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Meet Our Contributors AAA people from all over the country contribute their travel knowledge and point of view to this blog. Here's a little bit more about them and 'where they're coming from.'
  • Terence Baker Terence Baker Terence Baker joined AAA Publishing in Feb. 2007 as the travel editor of AAA New York's Car & Travel magazine. Travel is something he pretty much lives for, ever since receiving [more]his first atlas at the age of six and remembering the smile of an old Greek woman on the island of Crete, who handed him, unprompted, a fresh pomegranate at the age of 12. He has been to 64 countries and reads, reads and reads, mainly literature and travel journals. Books have taken over, so much so that in his Brooklyn apartment, he had to get rid of the television to make room. A native of London, his first travel was to mainland Europe, but since moving to the United States, he has consistently stared south at Central and Latin America. The Colombian hilltop village of Villa de Leyva remains his favorite destination, but he also feels the need to often revisit Spain, Portugal and Central Park. He has run 20 marathons (best time: 2:44:56) and enjoys birdwatching, which often sees him get hopelessly but majestically lost. The only time he seems not to enjoy life is when he sees the unchecked use of exclamation marks.
  • Ivan Becker Ivan Becker Ivan Becker joined AAA New Jersey as an Auto Travel Counselor in 2004 after a career in advertising. He has always enjoyed planning the family driving vacations and his best subject in Trivial Pursuit[more] is geography, so he was a natural for auto travel. He also stops to read the trail maps on the ski slopes, to the annoyance of his companions who want to get in out of the cold. He loves the beach and the Beach Boys as well as Springsteen. He enjoys inexpensive wines, Asian cuisine and independent films. One of his favorite travel spots is Charleston, SC and especially the beach at Kiawah Island. He likes to recommend Lake Powell to clients who are visiting the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion. If his knees are in the mood, he can occasionally be found on the golf course.
  • Kim Birch Kim Birch A true Florida native, Kim Birch was born in Orlando and shares some of the area’s history.  Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on Kim’s second birthday and Disney opened its gates[more] when Kim was just four years old.  Growing up just a few miles from Mickey’s house, Kim made more than 70 trips to Disney World by the age of 20.  While she still enjoys the magic of Disney, Kim is a frequent cruiser and has visited many ports of call in the Caribbean.  Employed by AAA in 1990, Kim is now a product manager with AAA Publishing and works closely on popular AAA retail travel guides such as the Atlas and the PetBook.  Kim enjoys spending time with her family and friends and loves to entertain.  On most weekends you can find her playing hostess at some sort of get-together at her Central Florida home.
  • Heidemarie Chernushin Heidemarie Chernushin Heidemarie Chernushin began her AAA career in 1988 as an Auto Travel Counselor, followed by an 11-year stint working in Public Affairs at Ohio Motorists Association (now AAA East Central). After[more] briefly escaping from AAA world to work for the Cleveland Clinic Health Systems, she received an offer she couldn’t refuse and the prodigal daughter returned to her AAA home. Her addiction to travel began as a child during summer-long excursions to visit her grandparents in Vienna. It grew while working as a tour bus driver/guide in Yellowstone National Park after college graduation. Itchy feet syndrome now becomes intolerable if she’s home for more than two months compelling her to hit the road . . . somewhere . . . anywhere.
  • Candy Christman Candy Christman Candy Christman worked at AAA for 30 years before her recent retirement.  Some of Candy’s favorite vacations were taken in various corners of the globe, including Puerto Madryn, Argentina,[more] Zermatt, Switzerland, snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, and white water rafting near Hope, Alaska.  She is passionate about animal welfare and most childhood photos have a dog or a cat in the picture.
  • Sally Doran Sally Doran Sally Doran grew up in a small Ohio town and has always had a passion to see the country and the world. She says she felt like a lottery winner when she landed a job in 1991 as a marketing[more] director with AAA Miami Valley in Dayton. She  also served as regional editor for the local issue of Home & Away magazine. ("They pay you to travel and write about it? OK, I'll do it!").  For the past seven years, her AAA experience has continued as she works with more than twenty clubs across the country. As a travel writer and editor, she has enjoyed many trips throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe.  A self-described Anglophile, she lists London as her favorite city in the world; but as a life-long Midwesterner, she can tell you most about America's heartland.  Other travel passions are non-stop golf getaways, mom-and-son bonding trips with her teenage son and at least one travel adventure with "the girls" each year (facial anyone?).
