Travel stories from the Swinging Sixties in London to the modern day.
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Episode 141 - Travelling With Karen Gershowitz - The Swinging 60s in London, Winging It in Venezuela and Magical Tibet
My latest guest episode is with Karen Gershowitz, a travel addict (self-proclaimed title) and an author. Karen has written two books, Travel Mania and Wanderlust, detailing her travels from when she first started in the 1960s!
Karen reached out for an interview, and when I read her bio on her website, I was drawn in straight away. She has a plethora of stories dating back seven decades and she is also a travel writer, it was a no-brainer. Where do I start?
We jumped on a call, and it became clear that we could talk for hours, but I had to reign it into an hour and a half. I began by asking about living in London in the late 1960s, which has always fascinated and interested me.
Then, based on her Travel Mania book, I delved into more world areas, such as Japan in the 1970s, The Galapagos Islands, Venezuela, Tibet and Myanmar.
We also talk about her life living in Manhattan, which is where she is originally from. I can tell she loves living there; who wouldn’t?
Karen has travelled to almost 100 countries to date, and you can check our episode below. Let’s get stuck into a few subjects that piqued my interest in our chat to entice you!
Karen Gershowitz - credit
Book your trip or your travels in line with something you love doing!
How many of us travel to a destination just for the sake of it? Whether that be to tick another country off, to be part of a press trip just so you get paid, or to pretend to travel when you are not interested in it.
In the interview, Karen asks, ‘What do you really love doing at home? Then, whatever that is, base your trip around that.’
I just loved this sentence and this sentiment when relating to travel. I have been guilty of travelling to places for the sake of it!
This is great advice for anyone who is new to travel and wants guidance on planning a trip. It is also great advice for seasoned travellers who need a bit of inspiration for their next trip.
I have improved with age and now fully accept that I would happily go to Paris for a long weekend drinking coffee, watch the World Cup to watch England, or go to Venice to wander and eat. These types of travel are slow and purposeful.
They have meaning.
In a world of ever-increasing competition in country counts or must-do activities, it is refreshing to hear what Karen has advised us to do, so next time I book my trip, I will plan with more purpose.
The cover of Karen's first book, Travel Mania.
I just had to ask about the Swinging 60s in London in the late sixties.
Do you ever reminisce about times past that you were not there for? I do, and for me, it is the 1960s in London. I love everything about it.
When she was 17 years old, Karen decided to hop on a plane from Manhattan to see a bit of the world and ended up in London in 1968. I couldn’t get over how young she was; what a journey!
For me, it is the counterculture, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Ipswich Town winning the league in 1962, England winning the World Cup in 1966, fashion, true adventures into the unknown if you dared to take a trip into Europe, togetherness, positivity, and the Woodstock Festival in 1969 in New York State.
When I found out Karen lived in London in 1968, I just had to ask questions about what it was like to live there, how it was to travel as a student, the expense, the different areas of London, and so much more!
What a time to be alive! This is where Karen's wanderlust kicked off. After three years in London and not wanting to leave, she went back to NYC, but she wasn’t there for long.
A little snippet below.
Why Karen wrote Travel Mania and Wanderlust.
Karen is a keen journaler and also writes for many publications in the USA that cover travel, women’s lifestyle, and ceramics. She told me that due to her journalling, she has every trip she has ever taken with photos on her Google Drive.
This was the basis of her first two books.
Travel Mania was born because people were begging her to release all of her stories in written form as a book, so during COVID, she hit the keyboard to write her first book.
Then, it occurred to her that she had many more stories to tell, which led to the follow-up Wanderlust. She is now planning her third book!
This just proves that when you say yes to stuff, put yourself out there in the world, don’t be afraid to speak to local people, and want to experience as much as you can, you are going to have a story to tell later in life.
Karen now actively encourages people over 50 to travel. Whether locally, internationally, as a solo traveller, within a group, or in any way, she realizes that her peers need to see the world.
People who don’t end up regretting not going, and you don’t want to be in that camp.
Get out there and travel! It is never too late!
Check out my latest YouTube episode in Zagreb, Croatia.
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My Instagram promotion for my episode with Karen Gershowitz
Who is Karen Gershowitz?
Book cover of Karen’s latest book, Wanderlust.
I was 17 years old, traveling alone, when I boarded a plane to Europe. Living in a different culture I experienced the world in new and surprising ways and discovered myself. My love of travel was born. I didn’t return to the US for three years.
Since then I’ve traveled to more than 90 countries. I climbed Kilimanjaro, conquered my fear of falling to go on an elephant trek in Thailand, spent time in Berlin shortly after the wall came down, stayed with a Japanese family who taught me to make sushi and made friends across the globe.
In pursuit of my passion for travel I’ve lost and gained friends and lovers and made a radical career change. Travel is my addiction, and I don’t want treatment
I studied ceramics in college and graduate school but abandoned that career and switched to marketing so that employers would pay for my travel. In my new career as a marketing strategist and researcher I’ve traveled the world conducting thousands of meetings, focus groups and interviews. My skills as an interviewer have persuaded total strangers to talk candidly about the most intimate of subjects, personal bankruptcy, illness, and religion. When traveling for pleasure, those same skills helped me to draw out people’s stories. I’ve learned about their lives, as well as local customs and fashions and what makes them laugh. These conversations often led to invitations for dinner and personal tours.
Travel Mania is a compilation of stories that explore how travel can change a life. Like my readers, I am an ordinary person. Through travel I’ve learned courage and risk taking and succeeded at things I didn’t know I could do.
Each story can be read and enjoyed independently. My hope is that they will tickle the travel bug in readers and encourage them to set off on their own adventures.
I live in New York City.