"Dorothy Jordon truly knows everything that's worth knowing about family travel."
— Bill McCoy, (former) Executive Editor, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel
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The Jordon/Ferbers, from left: David Ferber, Russell Ferber, Dorothy Jordon, Jordon Ferber |
Dorothy Jordon is the acknowledged expert and leading spokesperson on family travel. Her book series, Great Vacations With Your Kids, has helped expand vacation possibilities for thousands of families. As a tireless advocate for taking children (almost) anywhere, she has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS News, Live With Regis & Kathy Lee, CNN, CNBC, The Travel Channel and more. She was the travel editor for Child magazine and Family Circle, and her travel columns and articles have appeared in Parents Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, USA Today, The New York Times and many others. And it all started with , Family Travel Times®.
Involved in the travel industry for the past 30 years, before having her two sons, she opened and operated a travel agency that specialized in sports vacations. As her cadre of clients grew, she noticed that many wanted to travel with their kids, yet the scarcity of helpful information was astounding. Jordon found traveling with her own children delightful and enriching, but not always easy. She combined her business, travel writing and personal experience and began publishing Family Travel Times® (FTT) in 1984.
"Parents shouldn't have to put off travel until their children get older."
"Traveling with even very young children can be wonderfully rewarding. All you need is information relevant to your needs — before you go."
Dorothy Jordon's efforts on behalf of family travel have not gone unnoticed. The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) honored Jordon with its Award of Excellence in 1997 for Family Travel Times®. The section she created for Condé Nast's Traveler received a prestigious National Magazine Award in 1988. Jordon's unique expertise in this tremendously growing field led the the New York Times to call her the "acknowledged heavy hitter in the field."
In addition to FTT, Dorothy Jordon is the author of Great Nature Vacations With Your Kids and Great Adventure Vacations With Your Kids, the latter of which was voted the Best Travel Book of 1997 by NATJA.
As a parent and the Editor-in-Chief of FTT, Dorothy Jordon knows that traveling with children should and can be fun."Travel is one of the great educational experiences for children — it brings the world to life by introducing new cultures, people and languages. Children make new friends, both for themselves and for us. They make us stop dashing from museum to monument so we gain a new perspective on the world — theirs."
Jordon's company TWYCH, Travel With Your Children, is a resource information center on family travel aimed at parents and travel agents. She often speaks to parents and travel industry groups teaching them how to take the 'twitch' out of family vacations.
For many years, in addition to being FTT's most ardent supporter, David was a behind-the-scenes editor receiving little, if any, credit. For the past nine years, David has taken on the role of planning, writing and editing almost all of the ski and outdoor recreation articles, in addition to the grunt work of proofreading and copy editing.
An avid skier and scuba diver, David met FTT founder Dorothy Jordon on the slopes of Stratton Mountain in Vermont where he was a long time member of the voluntary National Ski Patrol. They married in 1974 and have two sons, Jordon and Russell, now ages 24 and 21 respectively. All the men in the house use the last name of Ferber.
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Lisa Hettler-Smith with husband Gordon, and sons Aaron and Graham |
After receiving her MBA, earned while her kids were pre-schoolers, Lisa decided that the best way to apply her new-found skills was in family travel writing. Since she and her husband Gordon spent much of their time BK (before kids) travelling, this was not so far off the mark. Living in San Jose, CA., the heart of Silicon Valley (she also spent 10 years in the computer industry), Lisa keeps busy working at Mulberry, her boys, Graham age 11 and Aaron age 9, parent-participation school, as a Board Member at the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, and singing with the San Jose Symphony's Chorale.
She is a contributor to Bay Area Parent; and her articles on family travel appear on several Web sites, including the Rascals In Paradise and Sierra Club Web sites.