  • Eli Ellison Eli Ellison Eli Ellison is based in Seal Beach, California. A staff travel writer for seven years at the Auto Club of Southern California, he now helps develop destination content for AAA Publishing. When not[more] chained to his home computer desk, Eli can be found asleep on the beach, rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers, tormenting his pet cat or experiencing pastrami-on-rye nirvana at L.A.’s legendary Langer’s Deli. His favorite travel destinations include Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and remote corners of the American Southwest, where he’s never surprised to see a camera-toting European tourist pop out from behind a rock.
  • Darlene Entringer Darlene Entringer Darlene Entringer has been a marketing director in AAA’s national office in Heathrow, FL for nearly 18 years. She and her husband, Larry, are making up for “lost time” (raising[more] children, building careers, paying for college, paying off their mortgage, etc.) as they seek numerous opportunities to travel the globe. Darlene has enjoyed fifteen cruises and one riverboat excursion, traveling to ports of call in Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and northern Europe. She believes cruising is the most comfortable, the least stressful, and obviously cost-effective way to visit a wide variety of countries and cities. A recent riverboat adventure went through scenic little burgs, ancient castles and acres of vineyards from Prague to Trier, France with stops in Bavaria and Germany. She compares these little towns to the treasured and colorful holiday village she displays each Christmas season. Her favorite city is Paris in the fall. It’s a fascinating metropolis filled with history, wonderful food, engaging sites and friendly people. An immediate travel goal is to see more of the U.S.A., particularly the many national parks. She enjoy traveling with friends and family as well.
  • Sandra Furlong Sandra Furlong Wanderlust began early for Sandra Furlong, who is a communications manager in the Travel department of AAA’s national office in Florida. One of her first memories is of standing behind a latched[more] screen door at age three, looking outside and wanting to be “out there.” Since then, she’s gone “out there” every chance she gets, traveling in five continents with abandon, often to the chagrin of traveling companions. Although the memories of places she’s been are all special, she says the best trip is always the next one planned.
  • Don Gleason Don Gleason Don Gleason of AAA Arizona has been known as a savvy traveler for many years. After pestering seasoned travel agents around the country for the inside scoop on travel, he opened his first travel[more] agency at the ripe age of 22. He covered the world for a famous Mouse, has worked for Universal Studios and has over 30 years in the travel industry. Aside from searching the globe for old, new and interesting destinations, Don is the master of the Sunday brunch – serving up incredible omelets, or the now famous “Eggs Cubano”. Ok…so only famous to a select fortunate few…and best served from the deck of a nice sailboat.
  • Beth Granger Beth Granger Elizabeth “Beth” Granger joined AAA as an Auto Travel Counselor in 2007 and has taken to the travel industry like a duck to water. A Michigan native, she currently resides in Missouri with[more] her husband and three dogs. Beth knew she wanted to see the world after she read through her uncle’s collection of National Geographic magazines as a child and has been taking every opportunity to travel since. Beth may have the entire world on her ‘bucket list,’ but loves road-trips and is constantly amazed by the wonders that can be found in one’s own backyard. In fact, she’s put nearly 100,000 miles on her car in the last three years in search of them. Her favorite destinations are Kauai, Yellowstone, and her home state of Michigan, which she feels is often overlooked by vacationers. Besides being an avid traveler, Beth is a consummate “foodie” and loves finding hidden gems. When not on the road, she enjoys baking, history, and reading everything she can get her hands on. 
