Owen Morton is based in North Yorkshire, and has written or contributed to numerous Rough Guides, ranging from Pembrokeshire to the Philippines. When not exploring the world, he entertains himself by writing a blog about 1980s cartoons. His favourite animal is the wonderfully expressive and permanently furious manul, native to Central Asia and sadly not Shetland. Follow him on Instagram at @owenmortonmanul.

Having edited a magazine in Shenzhen, worked as a newspaper reporter in Taiwan and co-authored over twenty guidebooks and coffee table books, Thomas Bird has kept himself reasonably busy over two decades spent in East Asia. His first book Harmony Express: Travels by Train Through China was published in 2023 by Earnshaw Books. He occasionally prints his musings in the South China Morning Post and other sympathetic publications. When he's not travelling, or writing, he can be found in a smoky live lounge somewhere pondering the Zhuangzi.