JEANNE MUCHNICK
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| Jeanne and her girls while on vacation in Florida |
Jeanne Muchnick is your average, rushing to meet a-deadline/throw-in-a-load-of-laundry, freelancer/mom. The best part of her job? Combining her personal life with her professional experience. Jeanne loves to travel -- especially with her family. Before succumbing to a life of jeans and T-shirts, she was the Travel Editor at Woman's World Magazine. She also served as the editor of BABY Magazine. Her parenting and travel stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Parents, Parenting, Child, BabyTalk, Working Mother, Bride's, Woman's Day, Westchester Magazine and Long Island Parents and Child. She lives in Larchmont, NY, with her husband and two daughters.
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Back: Michael Kreitman, Holly Reich |
Holly Reich has been been writing about travel (and myriad other subjects) for over 17 years. Her work has been featured in Self, Glamour, Parents, Hearst On-line, Lears, First, New Woman, Lamaze Family and The New York Times Syndicate. Her health and fitness column ran for three years in the New York Daily News.
Currently, Holly is a regular contributer to The New York Post, The Bergen County Record, Family Travel Times, Auto Weekly and The Big Apple Parents Paper. Her columns, Holly Would Drive and Auto-Mates, are syndicated through Powerprose www.powerprose. com). Holly's also has a weekly radio show called you guessed right — Holly Would Drive.
Her favorite topics include: cars, kids, travel and health. But, then again, if need be, she says, "I could rewrite the Magna Carta!" Holly is married to Michael Kreitman and they have two children, Dylan (almost age 11) and Jenna (age 8). They live and play in New York City.
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Luisa, Alexandra, and John Gaynor |
Luisa Frey Gaynor, an expert on cruising, has shared her love of the sea with her seven-year-old daughter, Alexandra, who has already been on five family cruises. While Luisa, husband John, and Alex have been on many extensive land trips, cruising still is their favorite way to really enjoy each other's company, explore new destinations together, and also have some coveted free time to read or sunbathe while Alex has fun participating in the ships' youth programs.
As both a parent and one who has been on many cruise ships during her career, Luisa enjoys sharing the details of her latest cruise with Family Travel Times readers.
Luisa has been writing about the cruise industry for the past 15 years. She presently pens a monthly column on cruising for Cruise Reports newsletter and one on family travel for Postcards magazine. She has written for a number of guidebooks, including being Assistant Editor of the upcoming edition of Cruise Vacations with Kids guidebook, contributing to Great Family Vacations guidebooks, updating the cruising section of Fodor's Bermuda guidebook, and editing sections on the Unofficial Guide to Cruises. In addition, she is a contributing editor to Cruise & Vacation Views magazine and has written for Cruise Travel magazine and Cruise Industry News magazine and newsletter.
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David, Elise, and Debra |
Debra Wishik Englander has been writing about travel, personal finance and other topics for the past 17 years. She was a long-time staffer at Money Magazine and has also written for Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Family Money, etc. She is the author of MONEY 101 (Prima), a personal finance guide.
She, David and 12-year-old Elise live in Forest Hills, NY. When work and school schedules permit, they go out to their weekend home near the Pocono Mountains. They're all tennis players; Debby's a serious runner and Elise enjoys swimming. But Elise far prefers the city life so when they vacation, they usually combine some leisure spot with a city. Among their favorite cities are San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Phiadelphia, Washington, D.C. and, of course, New York City.
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Allan, Sondra, and Silvana |
Silvana Clark began her writing career in high school by writing her own passes to get out of boring classes. Since that time she has redeemed her ways and written six books and more than 150 magazine articles.
Born in Germany, she now travels across the US, Canada and overseas, as a professional speaker. Happily married for 24 years, Silvana, her husband Allan, and two daughters (Sondra pictured here) travel at every opportunity. They led a month long bike tour through Europe for 21 people, have para-sailed in the "Kootneys" (British Columbia) and hiked in the Olympic Rain Forest.
If you have questions or comments about this Web page or site, e-mail: info@familytraveltimes.com.
© 1999 - 2001 Dorothy Jordon & Associates Inc.
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