  • Elizabeth Harryman Elizabeth Harryman Elizabeth Harryman is the Travel Editor of WESTWAYS, the magazine of the Automobile Club of Southern California, and Editor in Chief of NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND JOURNEY magazine. With her husband, fellow[more] journalist Paul Lasley, she produces daily travel features heard around the world on American Forces Radio. Elizabeth and Paul are the former travel contributors for NBC’s TODAY show and the KTLA Morning News, and have hosted travel talk radio shows in Los Angeles—on KABC Radio and on NPR station KPCC. Their radio shows and their book, Honeymoons: A Romantic Travel Guide, are Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winners. Their nationally syndicated column on travel and dining ran for 10 years in the Los Angeles Times and other major dailies, and their stories have appeared in the Consumer Reports Travel Letter and The Christian Science Monitor. Elizabeth would like to live in the English countryside. She believes that travel is the last best hope for peace in the world
  • Betty Henagin Betty Henagin Betty Henagin works for AAA as an auto travel counselor in Medford, Oregon. She is originally from the San Francisco Bay area, and has lived in the Rogue Valley for the past four years. In addition to[more] the California Redwoods, her favorite travels include Yosemite National Park, Alaska, autumn in New England, the Southwest, Western Europe, and of course, Disneyland and Walt Disney World! Besides writing, she enjoys singing, live theatre, classic movies, cooking, gardening and canning the bounty from her backyard garden.
  • Dan Holland Dan Holland Dan Holland has been with AAA Auto Travel Services in the Cleveland, Ohio area since 1997. He began writing freelance travel articles for The Ohio Motorist, a local monthly AAA magazine, in 2002. A[more] self-proclaimed fair-weather sports fan (keeping in mind that Cleveland is a town void of any major sports championships since the mid 1960s), his real passion is for the great outdoors. Dan has an innate aversion to crowds, and is content lounging in a mountain cabin or lying on an uncrowded beach. A few of his favorite destinations includes Grand Canyon, Sedona, Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Parkway, Outer Banks, and any locale without slot machines or rush hour traffic. His favorite spot is inside the car with his wife and two kids—at least when the kids are giggling rather than fighting.
  • Jeff Howe Jeff Howe Even before he could drive, Jeff Howe was identifying aircraft in flight, constructing sentences with airport codes, and decoding fare calculations on airline tickets. Surely, the lucrative life of a[more] travel agent was in his future. After a considerable 10-plus-year detour as a newspaper and magazine writer and editor, then a stint in nonprofit public relations, Jeff finally landed in the hallowed halls of travel. Now, he gets his travel geek fix by creating plans for AAA members and nonmembers, often to places he would love to visit but can’t get the time off. He is married to Andrea, a freelance book editor, who loves to join Jeff on his travel adventures – as long as it’s not on a little boat or requires eating spicy food.
  • Inspector Inspector TCH Inspector TCH is a regional manager of lodging and restaurant inspections with 23 years of AAA experience. He is responsible for inspections across Canada as well as in Alaska, Illinois, Indiana,[more] Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Mexico.  Prior to that, he spent 10 years in the food and beverage industry in Western Canada.
  • Inspector 37 Inspector 37 Inspector 37 is in his 21st year as an anonymous AAA lodging and restaurant inspector and has evaluated over 10,000 properties for AAA Approval and the Diamond Ratings that appear in TourBook[more] guides and on AAA.com.  His territory is south central and coastal Texas as well as parts of Mexico.  He has experienced several earthquakes including a 7.2 on the 42nd floor on a hotel (it was like walking on a water bed) and encountered scorpions, tarantulas, and even Zapatista rebels in the Lancandon jungle of Chiapas. Favorites include Mayan cuisine (he even speaks a little of the language) his twin grandchildren, fishing, ranching and history.
  • Inspector 70 Inspector 70 Inspector 70 lived an eclectic, nomadic life before settling in the Western U.S. and taking on the life of an anonymous AAA lodging and restaurant inspector. She gained knowledge of the hospitality[more] industry by working in a casino on an American Indian reservation and also catered to the needs of guests and horses while working for a horseback riding tour company in Las Alpujarras, Spain. Inspector 70 was lucky enough to spend six months working odd jobs in Edinburgh, Scotland. She continues to travel to far-off places for fun. Some of her favorite experiences include drinking tea with geishas in Kyoto during the Plum Blossom Festival, snorkeling in the barrier reef around Grand Cayman, and climbing to the top of the pyramid in Chichen Itza. In addition, Inspector 70 knits a mean sweater.
