Christina Changhigh resolution image
Christina Chang was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. Her father is Filipino Chinese, and her mother is American. At 17, she moved to the United States to study theater and film at the University of Kansas in her mother’s hometown. She then went on to graduate school in Seattle, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in acting.
New York City became Christina’s home seven years ago when she was cast in an off-Broadway show directly out of college. Since then, she has gone on to act in a variety of modern and classic theatrical shows, daytime and primetime television, and movies. “Globe Trekker” is the most adventurous show she has done so far, and she is glad to be back in touch with her intrepid side

“When I lived in Taiwan, I traveled throughout Asia, and I’ve been interested in other countries since I was very young,” says Christina. “I’m thrilled to be a back on the road with ‘Globe Trekker,’ as it gives me an opportunity to explore different cultures once again.”

Bradley Cooperhigh resolution image
A natural athlete, Bradley excelled in tennis, golf, basketball, track and crew throughout high school and college. At GeorgetownUniversity, he was a medalist on the men's heavyweight crew team. At the same time he was actively involved in local theater.
A sportsman through and through, Bradley enjoys running and basketball and still holds a deep passion for rowing. He also loves to cook and draw. He resides in New York.

Neil Gibsonhigh resolution image
Scotsman Neil Gibson was born in Aberdeen and received a bachelor's degree in communication from NapierUniversity, Edinburgh.
Before joining "Globe Trekker," Neil had a wide and varied range of jobs. When he applied for the "Globe Trekker" position, he was working in a stationery office in book sales and assisting on the Edinburgh Gazette, a financial newspaper. Beforehand, Neil was a reviewer of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe festival for Triple F magazine, a financial administrator, a bank clerk and a commercial producer for Festival FM in Great Britain.
Neil has backpacked through Asia, Australia and the United States, working in hostels, cafés and a New Zealand supermarket. His main interests other than traveling are scriptwriting and the cinema, reading, the theater and photography. In his spare time, Neil practices hypnotherapy and plays the harmonica in a band. With "Globe Trekker," Neil has journeyed through the Baltic States and Central America as well as Finland, Pakistan and Peru.

Zay Hardinghigh resolution image
Zay Harding has a fear of heights; but he is not afraid to try new things, and he loves to travel. His daring and outgoing personality lands him the "Globe Trekker" gigs that no other hosts are willing to do. This is fine for Zay, because he loves exploring new cultures and finds his most challenging journeys to be the most rewarding ones.

With the enviable background of growing up on the beaches of Hawaii, Zay Harding is a true outdoorsman. His childhood was spent in the Boy Scouts where he achieved the highest level in scouting, which served as early preparation for his globe-trekking adventures.

Zay's first taste of adventure travel was presenting "Treks in a Wild World" for Pilot Productions. This led to a pilot show titled "Tribal Challenge," where Zay and a co-host lived with Ethiopia's Surma tribe for 10 days. They shared huts with livestock and drank cow blood between sessions of herding, fishing, farming, and stick fighting. His love of adventure travel is what landed Zay on "Globe Trekker."

"Being in true wilderness is a rare experience for most people, and I never tire of it," says Zay. "Living in Los Angeles can be quite stressful, and I find an incredible balance to my life whenever I'm out in the middle of nowhere -- away from the cars, away from the noise, away from the people. The tranquility and beauty of the wild sets me free and is refreshing for my soul."

Zay's travels with "Globe Trekker" include trips to Austria, Cameroon, Canada, Kuwait, Laos, Oman, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Adela Ucar Innerarityhigh resolution image
Adela Ucar Innerarity was born in Bilbao, Spain, where she currently resides with her family. She received a bachelor’s degree in audiovisual communication from the University of Navara, located in her native country. Adela then moved down under where she worked towards a postgraduate degree in documentaries at the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne. Adela has traveled around the world, including a three-month stint surfing off the coasts of Australia, Fiji and Brazil.

