CPRC, University of Regina, 2010) and The Arabian Nights Cookbook (Tuttle Publishing, 2010). Currently in press are two new cookbooks co-authored with his two daughters: Medieval Arab Cookery (University of Pennsylvania Press) and Medieval Arab Sweets (I.B. Tauris).
Jeannette and Dan Dudek
Jeannette and Dan have traveled extensively domestically and internationally; and have been to most U.S. states and Canadian provinces and about 30 countries.
In his business career Dan has had the opportunity to spend weeks on assignment in many overseas locations, and has learned to observe the “frame of reference” others have of culture and political ideologies. He has a private pilot’s license (now inactive), and as an Eagle Scout, he practices the scout motto to “Be Prepared” for all situations and confesses to being a person who likes “electronic toys”, especially those security related.
Dan became involved with amateur photography started when he was about ten years old, and continues to this day. As a hobby, Dan makes DVDs of pictures and video for his family and friends.
Jeannette’s career has included teaching elementary school classes; as well as English classes for middle school students; she also as has been a business manager and accountant for several firms. Jeannette’s passion is gourmet cooking and hosting special gatherings for friends and family.
Besides international travel, Jeannette and Dan enjoy traveling North America in their RV, as well as handgun competitions, sailing, hunting, hiking, mountain biking and other outdoor sports.
Vietnam Expert, Jean Wethmar
Jean Wethmar shares her stories about Vietnam. Jean is the owner of Cape Lux Travel – small-group luxury tours in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Diane Leone
Diane Leone is a freelance Travel Writer & Photographer who writes about the places she travels as a woman traveling alone. Diane has two published books and has been published in numerous print magazines and on-line sites for both interior design and travel articles. Websites: www.OneWomansTravels.com; www.Twitter.com/OneWomansTravel
Shirley Culpin
Shirley Culpin’s love affair with Vancouver Island has spanned more than 40 years, and thousands of miles traveled. Although she no longer works full-time as a journalist she takes great delight in discovering the special places that abound on the Island and in telling fellow residents and travelers about them on her travel blog/website: Vancouver Island Beyond Victoria Shirley lives in Qualicum Beach with her husband Michael, two Irish Setters and a Dalmatian.
Vietnam Expert, Jean Wethmar