  • 465 Inspector Inspector 465 Inspector 465 has enjoyed Midwest living for most of her life, apart from a brief stint in the California sunshine as a preschooler. Lucky enough to be instilled with a love for travel at a young age,[more] she has had such adventures as scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia, backpacking in the Costa Rican rainforest, museum hopping across Italy, and people watching in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. Combining this travel bug with prior experience in the food and beverage industry, Inspector 465 found her niche as an anonymous AAA lodging and restaurant inspector. As a solitary road warrior, she has developed a love for audiobooks, an addiction to lattes, and a habit of talking to herself. Currently, Inspector 465 works throughout Indiana and Northern Ohio.
  • Carol Johnson Carol Johnson Carol Johnson has been an account manager for AAA for 20 years canvassing the upper midwest and western U.S. as a constant tourist. She has visited less-traveled locales as well as popular[more] destinations and experienced many AAA rated hotels, restaurants and attractions.  In her large territory of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wyoming, Carol has enjoyed visiting national parks like Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone and the Badlands of North and South Dakota as well as the top of Crazy Horse Memorial. It’s the off-the-beaten-path places that are most intriguing. Carol grew up in southern Michigan and start traveling extensively for work after graduating from Ferris State University. Her love of travel has taken her to all 50 states, six Canadian provinces and two dozen countries on five continents.
  • Nancy Jones Nancy Jones Nancy Jones is a content and product development manager with AAA Publishing and occasional freelance writer on the topic of bluegrass music. She is an NPR junkie and is passionate about saving[more] energy.  This leads to inner conflict between the desire to hit the open road and the guilt over burning fossil fuels.  Since eliminating drive trips isn’t an option she wants to pursue, owning a hybrid vehicle is in her future.
  • Christen Korpal Christen Korpal Christen Korpal joined AAA Wisconsin in 1997 and has been a certified Aussie Specialist travel agent through the Australian Tourist Commission since 1998 ~ although her love of all things[more] “Australia” started when she was just 13. After four years in the Air Force – 3 ½ of which were spent based in Mildenhall, England - and a few more in retail store management, she decided she needed to find a job that would help her to realize her dream of getting to Australia instead of just constantly reading about it! Once a travel agent, she traveled to Australia within her first two years on the job and has visited every state Down Under along with the Northern Territory, with the exception of Tasmania (next on her list!) and Western Australia. She hates to pick favorites, but as Adelaide and its neighboring city, Hahndorf, remind her so much of the German influence back home in Wisconsin, the South Australian town is tough to beat! Other favorites include husband Paul, son, Nick, dark chocolate and her home state of Wisconsin.
  • Sharon Kudlowitz Sharon Kudlowitz Sharon Kudlowitz is an editor for AAA Publishing where she has been a travel writer and TourBook editor since 1993. She developed a penchant for reading and travel early in life and soon became her[more] family’s vacation planner, poring over AAA TourBooks and plotting the most scenic routes to each year’s destination. Serendipity stepped in when her husband accepted a job in Orlando and she found herself working at the national office of AAA, helping create the same content she had so eagerly devoured as a child. The transition to a Florida lifestyle also led to a love of cruising, which quickly became a favorite form of travel. In addition to frequent trips to Chicago and Washington, D.C., to spend time with her children and grandchildren, Sharon relishes visits to her hometown of Memphis for the world’s best barbecue and to such diverse locations as London, San Francisco and Quebec City.
