Zora O'Neill first traveled abroad at the age of 12, on a week-long group tour to London, and thought she was the coolest, most cosmopolitan person in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. Motivated primarily by the possibility of grant-funded travel, she went on to study Arabic literature in college and graduate school. She lived in Cairo for a year, then jaunted from Syria to Morocco. She also studied French and Dutch, worked in Amsterdam dispensing sandwiches and tourist advice, honed the Spanish she'd learned as a kid, and taught herself to cook.

Years later, in 2003, she was on the brink of enrolling in culinary school when she was hired to update The Rough Guide to Mexico. Happy to use her long-dormant Spanish skills, she proceeded on a detailed tour of the taco trucks of the Yucatán, as well as other major attractions; she has been contributing to Rough Guides' Mexico titles ever since.

She makes her home in New York City, in the great borough of Queens, and maintains a website, Roving Gastronome, that includes a blog detailing the true adventures of her research trips. Zora’s other web sites include the update page for The Rough Guide to the Yucatan, and the update page for Cancun & Cozumel Directions.