Amy
E. Robertson is a Seattle native who has long been
obsessed with travel. She has visited more than 60 countries,
and lived in six. Her favorite travel experiences always
include connecting with the local culture and people.
She has helped build a home in Honduras, monitored presidential
elections in Ecuador, and worked with youth in Bolivia on
the creation of social documentaries. She is also a passionate
advocate of community based tourism, and
all travel that connects visitors with locals both on a
personal level (where travelers have the chance to interact
with locals on their terms) and on a financial one (where
tourist dollars stay and are invested in the local community). Connected
travel has helped Amy to better understand the
people she meets and their circumstances, and enriched her
as much as it did the people and places she supported.
Amy studied in Boston and Madrid for
her bachelor’s degree, and London for her master’s degree
in development studies. Having worked in both the private
and the non-profit world, Amy brings her professional experience
and educational background in international development
and non-profit management, along with her extensive network
of passionate “connected traveler” friends and colleagues,
to her evaluations of travel experiences.
During her eight years living in Ecuador
and Honduras, she fell in love with the spirit of the region,
and during her year in the UK she fell in love with her
now-husband, who hails from Italy. She currently lives in
Beirut, Lebanon, with her husband and two children, and
spends three months a year divided between her family’s
hometowns: Seattle, Rome, and Messina (Sicily).
Amy is the author of the Volunteer
Vacations in Latin America and Honduras
and the Bay Islands, both published by Moon
Handbooks. Her writing has been published on NPR, Vice MUNCHIES, Budget Travel, Delta Sky, National Geographic Traveler, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor and Travel + Leisure, among others.
You can see her portfolio of articles and books at amyiswriting.com.
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