Laura Reiley entered the world of work on the heels of a two-year culinary school program. As a professionally trained chef, she was now qualified to draw discriminating conclusions about meals eaten and wines consumed. She did so with gusto, reviewing restaurants and writing about food for magazines and newspapers in Baltimore, San Francisco, and, most recently, St. Petersburg, Florida.A food writer must keep one eye on food, but it is somewhat inevitable that the other eye drifts to the anthropology of food,the folkways of the eaters and drinkers. After moving to Florida's Gulf Coast in 2003, Laura began to admire how Harriet Beecher Stowe once described her home state: a tumble-down, wild...general happy-go-luckiness. There was no better way to explore her wild new home than with the first edition of Moon Florida Gulf Coast, for which she won first prize from the North American Travel Journalists Association. From there, she set her sights on other Floridian destinations,authoring Moon Walt Disney World & Orlando and now focusing on Florida's central coast.Laura lives in the Tampa Bay area with her husband, a psychologist her daughter, a sixteen-year-old and her dog, a schnoodle. Bob Jenkins has sailed on more than 60 cruise ships and traveled extensively in Western Europe, in heartland America, and on six of the seven continents. Despite his global experience, Bob's greatest expertise is a result of all the years he made the 22-mile commute from St. Petersburg to Clearwater, discovering different ways to navigate the often-crowded roads, exploring the back lanes, and familiarizing himself completely with the area. Bob studied journalism in college and went on to work for the Grand Rapids Press and for Newsday. He moved to St. Petersburg in 1969, beginning a 39-year career with the St. Petersburg Times in a variety of roles, including 19 years as travel editor. Bob also served on the Board of Directors of the Society of American Travel Writers for almost a decade and was presented with its highest honour for service, the Marco Polo award. He now works as a freelance writer specializing in travel. Bob lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Dianne. Along with being a Tampa Bay Rays fan, he loves to sail and fish in his free time. Visit him online at bobjenkinswrites.com.
