Known as a pioneer and leading authority in family travel and frequently interviewed on television about her views on family travel and trends, Candyce H. Stapen, Ph.D., has authored 2,300+ family travel articles, 30 books including two National Geographic Guides and received numerous prestigious travel writing awards. She now takes her love and experience of family travel writing and combines it with her entrepreneurial spirit to launch DC With Kids, the first in a series of user-friendly and informative travel apps by FamilyiTrips.

From Orlando to China to Africa to the Caribbean, Stapen has traveled with her children and explored and reported on domestic and international destinations for the past 25 years. Today, she continues to travel with her adult children and enjoys these memorable gatherings. She travels like the typical American family, saving up frequent flyer miles for city explorations, resort stays, beach sojourns, raft trips and adventure outings.

Acknowledged as an expert on family travel, Stapen has been interviewed regularly on travel trends, her personal anecdotes television and cable including appearing as a travel expert on "Today," "CBS This Morning,” “The Prudent Advisor” and several programs on Lifetime.

For more than 10 years, she has have been a guest reporter for travel, delivering live segments on WUSA-TV, Washington, D.C.’s CBS affiliate. She also has been a spokesperson and done satellite media tours for National Geographic Books, Cruise Lines International Association, ResortQuest, Hyatt Hotels International, Busch Entertainment Corporation, SAM's Club/WalMart to name a few.

According to Stapen, “’Family Travel’ covers traveling with children of all ages, including teens and twentysomethings as well as travel with aging parents. Since my son and daughter left for college, I hit the road by myself, with my husband, and sometimes with my grown children when their work schedules permit, as well as with friends. As a baby boomer, my definition of family has expanded to include my friends, those special people who have seen me at my best and my worst. Together, we’ve cruised, hiked, sampled spas, searched the back roads for antiques and hit the highlights of cities as diverse as Philadelphia and Venice.”

Stapen has 13+ years experience writing travel for the Web. As a contributing editor for Family Vacation Critic.com, Stapen writes full feature articles and reviews on U.S., Canadian and Caribbean resorts and destinations for families as well as features on green travel, top ten beaches, top places for family reunions and other topics.

She is also the Adventure Living columnist for BellaOnline, a site aimed at women that receives 17+ million page views per months.

As the start-up, travel editor for Disney’s Family.com, she successfully tripled the number of page views in less than two months through her efforts. Next Stapen launched Away.com’s family travel site, developing the content, as well as choosing and writing the following for the site: Top 100 Family Destinations in the U.S. and Canada; Top 50+ Resorts in the U.S. and Canada; Top 60+ Family Resorts; Top Destinations in the Caribbean and Central America; and Top 60+ Family Destinations in Europe.

For a Web site devoted to Baby Boomers, www.teebeedee.com, she was the former travel columnist and wrote monthly columns as well as a blog, answered questions and managed the site’s online conversation with its readers.

Her engaging family travel articles have appeared in numerous publications and other Web sites, including Continental magazine, USA Today, USA Weekend, Miami Herald, New York Post, Redbook, Better Homes & Gardens, Cruise Critic.com, National Geographic Traveler, FamilyFun, reMarriage, Caribbean Travel and Life, Nick Jr., Destination Vacation, Postcards, Gateway Publications (a consortium of New England suburban papers with 1.3 million circulation), Expedia.com and MSNBC.com.

She has authored 30 travel guides, including two for National Geographic: National Geographic Guides to Family Adventure Vacations: Wildlife Encounters, Cultural Explorations and Learning Escapes in the U.S. and Canada (2000) and National Geographic Caribbean Family Vacations (2003). The 8th edition of her book Fun with the Family: Virginia (Globe Pequot) appeared in April 2010. The first edition of her book An Explorer’s Guide to Virginia (Countryman Press) debuts in 2011.

Her interesting career started with writing weekend getaway articles for the Washington Post. She also wrote a series of books on country inns and bed and breakfast homes. As one of the pioneers in family travel, Stapen has focused on a variety of family vacations from the beginning of her career.

As a graduate professor, Stapen developed the curriculum for Master of Science in Professional Writing. She designed and taught graduate courses in freelance writing; editing; corporate communications; writing for audiotapes; and travel writing.

Stapen received a Ph.D. in English and Literature from University of Maryland, College Park; M.A. from New York University; and a B.A. from University of Maryland, College Park. She raised her family in Washington, D.C., and currently resides there with her husband and two dogs, Cleo, a chocolate Labrador Retriever, and Maggie, a Newfoundland.

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