Laurence Mitchell has, at various times, taught English in Sudan, surveyed historic farm buildings in Norfolk, pushed a pen in a local government office and worked as a geography teacher. Travel has been an important part of his life ever since his first tentative steps overseas in the 1970s, well before the term 'backpacker' was invented. He has been visiting Serbia since it was part of the former Yugoslavia and Tito was in charge, and knows the region extremely well. With a keen interest in natural history, as well as the arts, he is keen to convey to others the wealth of cultural and natural offerings that Serbia has to offer visitors.These days Laurence works as a freelance travel writer and photographer with a particular penchant for forgotten places, border zones and territories in transition. His blog can be found at eastofelveden.wordpress.com and photography website at laurencemitchell.com. Ivana Dukčevic was born and lives in Belgrade, Serbia. She graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts & Design from which she received the university degree equivalent to Master of Arts. She runs her own travel pages where she posts stories with photos from her travels: umetnostputovanja.rs. Her travel photos are marketed through Istockphoto/Getty Images.