I’m Karen Bryan, founding editor of  Europe a la Carte. I caught the travel bug when I was 19 and spent seven weeks exploring the Greek mainland and islands, where I met my husband Demetrius. In 2002 I set up a Europe a la Carte to combine my love of travel with earning a living online. Things really started to take off when the Europe a la Carte Blog launched in 2006. In 2009, I gave up my day job to work full-time on the site.

I’m Amanda Kendle, deputy editor of the Europe a la Carte Blog. I’ve been writing about my travels for some years now, and after living in Germany, Slovakia and Japan, and travelling to almost 40 other countries, I’ve had plenty of fuel. Although I’m now based again in my homeland, Australia, I still pine for Europe and write about it every chance I get it.

Two of my favourite journeys took place in Europe. My most memorable Christmas was in Finnish Lapland, when I got to drive a reindeer sleigh on Christmas Day. And probably the best trip I’ve ever taken was across Russia and down through the Baltic countries, starting on the Trans-Siberian train and then backpacking my way through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland before settling for a while in Bratislava.

To pay my bills these days, I teach English to foreigners part-time, and write part-time for a collection of blogs, including travel blogs like Jaunted, Vagabondish and Travel Rants. I also edit musings about travel, people and cultural differences at SameSkyMagazine.com and am trying to get some novels completed and published, a struggle  I’m documenting at BecomingAFictionWriter.com, I especially like seeking out hidden corners of cities and towns.