Oyster Locals

Kris Bordessa

Kris Bordessa (http://krisbordessa.com) is afraid of heights but launched herself from a 200’ high zipline; held a porcupine despite her aversion to needles; and has selflessly sampled her way through myriad high-calorie meals – all in the name of work. She is the author of several books and writes for publications like Disney’s FamilyFun, Parents, Islands, Christian Science Monitor, and more. You’ll also find her writing about life, culture, and fun in Hawai‘i for less at Honolulu On The Cheap (http://honoluluonthecheap.com) and Big Island On The Cheap (http://bigislandonthecheap.com).

• Places lived: Sonoma County and the Sierra Foothills of California; the Big Island of Hawai‘i
• Destination expert for: Hawaii
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Embassy Suites Hotel - Waikiki Beach Walk
• Always in my suitcase: A book

Lesley Bracker

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Lesley has worked as a Hollywood Executive and has taught screenwriting for many years. Currently, she manages an international company in the fashion business based in downtown Los Angeles. Lesley loves going to restaurants and bars in Los Angeles, constantly trying out everywhere new. Her other passion is snowboarding, and her travels are focused mainly on ski resorts, but does visit the South of France every summer.

• Places lived: Los Angeles and Madrid, Spain. LA is huge, and have lived in Brentwood, Hollywood, Santa Monica.
• Education: UCLA
• Destination expert for: Los Angeles
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Shutters On The Beach
• Always in my suitcase: Boots Wipes

Carol Cain

Carol is a native New Yorker, with a nomadic spirit and adventurous soul. She loves photography, dancing in her pajamas, and hotel room service. A lover of all things New York, she has made it a point to enjoy all it has to offer, from singing at the Apollo during Amateur night to running in Central Park to greet the New Year. Now as a married mother of 3 boys, she continues to discover all the fun there is to have, in NYC and beyond, only this time with husband and kids in tow.

• Places lived: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Italy, Wisconsin, Florida, New York
• Education: BA Communication,Queens College, NY; MBA International Relations, University of Phoenix
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Affinia Shelburne
• Always in my suitcase: My camera

Sacha Cohen

Sacha Cohen is the founder of GoingGreenDC.net and a long-time Washington, DC resident. She also runs a marketing and communications company, grassfed media (www.grassfedmediadc.com), that helps green and socially responsible companies with content and social media strategy. A former journalist, Sacha has written for such publications as Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, Men’s Fitness, and Gourmet. She is a long-time yoga practitioner, avid traveler, and amateur cook who is currently obsessed with pies.

• Places lived: England, Washington, D.C., Madison, WI, and Chicago
• Destination expert for: Washington, D.C.
• Favorite Oyster hotel: SoHo Grand Hotel
• Always in my suitcase: A scented candle

Holly Corbett

Holly C. Corbett is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications such as Women’s Health, Prevention, Fitness, Seventeen, and Newsday. She is co-author of The Lost Girls, a memoir being published by Harper Collins about a yearlong trip she took around the world with two friends. Her adventures have taken her to all seven continents, where she’s swam alongside icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean, dove with sharks in Panama, and hiked the Inca Trail in Peru. She loves training for marathons and triathlons. She was born in Syracuse, NY.

• Places lived: Syracuse, New York and New York City
• Education: Master of Arts, Journalism from Syracuse University
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Ace Hotel NY - I love the vintage-inspired décor, and the open-air lobby with leather couches and long wooden tables make it the perfect place to work or meet friends for coffee. The lights get dimmed at night and it morphs into a hip bar with a great wine selection.
• Always in my suitcase: My High Sierra 3-In-1 Carry-On Wheeled Duffrite suitcase

Heather Dugan

Heather Dugan is a freelance writer/photographer and voice-over talent based in Central Ohio. Her voice can be heard on TV, radio, in corporate videos, on the web, and as an annoying phone voice telling you when you’ve misdialed. She blames her extreme travel tendencies on her father who blithely drove the family from Midwestern Ohio to Alaska while she was yet in her formative years. Wildest travel adventure? Free diving through a coral tunnel in the BVI. No wait. Maybe it was zip-lining in the jungle? OK. It was most definitely hiking southern Utah with her three kids and a whole lot of beef jerky. So far...

It’s all chronicled in her popular travel weblog Footsteps complete with essays, photos and downloadable narratives.

