Sharon Hudgins is an award-winning author and journalist with more than 1,000 articles on food, travel, and culture published worldwide. A seasoned traveler with a sense of adventure, she has lived in 10 countries on 3 continents and journeyed through more than 50 countries across the globe. Her previous residences have ranged from Munich, Athens, Paris, London, Madrid, and Tokyo, to a crofter's cottage in the Scottish Highlands, a German winery on the Mosel River, a mountain village in southern Spain, and two high-rise apartment buildings in Siberia. 

As a speaker on historical, cultural, and culinary topics, she has traveled the world on trains and ships from Europe to Alaska to Northern Asia and logged more than 45,000 miles on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Before embarking on her career as a cruise speaker in 2006, Sharon was a professor for the University of Maryland's programs in Europe and Asia and taught at major universities in the United States and Germany. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in U. S.-Russian Strategic Studies and from the University of Texas in Film Production. 

Her books include The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East; Spain: The Cuisine, The Land, The People; and Food on the Move: Dining on the Legendary Railway Journeys of the World.