Some of you have been reading In The Know Traveler since the very beginning, back when Devin started this thing in 2004 as a way to share real travel stories and convince more people to get out and see the world. We became friends around this time. Others
found us through Steve’s incredible writing over the years, his road trips through Mexico, his dispatches from Tahiti, his encyclopedic knowledge of the American Southwest.
If you’ve been with us a while, you know this site has always been about people, not just places. Real travelers sharing real experiences, not some sanitized corporate booking funnel.
So I want to introduce myself properly.
My name is Chris, and I’m stepping in to take over the day-to-day management and editing of In The Know Traveler. My own travel story starts with music. In 1988, I toured Europe with my high school jazz band and played the North Sea Jazz Festival in
Rotterdam, the biggest jazz festival in the world. Miles Davis headlined that year, along with Herbie Hancock and Ornette Coleman. We were just kids in a little tour bus, but between sets in Rotterdam, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Cologne, wandering the streets and
canals, something clicked. I came home knowing the world was wider and more worth exploring than I’d ever imagined. Back home, I was gigging around Michigan before I could even drive myself to the venues. I played the Cincinnati Jazz Festival and the Saginaw
Jazz Festival, and hit stages in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ypsilanti, and my hometown of Ann Arbor. Music was already becoming my passport.
But the travel bug bit even earlier than that. My parents had me on the road as a kid: Disney World, long drives down the East Coast all the way to Clearwater, trips up through Canada into New York, Niagara Falls, Empire State Building and the Statue of
Liberty. I sat on Crystal Gayle’s lap at a show in Oklahoma when I was five. We drove through Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, shot to the top of the St. Louis Arch, and climbed the dunes at Sleeping Bear in Michigan with high school friends. Family road trips
were my first lesson that the journey is the destination.
Then came the touring years, and that’s when I really saw the country. I spent the better part of the 90s, 00s and the teens on the road with a string of bands. Flexie kept me gigging all over Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York
City and LA. The Charms took me through the South and up and down the East Coast. Chemical Burn and Silver Needle cut wide swaths across the Southwest, with gigs in San Jose, Santa Fe, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta, and Nashville. And I spent eight years
with When in Rome II, and if you know the song “The Promise,” that’s the world I was living in. With When in Rome II the touring expanded even further, with gigs everywhere from San Francisco, San Diego, and Anaheim to LA, Las Vegas, and back across the
Southwest. All told, I’ve logged more miles on American highways than I could ever begin to count.
Vegas deserves its own mention. I’ve played there with three different bands, been back for three weddings, and between Donna’s time living there and trips for just about every other reason, it’s probably the place I’ve visited most in recent years.
Speaking of Donna. We met in college, and after a long stretch of Skype calls while she was living in Denver, I drove out to bring her home with me. We’ve been traveling together ever since. We got married in Hawaii and spent our honeymoon exploring the
islands, and I’ve got a stack of photos from that trip I can’t wait to share here. I’ve vacationed in Key West for a friend’s wedding, soaked up the music and culture at the New Orleans Jazzfest, experienced the soothing seaside sounds of Santa Barbara, the
setting of the movie Sideways in Santa Rosa with its lovely vineyards and arts and we spent a few relaxing days at a spa in Scottsdale, explored Miami, took the helicopter out to Catalina Island with my brother, and spent time in Denver with Donna.
I grew up in Ann Arbor, spent thirteen years in Boston, and have called Los Angeles home since 2003. Between childhood road trips, years of touring, and adventures with Donna, I’ve seen more of this country from the window of a moving vehicle than most people
do in a lifetime.
But I’ve got big plans to go further. There’s a whole world out there I haven’t seen nearly enough of yet, and I’m looking forward to getting out there, experiencing it firsthand, and bringing those stories right back here to all of you.
What I can tell you is this: I care deeply about what’s been built here. Twenty years of stories, thousands of destinations, a community of readers and writers who take a genuine interest in the world beyond their own zip code. That legacy is not something I
take lightly.
You’ll be happy to hear that Steve isn’t going anywhere. He’ll continue contributing the wonderful stories and photographs you’ve come to love, and his voice will remain a core part of what makes this site what it is. The road trip continues. He’s just no
longer carrying the whole map by himself.
As for what’s new, I’m genuinely excited. We’ve got big plans: a faster, cleaner reading experience, new destinations and contributors, fresh features, and a renewed focus on the kinds of stories that made you bookmark us in the first place. The mission Devin
set out back in 2004, celebrating world travel and all its unique cultures, isn’t changing. The delivery is about to get a serious upgrade.
So stick around. The best of In The Know Traveler is still ahead.
And to Steve: thank you. For the stories, the photos, the years of keeping this thing alive. It’s an honor to carry it forward.
Chris
Editor-in-Chief, In The Know Traveler
