BIO

On assignment for Lonely Planet, Rai Leh Beach, Thailand

Hello, and thanks for visiting. I’m Dan Eldridge, an independent journalist and guidebook author based in Philadelphia. I specialize in travel, business, and cultural reporting.

After more than a decade as a working journalist, my byline has appeared in a huge number of print and online outlets, including The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, The Daily, Lonely Planet Publications, Forbes Travel, Moon Handbooks, Houston Chronicle, The Daily Telegraph (UK), Miami Herald, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Weekly, Paste, Tango, BBC, Made Man, Mediabistro, and many others.

Along with a regular stable of freelance clients, I currently work as the news editor for Issue Media Group‘s Flying Kite, which documents the growth of the new creative economy throughout the Greater Philadelphia area.

Prior to my appointment with Flying Kite, I was the managing editor of the Consumer Technology Publishing Group, a division of North American Publishing Company, where I oversaw five trade magazines and one website that covered the consumer electronics, consumer technology, and home integration industries.

I’ve also worked as a music editor for Pittsburgh City Paper, a copy editor for Philadelphia Weekly, a commercial real estate reporter for Bisnow Media, and a staff editor for a monthly general interest magazine published by and for backpackers in Istanbul.

I’m the author of all three editions of Moon Pittsburgh (Avalon Travel); the guide’s first edition was nominated for Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award. And I’m the co-author of four Lonely Planet guidebooks (to Turkey, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and New England). To purchase any of the travel guidebooks I’ve written or contributed to, visit my Amazon Author Page.

In another life, I was the founding editor of Young Pioneers, a magazine about independent travel culture that was nominated for an Independent Press Award by the Utne Reader. I’m currently in the process of relaunching Young Pioneers as a magazine about creative, cultural, and alternative entrepreneurs.

As a public speaker, I’ve given presentations about journalism, travel writing, and self-employment at the Andy Warhol Museum, Barnes & Noble, and The Waffle Shop. I’ve been interviewed on WPXI-TV (NBC) and KDKA-TV (CBS) in Pittsburgh, and on radio programs including CJSR‘s Radio Outpost; The Curtis Sliwa Show on News Talk Radio WABC; and World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service.

I currently serve on the board of the Writers Emergency Assistance Fund (WEAF), a charitable ASJA 501(c)3 nonprofit that assists qualified freelance writers who are unable to work due to a professional crisis. I’m a graduate of the Transitions Online (TOL) Foreign Correspondent Training Course, which takes place annually in Prague. And I’ve attended the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Corte Madera, Calif., where the working faculty members include dozens of legendary travel journalists, editors and authors.

To learn more about what I’ve been up to lately, head over to the News page. You can also visit me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter at @YoungPioneers.