A veteran shoestring traveller delighted by effusive hospitality, beautifully intricate crafts, and the music of all religions’ prayers, Nancy Chuang (nancychuang.com) immerses herself in communities around the world through her penchant for riding in the backs of trucks, sleeping on the floors of mud huts and consuming all manner of street foods on a stomach of steel. A lover of creaky old trains, seeker of high-reward low-effort mountain views, and connoisseur of street foods, her fondest travel memories always involve the warmth and generosity of strangers. As a travel writer, Chuang has updated four Bradt guides to far-flung places: Ghana, Georgia, Tajikistan and Sri Lanka. As a photographer, designer and artist with years of experience running a social enterprise in Asia, she is comfortable just about anywhere but continues to hang on to an ever-changing Brooklyn.