We couldn’t be prouder of this month’s collection of global storytellers, travel pups! We’ve successfully stretched our toes out into wider waters, and have included many internal journeys to compliment our tales of physical travel. We’re particularly honored to offer Gabriella Berman’s moving essay on losing her special needs daughter, and her resulting struggle regarding the loss of a particular type of motherhood. We’re also thrilled to share Paula Cruickshank’s journey into White House correspondence, as displayed through her first interview with a sexist interviewer; spiritual journeys from Sheryl Louise Rivett, Erin Grover, and Rachel Grossman; a night of heavy metal in Trenton by Dario DiBattista; a poem about choosing the other fork in the road by Shenan Prestwich; a blast into Burning Man by Neil Hilton and Mika Machálek, a videostory from Erin Grover on the time she went to Afghanistan with nothing more than a hundred dollars and good intentions; and more, more, more!

We also want to take an opportunity to promote a great new magazine, edited by one of this month’s Outside In contributors, Dario DiBattista. We highly recommend the high-quality reads you can find at 20somethingmagazine.com, especially these two recently published pieces by Outside In editor Brandi Dawn Henderson – Twenty Tips for Wannabe World Travelers and Un-Missed Connections.

As for us, Susanna just returned to Inner Mongolia from spending a weekend in Beijing, where it is rumored that she drank one thousand mojitos and honed her karaoke skills. She also got a great haircut, and got to wear a fancy crown!

And me, I’m back at the parents’ place in Idaho, and have recently commemorated my experience in Alaska with some permanent ink on the ol’ arm. I’m feeling pretty in love with the world, and am appreciating the balance that an occasional trip back home can provide to a life on the go.

Remember, travel cubs, there’s not a one of you who doesn’t have a valuable journey to get down on paper (or screen), and we’d love the opportunity to help you share, because (as our fancy, new business cards say) global storytelling can help hearts and brains to grow wiser.

With fresh ink and a hangover,

Brandi Dawn Henderson and Susanna Wickes

Editors