Jess is a full-time travel journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering culinary, luxury, and adventure travel. In addition to writing, she specializes in photography, videography, underwater filming, and food styling. Over the years, her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, AAA, Elite Traveler, Global Traveler, Eater, Food52, Insider, Wine Enthusiast, Kitchn, AAA World Magazine, Thrillist, Conde Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Hemispheres, TravelPulse, and more. Through her writing, she's been able to experience incredible adventures like exploring lava pools on a night hike in Volcano National Park or swimming with ocean life like great white sharks, manatees, manta rays, dolphins, turtles, and so much more.

About Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure, a Dotdash Meredith Brand, is a top travel media brand with a mission to inform and inspire passionate travelers. Our expert team includes a network of hundreds of writers and photographers across the globe, all providing a local eye on the best places to stay, eat, and explore. We reach an audience that takes 76 million round trips annually, offering valuable travel tips, ideas and inspiration, and products you need to get you to your destination — whether it’s a small town or big city, beach or lake, national park or theme park, road trip, cruise, or long-haul flight, and everything in between. Learn more about us and our editorial process

Latest from Jess Kelly
Various travel size hand sanitizers
The 6 Best Travel Hand Sanitizers for On-the-go Protection
A boat and snorkelers in the Great Barrier Reef
I Followed Teams of Scientists on a Mission to Save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef — Here’s What I Learned
Best Shampoo Bars for Travelers
The 9 Best Shampoo Bars for Travelers of 2023
Commerce Photo Composite
The Best Backpack Brands for Travelers