After working the copying machine at "Late Night with David Letterman", Spy magazine, and The New Yorker during college, Doug rejected life as a professional intern and hit the road. After two and a half years working his way around the planet—picking bananas in Israel, snowmobile guiding in the Alps, selling carpets in Morocco, and hitching on yachts—Doug began his writing career with a syndicated travel column that grew to reach 10 million readers and was published in 40 major newspapers (including the Denver Post, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, and more). While teaching journalism at Colorado College, he published several books, which led to becoming a travel documentary host for the Discovery Channel and a regular expert on NPR's The Savvy Traveler.

Lansky's Rough Guide bestseller, First Time Around the World, has become the travel bible for college kids and young travelers, and his lectures at colleges and universities all across the U.S. play to sell-out crowds. Lansky's World Travel Show is presented by National Geographic ADVENTURE. Through words and images, each World Travel Show presentation brings the audience on an hour-long global odyssey, full of information, lessons and experiences acquired while backpacking across more than 100 countries. What he teaches is useful not just in traveling on semesters abroad or as an independent traveler, but also in enriching everyday life—no matter where you go or what you do.

In addition to Signspotting and Signspotting 2 published by Lonely Planet, his other books for Rough Guides include First-Time Europe and The Rough Guide to Travel Survival. When he's not on the lecture circuit talking about travel or writing travel and humor articles, Doug can be found in Sweden where he lives with his wife and three daughters.

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