“I prefer not to judge a place by the first impression,” Adela says. “Sometimes it takes time to discover the character and beauty of a town or a country, and it’s only after a few days, when you’ve met the locals and got into the pace of life that you realize its true nature.”

Cristina LaMonicahigh resolution image

Cristina LaMonica holds a 2nd-degree black belt and has been training since the age of three. Originally from Akron, Ohio, Cristina trained with her parents in the martial art of jujitsu. They are the first non-Asians in the United States to hold the highest-ranking belt in the world.

Athletic training served Cristina well when she found herself on location in Hawaii for "Globe Trekker." There she hiked across Molokai and sea kayaked Kauai's rugged Na Pali coast. "The pure experience of relying only on yourself, doing it all on your own and the physical challenge of it, is the adventure," she says.

Cristina enjoys her days playing volleyball, soccer and, of course, jujitsu. She now calls Los Angeles home.

Megan McCormickhigh resolution image
Megan McCormick was raised in Florida and graduated from BostonUniversity with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and political science. She currently resides in New York. Before joining the "Globe Trekker" team, Megan worked as an English teacher in Japan, as a social worker, and behind the scenes on "The News with Brian Williams" for MSNBC.

Megan's credentials include extensive independent travel in Asia and Europe. She has visited Belgium, China, England, France, Hong Kong, Inner Mongolia, Ireland, Japan, Java, Sumatra, Thailand and Vietnam. For "Globe Trekker," she has traveled to many places, including the Arab Gulf, Egypt, Hawaii, India, the Maldives, Micronesia and Sri Lanka.

"All of these experiences have informed who I am and have given me an enriched perspective," says Megan. "Plus, if I have any memories that start to fade, I have a good video to watch to remind me."

Holly Morrishigh resolution image

A natural in front of the camera, Holly had early media exposure. She won her first Emmy Award at the age of eight, when she and her siblings narrated a program about their family's travels through Europe and the Soviet Union.

As editorial director at an independent company that publishes an eclectic list of fiction and non-fiction books by women writers, Holly developed and edited the publisher's successful imprint, Adventura Books, a line of titles that celebrates women's travel, and outdoor and sports activities.

Holly has published two books of her own, Uncommon Waters and A Different Angle; both are collections of stories about fly-fishing. Her writing has appeared in literary journals and magazines, including The New York Times Book Review.

She is a contributing columnist for abcnews.com and frequently speaks on topics as diverse as publishing, gender politics, creative writing, women and travel, and fly-fishing. Holly has called Seattle her home for the past 12 years.

Alex Rileyhigh resolution image
Alex Riley started his television career as a researcher at “BBC Top Gear” -- a perfect job for the lifelong car enthusiast. He went on to write and perform sketches for the “Chelsea Flower Show” and “Britain in Bloom” specials on BBC1. Alex also appeared in the primetime BBC1 documentary, “Bigamy,” and he wrote and presented “Short Circuits,” an innovative 10-part series for Discovery Home and Leisure.

Outside of television, Alex is the writer and voice of BBC 7’s Comedy Club and, when not traveling to the far reaches of the world for “Globe Trekker,” he performs stand-up comedy in his native Great Britain.

Sami Sabitihigh resolution image

Sami Sabiti was born in Uganda, East Africa, and he lived in Egypt, Kenya and the United Kingdom before settling in South Africa. A self-confessed nomad, Sami studied economics and management, graduated and then discovered his love of the media.

Sami's diverse career in radio and television began when he was a host on South Africa's first 24-hour music channel, Music Television. Later, he read and produced the news and music programming. Sami has also presented a show titled "African Adventures," as well as "Idols" in South Africa, the talent-search program that took the world by storm.

"I woke up one day and realized that this was my life," says Sami. "I always thought I'd follow the straight-and-narrow path of commerce, but that got boring real quick." (Sami spent two years working at IBM's head office in Johannesburg.)

Sami has an adventurous personality and among other things has ridden camels across deserts, trekked ice fields, parachuted, driven dirt bikes across the African bush and dived with manta rays and great white sharks. He is currently working on his first screenplay.