• Places lived: Ann Arbor, MI; Columbus, OH; Bloomington, IN
• Education: BA in Telecommunications from Indiana University, Bloomington
• Destination expert for: San Francisco
• Favorite Oyster hotel: The Fairmont San Francisco
• Always in my suitcase: Running shoes and extra camera battery

Andrew Hickey

My name is Andrew Hickey and I am obsessed with travel. Constantly on the look out for a great deal to…well anywhere, I have visited numerous destinations around this planet and never get sick of traveling. The “bug” bit me at a young age and the effects have just gotten worse each year! I'm also known as The Brooklyn Nomad.

• Places lived: New York City; Tipperary, Ireland
• Education: Bachelor's Brooklyn College and Master's at Long Island University
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Library Hotel
• Always in my suitcase: Laptop!

Susan Holmes

I am a native Bostonian. Except for briefly living in Albany, NY, I spent the first sixteen years of my life in Boston and its suburbs. My family then moved to Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, where I graduated from High School. I returned to Boston for college. After college, I moved to Long Island, NY where my family had moved in the interim. In 1980, my husband and I moved to Northern Virginia, living successively in Arlington, Reston, and Sterling, VA. We are now empty nesters.

• Places lived: Boston, MA; Albany, NY; Guaynabo, PR; Long Island, NY; Arlington, VA; Reston, VA; Sterling, VA
• Education: BA at Boston University
• Destination expert for: Washington, D.C.
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel
• Always in my suitcase: A small flashlight and a travel sized packet of Clorox Wipes

Carolyn Jung

From as long as I can remember, I’ve lived to eat. Good thing I managed to find a way to make a living from it, too. I’m a long-time journalist who writes about food for the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, Coastal Living Magazine, and other publications. My work has won numerous awards, including one from the prestigious James Beard Foundation. I’ve had the privilege of judging many food contests, including the biggie of them all, the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Read more about my eating adventures at FoodGal.com.

• Places lived: San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; Boston, Mass.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; San Jose, Calif.
• Education: Bachelor's degrees in journalism and economics from San Francisco State University
• Destination expert for: San Francisco, CA
• Favorite Oyster hotel: The Fairmont San Francisco (I stayed there when I got married)
• Always in my suitcase: A favorite black cardigan. It goes with everything. It takes up no space and can keep you comfortably warm in any environment.

Debbie Abrams Kaplan

Debbie used to go on exotic adventures to places like Egypt, Turkey, Jamaica, Thailand, Costa Rica, Israel and New Zealand. Then she had kids. Now she writes about family travel for publications like Shape, Family Fun, Virtuoso Life, Traveler, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times and others. If you need kid-friendly travel advice, she's your gal. While blogging for Oyster Locals, Debbie also covers trips and events in the San Francisco Bay Area for her blog, Frisco Kids (friscokids.net).

• Places lived: San Francisco, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey, Madison Wisconsin, New York City
• Education: BA in Communications from University of Pennsylvania, Certificate in Managed Care Administration from University of San Francisco
• Destination expert for: San Francisco, CA
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square
• Always in my suitcase: Plastic bags (you never know when you'll need them for dirty shoes, wet clothes or leaky toiletries)
• My posts on Oyster Locals

Alan Maltzman

Alan Maltzman was born and grew up in Greater Boston. Alan spent most of his life in the high-tech electronics industry around Boston and has a degree in Engineering and an MBA. However his first love has always been Boston and its environs. Alan’s penchant for showing his love and passion for Boston ultimately led to him to found Boston CityWalks, which gives scheduled and customized tours of Boston. Alan has an extensive knowledge of its history and architecture, and entertains with his anecdotal stories of the characters and chapters of Boston's past.

• Places lived: Boston, MA
• Destination expert for: Boston
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Marriott's Boston Custom House
• Always in my suitcase: Lifesavers

Anja Mutic

A native of Croatia and an adopted New Yorker, Anja Mutić has lived, worked and traveled on all the continents, except Antarctica. Based in Brooklyn since 1999, Anja is a professional nomad who grabs every opportunity to see more of what the world hides. Anja's writing has appeared in Lonely Planet, Time Out, ShermansTravel, Travel + Leisure, Caribbean Travel & Life, Rough Guides, AOL Travel, and Zink Magazine. She keeps a blog at www.everthenomad.com.

• Places lived: Zagreb, Croatia; London & Canterbury, England; Burlington, Vermont; Boston, Massachusetts; Lisbon, Portugal; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Brooklyn, New York
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Jake's
• Always in my suitcase: A stack of unread New Yorkers

Melanie Nayer

Melanie Nayer is a travel writer with a focus on hotels and luxury travel around the world. She's the Senior Site Editor for Cheapflights.com, and has contributed travel articles to various publications including The Boston Globe, The Washington Times, The New York Daily News, SingleMindedWomen.com, Medical Travel Today, and various in-flight magazines. Melanie has been a guest on national radio shows and has appeared in interviews on CNN.com and ABC.com. She is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.

