About Michael
After a childhood spent stateside in the Washington DC area, mostly because of his father's unanalyzed fear of flight (which restricted family trips to small train compartments or cramped cars - both fertile territory for close-hand combat with his brother), Michael spent a year studying and traveling in Israel. His world now open to other shores and the pleasures of international flight, especially the meals (always fish or chicken, never beef), Michael continued to travel.
After college, and with a valuable philosophy degree in hand, he took a job vaguely related to developing a resort on the island of Rota in the Northern Marianas. Guam, Saipan and Tinian were not enough to ease his travel fever, so he left for a long overland trip through Asia that ended in semi-disaster - if judged by the fact that his things were being hauled around in his laundry bag when he arrived in Amman, Jordan.
An aborted attempt at graduate school was followed by an exploration of the country of his birth, the USA, driving a beat-up truck full of books. Cliches piling up like tacky roadside museums in the western part of the country, Michael decided to try his hand at the classic romantic gig, working in a fishery in Alaska, only to be told on arrival that he was too early.
He found his way to South Africa, where he investigated and wrote about political violence and other fun issues and then helped train newly elected local government officials. But, feeling the call of New York City, he went to graduate school in comparative literature and received a master's, but stopped just short of the coveted doctorate (he realized he wasn't willing to move to Kansas for a job) before teaching literature and writing as an adjunct professor at several NYC colleges.
Michael has worked on nearly 60 Lonely Planet books and counting. He is also co-founder of the travel platform LikeLocal, matching culturally curious travelers with local hosts for meals, activities and celebrations, like weddings.
