About Steve Strong

Writer at Destination Decider

I’m Steve Strong, the writer behind most of the travel planning articles on Destination Decider. I’m not a full-time travel influencer or a former travel agent — just someone who got tired of relearning the same pre-trip lessons the hard way, trip after trip, until I started writing down what actually worked. That system eventually became this site.

Destination Decider grew out of a simple frustration: most travel content online is either a generic list or an overwhelming wall of information with no real order to it. After planning enough trips, I realized that travel often starts with a quiet sense of uncertainty — and that feeling sticks around the whole trip if you’re not prepared for it. This site exists to replace that uncertainty with a plan: research and information before you go, a reference to lean on while you’re there, and a quick review afterward so the next trip is better than the last.

My travel background is more varied than most. Over 25+ years, I’ve traveled regularly and extensively through North, Central, and South America, which taught me to plan for uncertainty before it becomes a problem. I’ve traveled solo, with family, and as a coordinator for group trips — across four continents and more than a dozen countries. Recently I became a Dual Pilgrim by completing both Spain’s Camino de Santiago and Japan’s Kumano Kodo on foot. These were two of the more logistically demanding trips I’ve taken and two that confirmed everything I believe about preparation mattering more than inspiration.

These days, most of my time goes into testing the tools and services recommended on this site before they go into an article, updating the Trip Planner as I learn what travelers actually need, and rewriting older articles as things change. Some links on this site are affiliate links — free for you to use, and they may earn a small commission that helps keep this site running. Full details are in our Affiliate Disclosure.

I’d rather publish fewer, more useful articles than chase every trending destination. If something on this site is out of date, unclear, or just wrong, let me know and I’ll fix it.