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Luci Yamamoto
Luci Yamamoto is the author of Lonely Planet's Kaua'i, coordinating author of Hawaii The Big Island and co-author of Hawaii. She also wrote the LonelyPlanet.com hotel reviews for Hawaii's state capital, Honolulu. Her writings on Hawaii have appeared in a range of newspapers and magazines, including The Honolulu Advertiser, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Salt Lake Tribune, Contra Costa Times, The Threepenny Review and ascent.
Luci is a fourth-generation native of Hilo, Hawaii. Thus she's not fazed by rain, pidgin or Hawaiian street names. Growing up on the Big Island, she regarded the cross-island drive from Hilo to Kailua-Kona as a rare, all-day adventure. But in third grade, her family drove from coast to coast on the US mainland and lived in Illinois for six months, and her worldview started to expand.She moved to Los Angeles for college, spent her junior year abroad in England, traveled through Europe, and settled in Berkeley to attend law school. She spent two summers working in Honolulu, contemplating practicing land-use law while also dreaming about a Plan B escape. Ultimately she became a California bar member before finally changing careers to pursue writing.
Luci is now a freelance writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is also the managing editor of an urban planning journal at the University of California, Berkeley. Her interests include yoga and the Japanese language.
Luci's travel tip: Go solo occasionally. Even when traveling with others, set aside time to explore on your own. To separate yourself from the familiar is liberating, and focuses your attention on new environments rather than on traveling companions.
Luci has yet to discover her favorite place in the world. In The Moon and Sixpence, W Somerset Maugham wrote, "Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs." She figures such place will be her favorite, when she finds it.
