Here is everything (mostly) you wanted to know about Mark Orwoll, travel writer and author.
About Mark Orwoll
Mark Orwoll is a veteran journalist and author. He started his career as a newspaperman in California, then moved to New York, where he was a magazine writer and editor. He was on the staff of Travel + Leisure magazine for 30 years as International Editor, Managing Editor, and in other roles. He is also the author of four books: Just One Little Hitch (Pleasant Villain Press), a travel memoir; Cross Purposes (Pleasant Villain Press), a historical thriller; John Wayne Speaks (St. Martin’s Griffin), a collection of film quotes from the actor, plus an overview of his career and capsule reviews of all 173 films he made); and e-Travel (Sams/Macmillan), one of the first books about planning travel using the Internet. Mark is primarily a travel writer, and has visited more than 90 countries. Since leaving T+L, he has been on assignment for Slate, Condé Nast Traveler, Robb Report, Town & Country, East-West News Service, Departures, Fodor’s Travel, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Travel Channel, AARP, Frommer’s Travel, Hemispheres (United Airlines), and many other outlets.
Accolades and Awards
Mark Orwoll has received numerous awards throughout his four-decade journalism career. Highlights include:
2024 – North American Travel Journalists Assn., Honorable Mention, “Save the Rails: America’s oldest narrow-gauge railroad is back from the brink of doom — for a second time,” The Saturday Evening Post
2023 – North American Travel Journalists Assn., Bronze Award: “Austria’s Alps Adapt Traditions to Meet the Relentless Advance of Climate Change,” East-West News Service
2022 – Society of American Travel Writers (East), Silver Award: “The Intersection of Culture and Desserts Reveals Much About America,” East-West News Service
2022 – North American Travel Journalists Assn., Bronze Award: “Forward, With Onward,” Porthole Cruise & Travel
2021 – Society of American Travel Writers (East), Gold Award: “Brief Encounters in the Andes,” Porthole Cruise & Travel
2021 – North American Travel Journalists Assn., Gold Award: “Hunting for Landmines in Cambodia: If you See A Bomb, Don’t Touch It,” Matador Network. Honorable Mention: “On A Myanmar River Cruise, A Rare Chance To Interact with Burmese Monks“, Condé Nast Traveler
2020 – Society of American Travel Writers (East), Silver Award: “On A Myanmar River Cruise, A Rare Chance to Interact With Burmese Monks,” Condé Nast Traveler
2019 – North American Travel Journalists Assn., Silver Award: “Experiencing the Andaman Sea on A Tall Ship Under Full Sail,” Map Happy
2016 – Teaching Excellence Award, M.A. in Publishing Program, New York University
2011 – Folio Eddie and Ozzie Awards, Best in Series Category for “Smart Traveler,” Travel + Leisure
2003 – Telly Award and Aegis Award for Excellence, co-producer, “Travel + Leisure: The Next Destination,” television documentary produced for NBC News Productions
1999 – Advisor, White House Travel Initiative, “American Pathways 2000″
1995 – Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels
1986 – International Order of Old Bastards
More accolades on request.
Books by Mark Orwoll
Just One Little Hitch (Pleasant Villain Press, 2024) is the tale of the making of a journalist. The year was 1976. The ass end of the hippie era. Adrift in college, Mark Orwoll drops out in favor of the hitchhiker’s road through Europe, the U.K., and Morocco. Along the way, he hangs out with Beat Generation poets, gets dosed on acid at an illegal rock festival, loses everything he owns to thieves, and decidedly does NOT learn how to ride a camel. He would also find his calling in life—at 4 p.m. on July 17, 1976, over a beer on the terrace of the Café Select in Montparnasse. Harps, trumpets, and cathedralesque sunbeams may have been involved.
“Hilarious and revealing… So fun!”
—Samantha Brown, PBS host, Samantha Brown’s Places To Love
“The humor of David Sedaris, the storytelling wit of Bill Bryson, and an ounce of Anthony Bourdain’s snark…”
—David Farley, An Irreverent Curiosity
Cross Purposes (Pleasant Villain Press, 2023) is a fictional thriller about a plot to steal the Shroud of Turin at the beginning of World War II. Disgraced history professor Scott Crossman and the stunning redhead Fiona “Finn” Finnegan, a failed Broadway costume designer, join a group of brilliant misfit researchers on a quest to authenticate the holy relic, but hoodlums, Nazis, and even the U.S. Government get in the way. As Finn and Crossman race across Europe and North Africa, trying to elude their pursuers and simply stay alive, there’s only one thing they know for certain: The Shroud of Turin is missing!
John Wayne Speaks (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2021) is an encyclopedia of the Duke’s most famous and trenchant quotes from the actor’s 173 movies made during Wayne’s 50-year film career. The attribute that differentiates this book from others is that each quote has been verified by the author (who watched every film at least twice for research on John Wayne Speaks) and footnoted to indicate the precise film from which the quote was derived. An in-depth introduction gives a broad overview of Wayne’s time in Hollywood, and a list of every movie Duke made includes a capsule review and production notes. “A virtual bible of the actor’s most memorable movie lines. This book is a thorough delight.” — Brian Downes, executive director at the John Wayne Birthplace and Museum.
e-Travel (SAMS/Macmillan, 1999) was one of the earliest books about planning travel on the Internet. At the time he published the book, Orwoll had been writing a daily online travel-advice column for Travel + Leisure for several years. So Macmillan naturally came to him to write e-Travel as part of the publisher’s “SAMS Teach Yourself Today” series of books about using the World Wide Web as a research tool. Orwoll’s e-Travel was later translated into Greek and Hebrew. “And I never got an extra nickle for it,” Orwoll says.
Contact
Email Mark Orwoll.
Copyright 2025 by Mark Orwoll