Andrew Mersmann

Andrew Mersmann is the author of the global guide to Volunteer Vacations: "Frommer's 500 Places Where You Can Make a Difference" (GOLD Award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation: Best Guidebook). He has volunteered on service projects ranging from working and living with the homeless on Los Angeles' Skid Row to saving stranded pilot whales in Key West to rebuilding a Haitian orphanage post-earthquake and a humanitarian/medical excursion by horseback in Rajasthan, India. He is a travel writer and former Editor in Chief of Passport Magazine and has been a restaurant reviewer, entertainment writer, and celebrity profiler. He has been a featured speaker, interview guest, or moderator on several travel talks, from the New York Times Travel Show, Smithsonian Associates, and the 92nd Street Y-TriBeCa to Oprah and Friends on satellite radio. Also wrote the host-helping fill-in toolbook, "Guest Details Log: To Be the Best Host, Details Matter."