Paul is a lifelong resident of coastal San Diego, attending high school at a time when Independent surfing was an option for Phys. Ed. and Rock Poetry was passed off as an advanced English course. It didn't take much for him to become disenchanted with formal education and drop out of The University of Southern California to embrace his entrepreneurial side. Paul is a multi-patented inventor, an accomplished photographer (www.oceanfrontphotos.com), and has built several successful businesses. Embracing his love of baseball and the ocean, he attends every Padres home game, and lives in Mission Beach, California. Barbara worked for 23 years at National Geographic as Senior Editor of Travel Publishing, where she managed the creation of illustrated travel books, including the award-winning National Geographic Traveler guidebook series. She was involved in every step, including ideation, marketing, covers, photo selection, and the actual writing and editing. In 2015, Barbara left her longtime position at National Geographic to go freelance full-time. She has published hundreds of travel stories and blogs, plus four books. She's accompanied National Geographic Expedition tours to Italy and France as the NatGeo Expert and teaches travel writing both in person and online. Derek is from Portland, Oregon originally, but has lived abroad for most of his life in S. America, Europe and Asia. He studied philosophy in Malta, classical oil painting in Italy, finished his PhD in Comparative Literature in Taiwan.