Catherine Comer and Lavon Swaim are the authors of The Traveling Woman: Great Tips for Safe and Healthy Trips (2001). Veteran travelers and residents of Oregon, they hold degrees in tourism management and are the owners of TravelingSafe.com, a company that provides travel safety information.

Catherine's travel experience began over 20 years ago when she accompanied her husband as he worked internationally and throughout the U.S. On her own, she explored cities such as Madrid, Sydney, and London, gaining experience in how to enjoy travel with safety in mind. With a background in marketing, she decided to focus on a career in the tourism industry. She led a government delegation for Oregon's participation in the 1999 International Travel Expo in South Korea. Her career has included forming a visitor association for Oregon's fourth largest city where she developed a tourism marketing strategy and designed and produced marketing brochures. She was named Livable Oregon's 1995 Main Street Manager of the Year for her work in developing a downtown revitalization and marketing program.

Lavon has been a travel planner for international groups and a tour guide for senior citizen groups traveling throughout the U.S. Her love of travel led her to a career in the tourism industry. While traveling to South America to participate in a mission outreach, she was stranded overnight in an Argentine airport, where she had to sleep on the floor. This prompted her to study travel safety issues for women. Her experience has enabled her to teach women travelers how to develop good travel safety habits. Lavon has also been a resort sales manager and a visitor center representative.

As professional women, Catherine and Lavon represent the target audience for The Traveling Woman. "We are women who love to travel and believe that whether a woman is traveling on her own, with a spouse or partner, or in a group, she should know and practice personal safety habits as a lifestyle."

Catherine and Lavon present workshops and seminars to women of all ages, teaching them how to travel with safety in mind. Their popular workshop, "Traveling Without Fear," takes their audience step by step through the travel process, beginning with how to research a travel destination and includes advice on choosing safe transportation and accommodations, staying healthy while traveling, packing with safety in mind, dealing with emergencies, and more.

Catherine and Lavon can be reached at TravelingSafe.com, PO Box 824, Gresham, OR 97080 USA, Tel. 503-618-0241; by email:email@travelingsafe.com. Visit their website: http://www.thetravelingwoman.net/