Laura Del Rosso is a journalist who specializes in travel and the travel industry, including hotels, destinations, cruise lines, travel technology companies, meeting planners, travel agencies and tour operators.

She is contributing editor for Travel Weekly, a leading travel industry newsmagazine, where she was west coast bureau chief for 16 years. She writes Travel Weekly's Home-based Agent Eletter, a weekly newsletter designed specifically for independent travel agents.

Her first book, award-winning Great Escapes: Northern California, about day trips and weekend getaways within a four-hour drive of the San Francisco Bay Area, was published by Countryman Press/Norton. It is available in bookstores, and online, including at Amazon.com.

Laura is blogging about her travels in Northern California and created an award-winning audio/visual walking tour of San Francisco's Ferry Building and Embarcadero, available on CD and to download on mobile devices. She also wrote and photographed travel guide apps, San Francisco's Chinatown and San Francisco's North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf for iPhones, iPods and iPads available at iTunes.

Follow Laura at Twitter @lauradelrosso