ethangelber

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As an urban American adolescent whose summer retreats to rural Maine were his only early adventures, Ethan first journeyed to foreign lands through words. Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels, the prime source of inspiration, is a true tale of a man’s solo sojourning early in the 20th century. It was written to motivate young people to travel. It worked.

His lifelong devotion to travel, cycling, education and communication across cultures propelled him to found BikeAbout, Inc., a small nonprofit that encourages classroom use of modern telecommunications tools. BikeAbout-the Mediterranean was a full circumnavigation of the Mediterranean Sea by bicycle.

The rewarding, rewarded and complimented effort of writing for BikeAbout was the final nudge: since 1998, Ethan has devoted his professional energy to travel and travel writing, most recently as media and communications manager for the WHL Group, the largest local-travel company in the world, for which he also manages a couple of busy travel blogs: The Travel Word and the Local Travel Movement.

Ethan’s association with Lonely Planet developed by chance when he visited their offices to thank them for their contribution (of guidebooks) to BikeAbout. Since then, he has, among other things, coauthored three books in their cycling series and one country guide, written for a few of trade and reference titles, contributed to the post-tsunami coverage of Sri Lanka and added to a few blogs.

Ethan is a native New Yorker. Despite (and perhaps because of) having spent more than half his life living elsewhere, he still believes it is the greatest city in the world. That said, he has taken up residence with his wife and two boys in her native Sydney.

For more about Ethan (infrequently updated with links to his portfolio), please visit ethangelber.com.