Prior to becoming a fulltime professional writer, I was a university professor, an ethnographic consultant to diverse businesses, and then the editor for Expedition magazine. I earned my PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in anthropology, with a specialty in the cultures, languages, peoples, and histories of the western Mediterranean world. This specialty continues to be my passion and most of my writing is about travel, food and wine, adventures, spirituality, and cultures in Spain, France, Portugal, and Morocco. I also write about other European destinations and about the USA. If you're curious how I spend my day as a freelance writer, read my interview with MatadorNetwork.