Living on a remote coral atoll for five years with no phone, plumbing and limited solar electricity prevented Celeste from getting an early start in her writing career - although it sounds idyllic, washing laundry by hand, digging your own well and sustenance fishing takes a big chunk out of one's day. She now lives in a small village on Tahiti, complete with flushing toilet and an Internet connection, and her travel articles have magically crossed the seas to appear in newspapers and magazines including the LA Times and Islands Magazine. She has contributed to around 40 Lonely Planet guidebooks and her award winning travel narratives have been published in Travelers' Tales anthologies. Having travelled to some 40 countries, Celeste speaks fluent French as well as conversational Spanish, Thai and Indonesian. In her spare time she can be found singing with a French Tahitian choral group, Tahitian dancing or distance swimming in Tahiti's spectacular lagoon. You can find Celeste on the web at www.celestebrash.com or read her blog at htpp://coconutradio.blogspot.com.

With over 150 million guidebooks in print, Lonely Planet is a trusted source for any traveler. Since our inception in 1973, we've inspired generations of travelers to discover amazing places and enabled curious travelers to get off the beaten paths to appreciate different cultures and become agents of positive change.

Greg Benchwick is an internationally acclaimed travel writer and children's author. His work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Lonely Planet, Conde Naste and more than 50 newspapers, websites and magazines worldwide. He has authored over 40 travel books and coffee table books for Lonely Planet and the Fodor's guide. When he’s not adventuring around the globe, or making up stories about passenger pigeons, Greg writes speeches and human interest stories for the United Nations on conservation, education and climate change.

Over the past 10 years with the United Nations, Greg has served as the coordinating author on a number of publications on climate change and conservation.

He is an expert on travel, international development, food, wine, Latin America, sustainable travel and adventure sports, and has also contributed as an authoritative expert for such media outlets as Newsweek, The Washington Post, BBC Radio, Rick Steve’s Radio and Let’s Travel Radio.

In his free time, Greg writes short stories, children's books and screenplays, and adventures around the American West with his eight-year-old daughter and their 100-pound Newfoundland.

A news journalist by trade, Alex has worked for magazines, newspapers and media outlets on five continents. Having had his fill of musty newsrooms and the insatiable corporate appetite for superficial news, Alex decided to leap into travel writing in order to escape the mundane.

He spends most of his time on the road checking under mattresses, sampling suspicious street food and chatting with locals as part of the research process for travel articles and guidebooks.

A keen adventurer, Alex has hiked through remote jungles in Colombia, explored isolated tributaries of the mighty Mekong and taken part in the first kayak descent of a number of remote waterways in Nicaragua.

When not on the road, you'll find him at home amongst the colonial splendor of Popayán in southern Colombia.

Kevin Raub is a Italy-based travel and entertainment journalist and certified Brazilianist who grew up in Atlanta and started his career in entertainment in New York, working for Men's Journal and Rolling Stone magazines and "freelancing" (i.e. interviewing hot young actresses about their sex lives over a few too many cocktails) for men's magazines like FHM, Stuff and Maxim. He spent five years in Los Angeles as the senior writer for allstarnews.com, CDNOW's now-defunct (thank you, Amazon.com!) groundbreaking online music news site.

The rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle took its toll, so he needed an extended vacation and took up travel writing. For the last decade, Raub has scoured the globe for a variety of publications, including CNN, Travel+Leisure, Condé Nast Traveller, Afar, Robb Report, New York Times T Magazine, Departures, Town & Country, American Way (American Airlines), Rhapsody (United Airlines), Culture Trip, Celebrated Living, Angeleno, Guitar Aficionado, Time Out: Sao Paulo, BBC History, and New York Post, among others. From the top of the El Toco volcano in Chile’s Atacama Desert (18,372) to the Dead Sea in Israel (-1,385 ft), Raub has nearly seen it all, covering both high-end luxury travel and backpacker bargains – just to keep it all in perspective. Along the way, he’s snapped a few photos as well.

Raub spent seven years on Brazilian soil, canvassing the South American Giant one caipirinha at a time on his way to getting to know 22 Brazilian states for a variety of American and international publications. A well-known Brazil expert, he also handled all of Lonely Planet's on-the-ground social media coverage during the FIFA 2014 World Cup before relocating to Portugal the following year. In late 2019, he relocated to Italy.

