John A. Vlahides has been a cook in a Parisian bordello, a luxury-hotel concierge, television host, safety monitor in a sex club, French-English interpreter, and is one of Lonely Planet's most experienced and prolific guidebook authors.

A native New Yorker who lives in San Francisco, John has contributed to 18 Lonely Planet guidebooks since 2003, ranging from California and the western United States to the Dubai City Guide.

John is co-founder of the Northern California travel website 71miles.com. He also appears on San Francisco's ABC7 (KGO) to talk about travel around Northern California. His travel articles have been published by Condé Nast, King Features Syndicate, Wanderlust, Sydney Morning Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle and Sunset Magazine.

When not talking travel, John sings tenor with the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and spends his free time downhill-skiing and hiking the Sierra Nevada, touring California by motorcycle, and sunning on the beach beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.