Justine Shapirohigh resolution image
Justine Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California, where she lives today. She attended TuftsUniversity in Boston and studied history and theater. Justine moved to Paris to study theater with Phillippe Gaulier and later went to Hollywood where she appeared in films and television movies including "I'll Do Anything" (by James L. Brooks), "Storyville" (20th Century Fox), "Floodtide" (Granada Television) and "SeaQuest DSV" (Amblin Entertainment). During four years in Los Angeles, Justine taught English to immigrants, and their stories inspired her to take the next step in her life.

Justine returned to the San FranciscoBay area and became involved in several documentary projects, including "Voices from the Storm" about Gulf War veterans and IDG Film's "Nagasaki Journey." In 1995, Justine began producing an independent documentary film titled "Promises," featuring seven Israeli and Palestinian children in Jerusalem. Rather than focusing on hard news, "Promises" offers a human portrait of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The film was nominated for a 2002 Academy Award for best documentary. It won News and Documentary Emmys for best documentary and for outstanding background/analysis. The film also received audience awards at the San Francisco, Vancouver, Sao Paolo and Rotterdam film festivals, as well as juried awards at the Hamptons, Valladolid, Locarno, Munich and Jerusalem film festivals. For more information, go to promisesproject.org.

With "Globe Trekker," Justine has nearly conquered her fear of flying as the show has taken her all over the world - to Argentina, Australia, Belize, Benin, Burkina Faso, the Caribbean, China, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, the Galapagos Islands, Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel, Italy, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, the southwest United States, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

"I think that the way to connect with other 'distinct' cultures is to go with an open heart and spend time with the locals," says Justine. "Many travelers spend time within the glass bubble of the resort or the hotel or the organized tour. People are the same the world over and the only way to experience this is to spend time with the people."

Justine loves to travel and has explored much of Europe, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, and the Palestinian territories on her own. She speaks French and Spanish.

Lavinia Tanhigh resolution image
Born and raised in Singapore, Lavinia Tan is well-versed in the language of Singlish (Singapore's own brand of English) and experienced enough to know that under-arm deodorant is a must on her native tropical island and that the world is her oyster if she would just stop trying to eat it with a squeeze of lemon.

Lavinia's education took her through 10 years in the Singapore Chinese Girls' School, followed by two years in AngloChineseJunior College. When not out globe trekking, she is studying for a degree in business management at the SingaporeManagementUniversity, majoring in marketing and law.

Photography is her most-loved hobby because, she says, it is contemplative and reveals refreshing new perspectives of the world. Lavinia's other interests include reading, cooking and a variety of sea sports such as diving, sailing and kayaking.

Ian Wrighthigh resolution image
Englishman Ian Wright has packed a great deal of travel and adventure into his life. Before hosting "Globe Trekker," Ian spent three months in Guyana with Operation Raleigh, a Prince's Trust initiative, traveling in a self-made bamboo raft down uncharted rivers. In addition, he spent several months in each of the following countries -- Egypt, India, Nepal, Poland and Romania.

An accomplished artist and theater performer, Ian has had an exhibition of his paintings at ChatsPalace. He also devises plays in schools, runs drama and art workshops at the Children's House in Islington on the weekends and works with children with behavioral difficulties in special schools.

On three occasions, Ian has won the prestigious U.S. Cable Ace Awards for Best Magazine Host for the "Globe Trekker" Morocco, Central Asia and Ethiopia programs.

His "Globe Trekker" adventures have taken Ian to Alaska, the American Rockies, Armenia, Australia, Baja California, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Corsica, Cuba, Easter Island, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greenland, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lapland, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Samoa, Sardinia, Sicily, South Korea, Syria, Tahiti, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zanzibar.

Ian Wright's travel philosophy: "If you spend too much time thinking about it, then you miss it! Things come. Keep looking, meet different people, and exchange ideas. There is no rule."