  • Paul Lasley Paul Lasley Paul Lasley is the “TravelSmart” columnist for WESTWAYS, the magazine of the Automobile Club of Southern California, and executive producer and host of OnTravel.com, a 24/7 travel[more] podcasting website. With his wife, fellow journalist Elizabeth Harryman, he produces daily travel features heard around the world on American Forces Radio. Paul and Elizabeth are the former travel contributors for NBC’s TODAY show and the KTLA Morning News, and have hosted travel talk radio shows in Los Angeles—on KABC Radio and on NPR station KPCC. Their radio shows and their book, Honeymoons: A Romantic Travel Guide, are Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award winners. Their nationally syndicated column on travel and dining ran for 10 years in the Los Angeles Times and other major dailies, and their stories have appeared in the Consumer Reports Travel Letter and The Christian Science Monitor. Paul’s favorite city is Hong Kong. He believes that true joy is found in traveling with only one carryon bag.
  • Suzanne Lemon Suzanne Lemon Suzanne Lemon has nearly 20 years experience as a writer and editor for AAA Publishing. This travel junkie loves to focus on undiscovered gems and share them with her readers. Italy, France, the[more] American West, Northern California and New York rank high among her favorite destinations. An avid Italiholic, she loves poking around the hill towns of Umbria, hiking the Cinque Terre, sampling the wines of Chianti, or simply having a slice of the world’s best cheesecake and an espresso at her beloved Florentine restaurant, Trattoria Mario. With the Euro running rampant against the dollar, Suzanne is just as content picking her way through the quaint towns and vineyards of California’s Dry Creek and Alexander valleys. A devoted foodie who roams the Big Apple in pursuit of the best dim sum, pizza and chocolate-inspired creations, she burns the calories by skiing Vail, Arapahoe Basin and other adrenalin-laden Rocky Mountain runs.
  • Alison Lockwood Alison Lockwood Alison Lockwood joined AAA Publishing in 2000 as a travel editor and now puts her list-making skills to good use as a project manager. Her favorite vacation is a road trip; she and her husband once[more] spent 6 weeks exploring the country’s scenic byways and national parks, covering 10,000 miles in 30 states. No camping, though—Alison’s idea of roughing it is a hotel without air conditioning. Besides fresh sheets, she also loves opera, photography, Creole food and Jon Stewart. Topping her list of unforgettable sights: the Yellowstone geysers, the Bryce Canyon hoodoos, the Skagit Valley tulip fields, the windmills at Mykonos and the Irish coast at Slea Head.
  • Haley Mac Donell Haley Mac Donell Haley Mac Donell is a ten-year-old fourth grader living in the Orlando, Florida area.  Haley has a passion for writing and loves to travel, ever since visiting Paris, France at the age of[more] two.  Haley is a junior level Girl Scout, plays on a local soccer team, runs cross country, is an honor student and started a community service organization called “Girls Save the World.”  She wants to be an author when she grows up.
  • Jane Magrady Jane Magrady Jane Magrady began her 17-year AAA career in Chicago, transferring to the national office IT department in Florida in 1995.  When up north, vacations invariably meant going to the Caribbean[more] during February.  Now, living in the tropics herself, Jane includes more variety in her travel destinations.  Most recently returning from Ireland, Jane has also enjoyed small ship cruising to Alaska and has accompanied her husband on deep sea fishing trips to Los Suenos, Costa Rica and Isla Mujeres, Mexico.  As a technical liaison to CAA, she has now visited almost every Province, and enjoys exploring them with her Canadian associates.  Jane knows the bead shops in every town she visits! 
  • Tony Mayer Tony Mayer Tony Mayer spends his workdays in AAA Washington's Travel Research Department. Every day is unique and has been since he joined the company in January 2008. Tony handles geography training for[more] field agents, member complaints, helpdesk for Auto Travel, TourBook updates, and he co-edits a weekly internal newsletter, the Tuesday Minutes, with 30-odd-year company legend John King (we're the King and Mayor of Geography-ville - haha). Tony spends his home time playing trading card games and enjoying lively rounds of disc golf. Above all, he enjoys travel - a seven-week European odyssey in 2003, plus Japan, Cancun, Australia, and 22 US states so far. Tony shares a home in Renton, WA with wife (as of Sept. 19) Misty and their dog Buckley.
