Sharon Hudgins has lived in ten countries on three continents. For eighteen years she taught for the University of Maryland's programs in Europe and Asia including Russia, where she was a professor in Irkutsk and Vladivostok. An award-winning writer with three books and more than 600 articles published around the world, she penned the highly acclaimed travel memoir, The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East. Sharon has traveled in 45 countries and conducted cultural tours to Russia, Budapest, and Prague. She is an enthusiastic raconteur who enjoys sharing stories about her adventures in faraway places, including her travels on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, her "commuter train" when she worked in Russia. Sharon will accompany the expedition shown below.