Ashlea Halpern

I'm a longtime contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveler, where I write feature stories, edit special projects, produce a cruise column spotlighting the most interesting people working on the world's best ships, and cover family and adventure travel. In late 2024, I completed a three-month, six-continent trip around the world with my toddler, which I documented for the brand across print, web, social media, and a limited-run newsletter series.

I am also a contributing editor at Oprah Daily, where I edit the annual Hotel O-Wards and other travel packages; the special projects editor for TIME's World's Greatest Places issue; and a contributing editor at AFAR, where I've overseen front-of-book coverage and flagship Where to Go packages.

Previously, I launched T Wanderlust, the first travel newsletter for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and was the founding editor of The Urbanist, a pop-up travel blog from New York Magazine. My bylines have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Pursuits, Bon Appétit, Esquire, Entrepreneur, Wired, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Artful Living, Midwest Living, and more.

I was named TravMedia's Travel Writer of the Year (2026) and have appeared as a travel expert in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, WNBC's Today in New York, Fox 5's Good Day New York, and Condé Nast Traveler's Women Who Travel and AFAR's Unpacked podcasts.

My background in service journalism and passion for storytelling also inform my branded-content work. Past and present clients include Microsoft, Airbnb, American Express, Chase Travel, Capital One, DoorDash, TikTok, Prudential, United Airlines, Marriott, Target, LG, Etsy, Illy, Food Network, Silversea Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Ralph Lauren, MM.LaFleur, The Essentialist, and Explore Minnesota.

My interests span luxury, adventure, family, and wellness travel; cruises; road trips; and motorcycling. Favorite reporting trips of the past decade include Uzbekistan, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chilean Patagonia, the Canadian Arctic, and Swedish Lapland—and I'm always happy to take on assignments in Turkey or Japan. Minnesota is pretty swell, too. I liked it enough to move to the Twin Cities in 2018 after a 16-month, 40-state, 229-city road trip across the U.S., and to co-found Minnevangelist, a site devoted to trumpeting its greatness.