  • Patricia Miller Patricia Miller

    Originally hailing from Long Island, N.Y., Patricia developed her love of travel during childhood, when her parents packed her and her four siblings (and, sometimes, Bruno the dog) into a[more] 1970-something wood-paneled station wagon for summer vacations all along the East Coast. Destinations included Vermont, upstate New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Maryland, Maine and Washington, D.C. (The memory of glazed chocolate doughnuts from a Maine bakery will haunt her for life.) Now a Florida resident, Patricia enjoys swing dancing, rockabilly and 80s new wave music, midcentury modern décor, fashion, shopping and collecting cats (she has 4). Patricia is a Development Editor with AAA.

  • Michael Navarre Michael Navarre Michael Navarre is a business analyst in AAA’s national office and a person who loves to wander. Whether exploring in and around his hometown of Orlando, taking a weekend trip or traveling[more] internationally, Michael is always on the go. An avid collector of passport stamps, Michael is most notable for his reckless willingness to try almost anything, including eating unspecified meats sold by roadside vendors to flying off alone to unspecified countries without so much as a hotel reservation. When given the opportunity, Michael can be found most non-traveling weekends riding his motorcycle to the beach for some surfing, or taking his two girls to a local lake for swimming and waterskiing.
  • Vicki Nelson Vicki Nelson Vicki is a 10-year employee at the AAA national office where she manages digital marketing.  She is excited to be using digital media to share information and experiences from her second home of[more] St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.  She and her husband have been part time residents of St. Croix since 1987.  During that time they have built a house, rebuilt a house (thanks to Hurricane Hugo), owned a condo and are now happy to be renters with a lot less work involved.  They are active in the island arts community, supporting the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Frederiksted.  Sharing her love of St. Croix digitally is nothing new to Vicki, she first began helping people plan their trip to the island in 1990 via online bulletin boards.  Over the years she has responded to hundreds of inquiries and met in-person several of those she has helped during their island visits.  She looks forward to responding to your inquiries.
  • Tony Perrone Tony Perrone Tony Perrone has been an Account Manager for the AAA National Office for 16 years and his territory has included the Caribbean and Mexico.
    In his AAA travels over the years, he has visited[more] unique and less-traveled locales as well as popular destinations and experienced many types of AAA rated hotels, restaurants and attractions. He has met with government and travel officials and gained a good understanding of the hospitality industry and the people who are
    dedicated to serving guests. Culture and history have been of special interest for him, as the product of a Navy family growing up in Bermuda in the '60s and later at the College of Santa Fe, New Mexico where he lived on the Ute reservation for a time.
  • Laurie Peterson Laurie Peterson Laurie Peterson is the community manager for AAATravelViews, based in the AAA National Office in Central Florida. Childhood travel and a love of the written word combined for the family saying[more] "she has read her way past some of the great sights of this country."  Now her view is from the driver's seat or the aisle seat while her children, who have seen 29 states between them so far, jockey for the window. She appreciates her native Florida, her co-workers' snack offerings and music with singable lyrics
  • Gayle Pierce Gayle Pierce Gayle Pierce is a Travel Consultant for AAA in Evanston IL.  She developed a passion for travel as a young adult and has been fortunate to have traveled to most corners of the world. Along[more] with her husband of forty years, Mike, she has been to Thailand, Viet Nam, Australia, New Zealand, China, Scandinavia, throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and Israel.  Aside from the sheer pleasure of traveling, she is very happy to share her experiences and expertise with clients and co-workers.  When not traveling, Gayle can pursue her other passion - country music.  It is the stars and their stories, along with the lyrics, that keep that interest alive.  A recent trip to Nashville was pure heaven. Future travel plans include the Galapagos and Eastern Europe, one at a time.
  • Rebecca Rhoades Rebecca Rhoades An avid globetrotter, Rebecca L. Rhoades was happy to leave behind a life in medical publishing to indulge her passion for travel as associate editor of AAA Mid-Atlantic’s magazine, AAA World. A[more] gypsy by nature, Rebecca was born in Alaska and lived in eight different cities across the country by the time she was 10 years old. But it wasn’t until a trip to Greenwich, England, to celebrate the Millennium that she was bit hard by the travel bug. It was her first international trip, and since then, she’s traveled to more than a dozen countries on four continents, and just as many states, from Hawaii to Massachusetts. And whether she’s exploring ancient temples in Egypt, bathing rescued elephants in northern Thailand, or wandering the streets of her top U.S. destination, New York City, she never leaves home without her Nikon, her favorite travel companion (besides her husband, Jon, of course).
