Today's typical foreign correspondent packs a cell phone and a laptop computer, and is rarely too far afield to be truly out of touch.

Rather than gathering gossip on the diplomatic circuit as did correspondents of yore, hobnobbing with the ambassador over whiskeys before filing the occasional dispatch at the post office, today he or she more likely will be found on the streets obtaining insight and wisdom through the words, images and sounds of ordinary people.

Most of the time, the fabled cocktail party also has to wait. After all, headquarters expects to be updated two or three times daily via increasingly ubiquitous high-speed Internet connections.

Yet in many essential ways, today's generation of international correspondents is no different from its predecessors. They are motivated by a hunger to see and experience as much of the world as they possibly can, and a desire to convey what they learn to a wider audience.

It is a serious, sometimes dangerous, vocation, but also often seriously fun. Get a group of hacks together, and soon they will be swapping stories of the countries they've seen, the mountains they've crossed and the best (or smelliest) hotel they've stayed in.

Because they are traveling in search of news -- and because news happens all over — they also often make it into corners of the globe unsullied by tourism and by the steady march of homogenized culture. They find places that are still uniquely their own.

____

In the stories that follow, 10 well-traveled Associated Press correspondents share some of the places and some of the people most important to them as they make their way across The Globe Less Traveled. John Daniszewski, a veteran foreign correspondent, is the international editor of The Associated Press, overseeing reporters and news bureaus around the world.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.