• Places lived: Boston, St. Louis
• Destination expert for: Boston
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Too many to choose from!
• Always in my suitcase: Pashmina and passport

Amanda Pressner

Amanda Pressner caught the travel bug as at age eight when she and her family did a cross-country trip in a camper van nicknamed "The Blue Moose." Between trips abroad, she’s writes for such publications as USA Today, Shape, Travel + Leisure, and Cosmopolitan. Along with Holly Corbett and Jennifer Baggett (both Oyster Locals contributors), she is co-author of The Lost Girls, a memoir about a yearlong, round-the-world backpacking adventure. She currently resides in Manhattan, but is always ready to pick up at a moment's notice and travel again.

• Places lived: Tampa, Florida, New York City
• Education: Florida State University
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotels: The Jane Hotel, The Empire Hotel
• Always in my suitcase: My Nikon D90 camera, laptop and universal memory card reader (for stealing fellow travelers' snapshots!)

Selena Ricks

Selena Ricks is a journalist who has delved into subcultures for the past 8 years, writing for the largest daily newspaper in Maine, editing music and fashion pages for TRACE Magazine in New York, and most recently was Nightlife Editor for Sheckys.com. She now works in PR and marketing and is an amateur bartender. She doesn't consider herself a cocktail expert--just a highly curious enthusiast who happens to be friends with some of NYC's finest mixologists. She created TheDizzyFizz.com as a "blogazine" for the casual imbiber and serious connoisseur alike, covering everything from cocktail-related news and trends to in-depth features on the bartenders, master mixologists, purveyors, and other personalities who making drinking in NYC such a thrilling, dizzying experience. You can also find her writing for the Village Voice's food and drink blog.

• Places lived: Maine, Boston, NYC
• Education: Bachelor of Science in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, University of Southern Maine, 2001
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Ace Hotel NY
• Always in my suitcase: Camera and moleskine notebook

Paul Rubio

Paul’s insatiable quest to discover and learn combined with his passion for documenting travel experiences has taken him to all corners of the world, 65 countries and counting. As an economist and environmental policy analyst by training, Paul once used his power of prose to secure donor funding for major poverty alleviation and sustainable development projects. On hiatus from the world of foreign aid, Paul has taken on his passion of travel writing full-time, contributing to Fodor’s guidebooks, The Advocate, Out magazine, outtraveler.com, and The Guide Mag, while penning his magnum opus, 300 Gay Friendly Destinations to See Before you Die and promoting his Florida travel book, The Out Traveler: South Florida.

• Places lived: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boston, New York City, Quito, Kuala Lumpur, Nairobi, London, Paris, Madrid, Tenerife, and San Jose (Costa Rica)
• Education: Master in Public Administration and International Development, Harvard University; Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Boston University; Bachelor of Science in Environmental Policy and Conservation Biology, Boston University
• Favorite Oyster hotels: Liberty Hotel Boston, London West Hollywood, Andaz West Hollywood
• Destination expert for: Miami and Orlando
• Always in my suitcase: A small flashlight, freezer size ziplock bags, my self-made book of world maps, and Arctic Chill Dentyne Ice.

Liz Hamill Scott

Liz started traveling when she was 4 months old, but didn't start writing about her adventures until much later. Though she writes about California most of the time, she's traveled across the United States and Europe, into the South Pacific, and wants to tackle South America--a mighty big continent for a woman who battles chronic pain. When she's not on the road, Liz enjoys gentle hiking, cooking, reading, embroidery, and historical costuming. You can find more of her writing at Eats, Writes and Leaves and Travels With Pain.

• Places lived: Silicon Valley, Paris
• Education: BA in English, Stanford University
• Destination expert for: San Francisco, CA
• Favorite Oyster hotel: Hotel Monaco - the bell staff wear purple crushed velvet coats and the room decor is super-fabulous even for San Francisco!
• Always in my suitcase: Extra ziplock bags. Whether I need to corral extra cheese, protect my suitcase from renegade shampoo, or re-inflate a collapsed lung, I finds that a ziplock bag always comes in handy somewhere along the road.

Brendan Spiegel

Brendan Spiegel is a travel, food and culture writer whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Travel + Leisure, Budget Travel, and Backpacker, among other publications. He is also the editor and co-founder of the food website Endless Simmer (www.endlesssimmer.com).

• Places lived: New York City, Washington, D.C.
• Education: Beloit College
• Destination expert for: New York City
• Favorite Oyster hotel: The Cooper Square Hotel
• Always in my suitcase: Moleskin notebook