Raub is the co-author of over 95 Lonely Planet travel guides, including Brazil (7th Ed.; 2008), Mexico (11th Ed.; 2008); Chile & Easter Island (8th Ed.; 2009), The Carolinas, Georgia & The South: Trips (1st Ed.; 2009); Colombia (5th Ed.; 2009), Lonely Planet's Best In Travel 2010 (2nd Revised Edition, 2009); South America on a Shoestring (11th Ed.; 2010); Venezuela (6th Ed.; 2010), Central America on a Shoestring (7th Ed.; 2010), Brazil (8th Ed.; 2010); India (14th Ed.; 2011), South India & Kerala (6th Ed.; 2011), Discover India (1st Ed.; 2011); Dominican Republic & Haiti (5th Ed.; 2011), Caribbean Islands (6th Ed.; 2011), USA (7th Ed.; 2011), Eastern USA (1st Ed.; 2011), Discover USA (1st Ed.; 2011), Colombia (6th Ed., 2012), Chile & Easter Island (9th Ed., 2012), Peru (8th Ed., 2013), South America on a Shoestring (12th Ed., 2013), Discover Peru (2nd Ed., 2013), India (15th Ed., 2013), Discover India (2nd Ed., 2013 and Brazil (9th Ed., 2013); and the forthcoming Dominican Republic (6th Ed., 2014), Discover Caribbean Islands (1st. Ed., 2014), Colombia (7th Ed., 2015), India (15th Ed., 2013), Discover India (2nd Ed., 2013), Brazil (9th Ed., 2013), Dominican Republic (6th Ed., 2014) Discover Caribbean Islands (1st. Ed., 2014); and the forthcoming Colombia (7th Ed., 2015), India (16th Ed., 2015), Discover India (3rd Ed., 2015), Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra (4th Ed., 2015), Chile & Easter Island (10th Ed., 2015), USA (9th Ed., 2016), Discover USA (3rd Ed., 2016), Eastern USA (3rd Ed., 2016), Lonely Planet’s Best of USA (1st Ed., 2016), Civil War Trail: Road Trips (1st Ed., 2016), Brazil (10th Ed., 2016) and South America on a Shoestring (13th Ed., 2016); and the forthcoming Portugal (10th Ed., 2017), India (17th Ed., 2017), South India & Kerala (9th Ed., 2017), Discover India (4th Ed., 2017), Best of India (1st Ed., 2017), USA (10th Ed., 2017), Discover USA (4th Ed., 2017), Eastern USA (4th Ed., 2017), Florida & the South’s Best Trips (3rd Ed.; 2017), Italy (13th Ed., 2018); and the forthcoming Dubai & Abu Dhabi (9th Ed.; 2018), Colombia (8th Ed., 2018), Chile & Easter Island (11th Ed., 2018), Pocket Lisbon (4th Ed., 2018), Georgia & the Carolinas (2nd Ed., 2019) and Brazil (11th Ed.; 2019), Eastern Europe (15th Ed.; 2019), Western Balkans (3rd. Ed.; 2019), Portugal (11th Ed.; 2019), Discover Portugal (2nd Ed.; 2019), Best of Portugal 2 (2nd Ed.; 2019), India (18th Ed.; 2019), South India & Kerala (10th Ed.; 2019), Goa & Mumbai (8th Ed.; 2019), Discover India (5th Ed.; 2019), Best of South America (1st Ed.; 2019), Discover South America (1st Ed.; 2019), South America (14th Ed.; 2019), Italy (14th Ed., 2019), Greece (14th Ed., 2020), Crete (7th Ed.; 2020), Greek Islands (14th Ed.; 2020), Best of Greece & the Greek Islands (1st Ed.; 2020), USA (11th Ed.; 2020), Eastern USA (5th Ed.; 2020), New York City (12th Ed.; 2020), Hawai’i the Big Island (5th Ed.; 2020), Best of Hawai’i (2nd Ed.; 2020), Europe’s Best Trips (2nd Ed.; 2020) and Lonely Planet’s Best Places to Eat in Every Country (1st Ed.; 2020).

On the few days he's home, Raub once spent an inordinate amount of time slathering on organic cosmetics for his bi-monthly organic grooming column for men, The Green Guy's Grooming Guide, which appeared in Organic Spa for several years, but constant battles with the Brazilian food and drug administration caused it to meet its demise in 2011. Now, he just slathers it on for fun.

Raub also scoured Brazilian soil as the 'Brazil Insider' for LATAM airlines' Only in South America blog for a few years as well.

Raub happened upon his 100th country and territory in 2018, becoming a member of the long-coveted Traveler's Century Club. His country count currently stands at 108.

Follow Kevin @RaubontheRoad on Instagram and Twitter. Visit his personal web site at www.kevinraub.net.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more