  • Andrew Rosen Andrew Rosen Andrew Rosen is the Manager of Internet Services at AAA New York. He has spent the past 10+ years producing content for FOX News, MTV Networks and other large media organizations. He is an avid[more] blogger and podcaster who studied old school journalism but embraces new media technology. He thinks the power of a hug is terribly underrated.
  • Renuka Sastri Renuka Sastri Renuka Sastri is a marketing manager for Travel Publishing in AAA’s National Office in Central Florida. In addition to her contributions to AAATravelViews, she works on AAA’s Spiral and[more] Essential series of travel guides, the AAA PetBook and a long list of interesting “other duties as assigned.” An expat brat, she has lived on four continents and continues to travel frequently. She firmly believes that her regular girlfriend trips are what keep her somewhat sane. Favorite places include Door County, WI, Phoenix, AZ, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, Seville, Spain and her native India.
  • Greg Seiter Greg Seiter By day, mild-mannered Greg Seiter, AAA Hoosier Motor Club’s 9-years-and-counting public affairs manager, candidly talks about gas (the type NOT generated by his 41-year-old body) and other[more] relevant AAA topics with local media representatives throughout Indiana. However, when his day-shift responsibilities have been fulfilled, the father of two passionately commits himself to family, friends, food and the power of the pen. Okay, so the 18-year freelance writing veteran doesn’t actually use a pen very often any more to produce work that details everything from travel to sports to business. Nevertheless, Seiter is a self-proclaimed writing enthusiast with an undeniable love for Disney, the state of Indiana and Cajun food. Quite honestly, that probably explains the "gas" comment from above.
  • Debra Sisco Debra Sisco Debra Sisco works at the National Office with AAA Travel lodging partners and promotes properties through the Hot Deals program for AAA.com.  A true Floridian, Deb was born and raised in Miami,[more] Florida.  She has had the opportunity to travel to several countries abroad including Japan, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, and Ireland.  Being in Florida has also made it easy to tour several Caribbean Islands.  She has visited all but three states in the US.  Her favorite trips thus far have been RV’ing out west visiting the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Tetons.  California and the Pacific Coast Highway would have to be next on the list.  The grandeur of all the mountains and canyons are awe inspiring to this flat land girl!  She is married with two children who keep her very busy when traveling engaging in hiking, biking, rafting, ziplining, snorkeling, swimming, and just about everything that looks fun and adventurous.  Debra is also on the newly formed AAA cycling team.  Their latest charity ride was for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the team rode 150 miles in two days. 
  • Lorraine Smith Lorraine Smith Lorraine Smith is a travel industry “lifer” having been in the business for decades and with CAA British Columbia for over 16 years. Always willing to hop on a plane to almost anywhere,[more] the travel bug is part of her DNA having crossed the Atlantic twice by ship before the age of five. Time spent living in England and Australia have only served to ramp up her hunger for hitting the road. It’s the knack of finding the flavour of a place and experiencing it that bring colour to your travel memories and putting this ‘je ne sais quoi’ into words as a travel writer has always been a secret passion. Aside from traveling, golf and yoga are high on the list of favourite activities.
  • Frank Swanson Frank Swanson Frank Swanson has been an editor in publishing at the AAA National Office since 1995. Despite having been born on an air force base in Germany, he considers himself a Florida native. In his teens he[more] became disenchanted with the Sunshine State for its complete lack of mountains and began plotting his escape to any place that could offer him a respectable altitude change outside of an airplane. A relocation never happened, and over the years he has learned to love Florida for its history, its mild winters and its tropical foliage even though it has stubbornly remained flat as a pancake. (As a runner with problematic knees, Frank has learned that flat can be good.) For a change of pace, he enjoys traveling to locales with elevated areas and awesome vistas such as the Canadian Rockies, Utah’s Zion Canyon and Hawaii, but he is always eager to return to the welcoming embrace of his home state’s heat, humidity and friendly palmetto bugs as big as your fist.
