Kirsten comes from a family of 5 brothers and 3 sisters and was born on her grandfather's cattle and thoroughbred horse ranch situated on the Monterey Peninsula in Northern California.   

She majored in creative writing while attending the University of Arizona and has had a lifelong affinity for poetry, prose and all things written word.  Her background includes TV, radio and print advertising sales and marketing, co-founder/creator of a unique nonprofit fundraising event that paired celebrity chefs with renowned contemporary artists and being a proud mom to son Casey daughter Katharine.  

Kirsten is the Director of Marketing for kikooworld.com.

More About Kirsten

My most memorable trip:  An eight-day whitewater rafting trip down the Colorado River with the Goldwater family.  It was Barry Goldwater's last trip down the river.  He was 84 years old and still had camera in-hand the whole way down.  His vast exploration of and deep love affair with the Grand Canyon and the river itself, was awe-inspiring and provided a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  The trip was called "Delightful Journey", named after his book based on his 47-day adventure in 1940 down the Green and Colorado Rivers.       

While traveling I always:  Bring with me a sense of wide-eyed-wonder, and my 8th-grade, paper-back copy of Emerson's Essays.

What's on my travel bucket list:  Taking my 88 year-old mom back to see her beloved ranch and walk on Carmel Beach.  Iceland to see the Northern Lights.   African Safari with my kids.  And...

It took Sally Black a while to figure out exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.  In the meantime, she's been a single mom to three kids, a Pediatric Nurse who delivered babies, an internet pioneer and all while circling the globe while knitting. After all this hard work she finally settled on the idea that vacations are something she does best.

Christopher Elliott is an author, journalist and consumer advocate.

You can read more about him on his personal website or check out Away is Home, where he chronicles his family’s open-ended, around-the-world adventure.

Contact him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Lynn O'Rourke Hayes is a writer, photographer, and a passionate traveler.  She is the Editor and owner of kikooworld.com.

Each week, she writes a syndicated travel column that appears in the likes of the Dallas Morning News, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Newsday and many more.  She also contributes to other print, online and broadcast outlets.  She believes travel has the power to change lives and to serve as a pathway for personal growth and self understanding. She has spent more than 30 years writing and speaking about travel and family issues.

Teddy was born in Washington DC but grew up in a travel loving family in Arizona. He has rafted the white waters of the Colorado River, hiked to Machu Picchu, explored the Amazon, sampled sushi in Japan and traveled to London and Paris. His world further expanded when he spent five months living in Cuenca, Ecuador learning Spanish and salsa dancing while teaching English. He studied Economics in Montana and graduated from Portland State University in Portland, OR. He and his wife, Kalli, currently plan adventures from their home in Billings, MT.

Lisa Tucker  is a law professor at the Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law. She is also the author of eleven children’s books, most of them up-close and personal looks at fascinating Americans. Lisa contributes regularly to outlets like the New York Times’ Motherlode and Parenting magazine, as well as many print, web, and broadcast outlets.

Chase Guttman is a passionate and talented photographer, political junkie, intrepid explorer, and world traveler. Chase visited more than 35 countries, 45 U.S. states, and 8 Canadian provinces by the time he was 12.

He's crossed Saharan dunes by camel in Morocco, dogsledded with an Iditerod legend in Wyoming, taken wagon trains across the Dakotas,

Adventure journalist Peter Potterfield, author of Classic Hikes of the World, spends more time outdoors than in. He has hiked on seven continents, traveling from Mount Everest to Antarctica, New Zealand to Arctic Sweden, the Grand Canyon to the Scottish Highlands, Alaska to Africa.

Diana accepted a job in Dublin, Ireland after college and never looked back. Her wanderlust has taken her to more than 30 countries and through countless adventures in the States. Diana's professional career includes roles in public relations and marketing in a diverse range of industries - all with the common theme of saving up for the next trip. She recently returned from Cuenca, Ecuador where she enjoyed a 2-year family sabbatical with her husband and their two junior explorers, Piper and Duncan, where every day is a new adventure.

Before bailing out of the workaday world for a two-year sabbatical with his family in Ecuador, Matt was the director of a community-based sustainability organization promoting green building, renewable power, and waste reduction in Vail, Colorado.

He and his wife, Diana, have traveled extensively, so it was inevitable that they would want their children to become global citizens.

Paula Panich, a journalist, teacher, printmaker, writer, and speaker, has been writing about travel, food, history, plants and gardens for two decades.

Susan is a freelance writer.  Her essays have been published in The Washington Times, Family Digest, The Family, Raising Arizona Kids, Guideposts Magazine, Homelife Magazine, AZ Parenting, Goodhousekeeping.com, and Italiannotebook.com.

She has written three, award-winning short films. The latest of which, The Misadventures of Matilda Mench, won best screenplay in the 2010