Inside Our Lonely Planet

Sarah Wintle
Sarah Wintle has been working as a freelance writer since 2004 and has contributed to numerous Lonely Planet guides including Australia, South East Asia on a shoestring, the Blue List, Volunteer and the Travel Book. Her writing has also appeared in the Age Cheap Eats, Voyeur, City Weekly, Topos, the Sunday Herald Sun, the Miami Herald, and the Salt Lake Tribune. Sarah loves talking travel too and has done radio gigs for the ABC to Qantas Radio plus work with Lonely Planet Television and a regular travel spot on Melbourne's Channel 31.

This yoga devotee and keen photographer has had travel wanderlust for years, travelling from New York to Nepal including extensively in every continent except Antarctica (yet). Sarah's most recent globetrotting saw her start her travels in Chile and finish in Madagascar. Next trip is Iceland or Iran. No doubt about it, Sarah's travel obsession is with her for life.

George Dunford
Growing up in regional NSW, Australia, George Dunford hitched a ride to the big smoke of Canberra to go to the Australian National University. The smoke wasn't quite big enough, so he took off overseas to do the Australian rite of passage that is backpacking in Europe in between working in the UK. He worked on an island off the Isle of Skye, which remains one of his favourite places in the world (though it's in stiff competition with Singapore's long Bar). He lived and worked (illegally ? shhhh!) in the United States, and travelled to countries from Finland to Thailand with few other lands in between.

After returning from overseas, George worked in pubs and libraries before settling on the compromise of both that was Lonely Planet's Trade and Reference area. While researching Australian and New Zealand on a Shoestring he kept the first blog for Lonely Planet. From here George has written guidebooks to Singapore, Finland, Scotland and had a hand in penning The Big Trip: Your Ultimate Guide to Overseas Adventures, Micronations and The Travel Book.

He's worked on projects for seek.com.au (Australia's largest job site) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth site www.rollercoaster.com.au, as well as doing reviews for Melbourne's Cheap Eats and Good Food Guide while writing freelance articles for the likes of The Age, Wanderlust and Meanjin. He contributed to the Rough Guide to Melbourne.

His personal blog is http://hackpacker.blogspot.com

Tom Hall
Tom Hall is Travel Editor at Lonely Planet the writer of the weekly Ask Tom feature in The Observer travel section, and also contributes to a host of other magazines and newspapers in the UK and Europe. Tom is a regular commentator on travel news and events in the media, including BBC Breakfast, Today, Excess Baggage, Fasttrack and Six Music. He is the editor of Lonely Planet's Travellers Tips book as well as contributing to guidebooks and custom print books, as well as blogs and podcasts for www.LonelyPlanet.com.

Monique Choy
Since she hit the road at six months old, Monique has had her vaccinations up to date and her bags half packed - ensuring her bank balance is jumpy and her loved-ones jumpier. She has lived in Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Canada and the Maldives but has now slowed down long enough to put down roots in Sydney. Her new travel buddy is her daughter Sonnet, who has accompanied her on trips to deserts, volcanos and coral reefs and never fails to stop and smell the roses.

Monique began working for Lonely Planet in 1998 and has contributed to guides to Australia, Tibet, Philippines and India, and LP's Travel with Children. She works as a freelance writer and editor, including for the United Nations, the Australian Museum and the ABC.

Her website is www.nettlesoup.com