Lissa Poirot, Executive Editor
Lissa Poirot began her travel writing career as Managing Editor of Travelgirl, and Atlanta-area consumer lifestyle magazine Points North, before eventually freelancing for other travel magazines and websites, including Florida Travel + Life, AAA Living, Cape Cod Magazine and Visit Florida.com, after she became a mother in 2004. Lissa has received awards from the American Travel Writers Association (ATWA) and Magazine Association of Georgia and the Southeast (MAGS) for her travel writing.
Born in the Midwest, raised in South Florida, and splitting her adult time between Boston and Atlanta, Lissa has explored nearly every state east of the Mississippi, as well as California, Colorado, Arizona and Texas. A self-proclaimed beach girl, Lissa has been all around the Caribbean, and has traveled internationally to England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Austria, Spain, Israel, Mexico and Canada. "My dream is to become a member of the Travelers' Century Club," she says. Dragged around by her own wanderlust-filled father as a child, she now enjoys showing her children the world, happily making road trips "just because." She lives in Pennsylvania with her daughter and son. Read Lissa's Family Vacation Critic blog.
Kimberly Liu, Reviews Editor
Over the last 20 years, Kim has enjoyed traveling extensively with her family and friends. Having grown up in a large family in Connecticut, Kim spent many childhood family vacations in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Cape Cod. With her own and extended family, she has vacationed in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Jersey Shore, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, California, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Canada. She has also traveled to England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Italy, as well as to various states in the U.S. Kim treasures the time she spends vacationing with her family and the special memories they create together. Although she particularly enjoys sightseeing, skiing and tropical vacations, now that her daughter is a teen, her family is looking forward to taking more active and adventure-themed vacations! In her free time, she enjoys tennis, reading, volunteering and her two dogs, Sugar and Spice. Kim began her writing career as the co-founder and editor of BusyBeeLifestyle.com.
Kristin Franks, Production Assistant
Kristin has traveled to various states in the U.S. as well as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Paris and the Caribbean. This New Jersey native loves the beach, soccer, snowboarding and surfing. Kristin enjoys learning about new cultures and is all about trying new and daring adventures and activities. Her favorite travel moments are relaxing on the beach in warm weather and traveling to Germany to play soccer.
Our Contributors
Carrie Calzaretta
Having traveled extensively both with and without kids, Carrie Calzaretta has been a professional travel writer for over 10 years serving as the former editor of The Independent Traveler and the founding editor of Family Vacation Critic. Carrie is also a travel mom with two young kids; globe "totter" Tess and junior jetsetter Ty -- who took his first international trip at just three months.
Inspired by her own experiences traveling with a young family, Carrie seeks to help families find the most kid-friendly hotels and resorts, as well as to plan family vacations the whole family -- mom and dad included -- can enjoy.
Melissa Chapman
Melissa Chapman and her brood of three live in the urban concrete jungle of New York City. When she's not busy putting someone in a time-out, stepping on action figures, hand-feeding her dog/child or braiding hair she's trying to find indulgences and, yes, even family travel adventures that remind her of her pre-kid days when she felt sexy, didn't need to wade through mountains of laundry and no one ever called her ma'am! She contributes to Time Out NY Kids, iVillage and Real Moms Guide, and writes a weekly column for the Staten Island Advance, called "Kids in the City." Check out Melissa's blog, which appears on New Jersey's WCBSTV website.
Steve Jermanok
A former columnist at National Geographic Adventure, contributing editor at Budget Travel, and editor of the annual travel issue at the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Steve Jermanok has written more than 1,000 travel articles. His family travel stories have appeared in Outside, FamilyFun and Travel & Leisure, and usually feature his two children, Jake and Melanie. He's also authored 11 books, including "Outside Magazine's Adventure Guide to New England." Check out Steve's blog, Active Travels, and website.
Katy Koontz
Katy Koontz is a freelance writer (formerly the travel editor at McCall's) who writes personal experience essays, descriptive destination articles and service pieces. She updates and edits "The Insiders' Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains" (Globe Pequot Press) and is the author of a family travel guide to the Great Smoky Mountains, to be published in 2011. She passed the travel gene to her now-teenage daughter Sam, and together they've visited six continents (and counting). Katy has won four Society of American Travel Writers' Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition awards for her travel articles. Check out Katy's website.
Christine Koubek
Christine Koubek is a freelance journalist, author and the assistant editor of "Going Places with Children in Washington, D.C., 17th edition." Her family travel articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Budget Travel, San Francisco Chronicle, CruiseCritic.com, MSNBC.com, Bethesda Magazine, Dallas Morning News and more.