  • Brett Vanderbrink Brett Vanderbrink Brett Vanderbrink has been a map maker at AAA since 1997.  When he’s not shooting bogeys on the golf course, he can be found submitting his next lineup for fantasy football, fixing up his[more] house, using coupons to eat above his means around Central Florida and spending quality time with family and friends.   His favorite destinations are Chicago, the middle of West Virginia and Mulberry, Florida
  • Greg Weekes Greg Weekes

    Greg Weekes is a Development Editor whose 37-year AAA career includes more than 20 years of experience in travel writing with AAA Publishing. Blessed (or is that cursed?) with an enormous[more] appetite, he is an enthusiastic foodie whose indulgences run to taquería burritos and sugar-glazed apple fritters rather than rarified haute cuisine. He thus does 60 minutes of treadmill cardio most nights to not only burn off the accumulated caloric excess but to keep his cholesterol level down to a respectable 134. Greg also is a diehard music fan who reveres the classics—Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Cream, the Airplane—and also stays on top of current bands (Wooden Shjips is a current fave). He counts among his favorite travel destinations Left Coast cities like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.

  • Maria White Maria White Maria White joined AAA Publishing in 2006, climbing her way up the corporate ladder to the exalted position of Development Editor—an expert in travel writing, cubicle shenanigans and all things[more] grammatical. The sight of approaching dim sum carts make this consummate eater weak in the knees, as do tuna-carving sushi chefs and dough-spinning pizza makers. Aside from food, her other loves include footwear (attempts to catalog the massive collection have thus far been unsuccessful) and movies (favorites range from “Star Wars” to “It Happened One Night”). She also is extremely fond of Boston—her birth city—which ranks among her top travel destinations, along with such places as Montréal and San Francisco.
  • Conner and Jessie Wight Conner and Jessie Wight Conner and Jessie Wight, age 12 and 10 respectively, love to travel. They think the inside scoop on traveling with kids (from a kid’s perspective) is something every parent and grandparent[more] should have when planning a vacation.  Their Mom, Patty Wight, is the marketing director for AAA Publishing so she encouraged the kids to share their travel adventures and insights with AAA TravelViews readers (she also agreed to be their official copy editor). Conner wants to be an NBA point guard when he grows up and -  if he doesn’t grow as much as he hopes - other career options include being a sports broadcaster or marine biologist. Naturally, his favorite travel adventures involve sports-related activities. Jessie is interested in a variety of career options too including being an artist, teacher, or veterinarian. Her favorite travel adventures involve the opportunity to be creative, use her imagination and learn new things.
  • Nancy Woodard Nancy Woodard Nancy Woodard has been a senior writer for AAA since 1999, serving as editor of an electronic publication for AAA/CAA auto travel professionals. Her passion for road travel began as a kid when she[more] loved to go for a ride … anywhere … with the windows down and a few hopping tunes or a baseball broadcast on the radio. It was pure joy when the ride would be to the Jersey shore for a few laps on the go-kart track, and a cheesesteak and frozen custard on the boardwalk. The thrill continues today in her now home-state of Florida. As an annual passholder, she frequents Disney World with unlimited access to her favorite rides, restaurants, entertainment and recreation. Her travel goal, aside from becoming an expert of “all things Disney,” is to visit all Major League Baseball stadiums in 28 U.S. and Canada cities. Although she has 10 parks in the memory book, five have since been rebuilt including her beloved Yankee Stadium and require a repeat visit. And while ballpark cuisine is now more sophisticated, this fan is most content with a hotdog and a bag of peanuts.
  • Bill Wood Bill Wood

    Bill Wood is executive editor at AAA Publishing with some 27 years of reporting and travel information experience coast to coast in North America. He is one of two people living in Florida who[more] are originally from Montana. His passions are coaching and mentoring. With increasing frequency, his heart soars like an eagle.