In 2003, Leif Pettersen was 'Kramered' by an unbalanced friend into abandoning an idiot-proof career with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and embarking on an odyssey of travel writing. He has since visited over 40 countries and lived in Spain, Romania and Italy. (He speaks all three languages in descending order of fluency). Leif's Lonely Planet work has appeared in Romania 5, Tuscany and Umbria 6, Eastern Europe 10, Italy 8, The Europe Book, Bluelist '07 and the LonelyPlanet.com features section. Leif writes an almost award-winning, "slightly caustic" blog, KillingBatteries.com, read by literally tens of people each month, where he dishes on travel writing, Romania, Italian internet, his grammar deficiencies, Berlin, the Baby Jebus and his remarkable-gift-for-hyphenation.