Christine lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and two children. She and her family enjoy exploring, whether that means kayaking through Cape Cod's marshes, meandering through underground catacombs in Rome or discovering Disney World's newest attractions. Her only travel requirements: good coffee and a great children's story related to the place. Check out Christine's website.
Diana Lambdin Meyer
Diana Lambdin Meyer grew up on a farm in America's heartland in a house filled with brothers, sisters, cousins and friends. Among her earliest memories is vacationing at Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, which she now writes about for Family Vacation Critic.
Today, Diana and her family are based in the Kansas City area. She has one son, but keeps a house filled with cousins and neighborhood kids who always fill the backseat on family vacations. Among her nieces and nephews, Aunt Diana is famous for forgetting toilet paper on camping trips, for her mind-numbing fascination with history, and for promising one nephew a trip to the Great Wall of China, on which she has yet to deliver.
She is the author of "Kid's Guide to Kansas City," "Day Trips from Kansas City," "Nebraska Off the Beaten Path," and hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines around the country. Check out Diana's blog, Diana's Destinations and website.
Lisa Milbrand
Writer Lisa Milbrand began her travel-writing career covering romantic destinations like Jamaica, Hawaii and St. Lucia for publications like Modern Bride and Destination Weddings & Honeymoons. After braving 15-hour flights to China to adopt her two daughters, ages three and five, Lisa and her husband Mike now discover the joys of destinations like Disney World and Niagara Falls -- and are looking forward to bringing their daughters along on their travel adventures.
Travel wise, Lisa generally doesn't like to repeat the same destination twice -- "There's too much of the world to see," she says. "My idea of roughing it is a luxury resort that doesn't have phones or TVs, but still offers room service. And I'm a big Caribbean expert, having visited many of the major destinations there." Check out Lisa's blog, The Mamahood, and website.
Lisa McClintick
As a long-time contributor to Midwest Living and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Midwest-based writer Lisa Meyers McClintick looks for adventurous, interactive and nature-oriented destinations when traveling with her twin daughters, 7, and 11-year-old son. She has been a journalist for 20 years and recently wrote "The Dakotas Off the Beaten Path" (Globe-Pequot Press, 2010) and created the "Minnesota Lake Vacations" travel app through Sutro Media. Check out her website.
Candyce Stapen
A pioneer in family travel, Candyce Stapen has been writing about traveling with her children for more than 25 years. Her 2000 articles and 28 books include two guides for National Geographic, and her latest books, "Fun with the Family, Virginia, 8th ed" (Globe Pequot) and "An Explorer's Guide to Virginia" (Countryman Press). Candyce saves up frequent flyer miles for city explorations, resort stays, beach sojourns, raft trips and adventure outings. Her most memorable trips include an African safari and a visit to China. Candyce is a four-time winner of a Society of American Travel Writers' Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism award and a recipient of the Caribbean Travel Writer of the Year.
Kara Williams
Award-winning freelance travel writer Kara Williams lives in the Colorado Rockies with her husband and two school-age children. As proud owners of a beat-up, pop-up camper, they take camping trips around Colorado and neighboring states in the warm-weather months. Mexico and Hawaii top the list of their favorite family vacation destinations. Kara's work on our Age Matters series has even earned her accolades from the Society of American Travel Society's Western Chapter awards. Check out Kara's blog on The Vacation Gals and website.
Michael Blanding
An award-winning magazine writer, Michael Blanding is a regular contributor to Yankee Magazine, The Boston Globe and Boston Magazine, where he is a contributing editor. Based in New England, Michael and his writer wife Alexandra Hall travel often with their two young children to gather ideas for those and other magazines, including Conde Nast Traveler, New England Travel & Life, and a host of in-flight magazines, and their books, "Moon Vermont" and "Moon New England" (Moon Handbooks). Check out Michael's website.
Wendy Irvine
Wendy Irvine is a family travel writer based in Northern California who is blown away by how much she loves traveling with her six-year-old twin boys. The two give their uncompromising opinions on California, Lake Tahoe, Hawaii and Caribbean sweet spots for kids. However, the love fest ends at the entry to the hotels' spas. Even a mom in love needs time to chill.
Jackie Perrin
Writer Jackie Perrin has covered the best of travel for over a decade, providing insider tips for media ranging from in-flight magazines to and PeterGreenberg.com. Beyond Orlando's theme parks, her ideal family vacation involves a beach, a book and plenty of activities to entertain the troops. At home and on the go, she manages a crew of companions, from tots to teen.
