Mark Orwoll
Mark Orwoll, former International Editor of Travel + Leisure, is a freelance journalist focusing on narratives about offbeat travel experiences, food and wine, and unexpected destinations. He has published more than 2,000 articles, columns, and blog posts in his 40-plus-year career. Orwoll's stories have appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, the Travel Channel, Hemispheres, the Saturday Evening Post, Departures, the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, Town & Country, and numerous other outlets. He is the author of three published books, including "Cross Purposes" (Pleasant Villain Press), a fictional thriller about an international plot to steal the Shroud of Turin at the outbreak of World War II. Mark is remembered by many TV viewers for his more than 600 broadcast appearances as a travel expert, including more than 75 times on NBC's Today. He has been a panelist, moderator, and featured speaker at events in the United States and overseas. Mark has won a number of writing accolades over the years, including a Gold Award from the North American Travel Journalists Assn. He has traveled to 85 countries and territories on all seven continents. His most memorable destination so far is Antarctica, where he jumped into the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean and celebrated afterward with tequila shots. One of his most significant travel achievements was persuading the State Department to give him two separate passports. Orwoll was born and raised in Southern California. He was a self-described "typical surfer knucklehead" before getting his start in journalism in San Diego, where he was a staff writer for The Reader and, before that, a suburban bureau chief for the Chula Vista Star-News. He moved to New York City as a young man to make his start in journalism, and never left the greater NYC area. Orwoll is married and the father of three. He and his wife make their home in New York's Lower Hudson Valley, where he and his pals "annoy the neighbors" every Sunday with their classic-rock jam sessions.
