Wanderlust: Extraordinary People, Quirky Places, and Curious Cuisine

by Karen Gershowitz

Overview

Karen Gershowitz is officially a travel addict—one with more than ninety countries under her belt. In these engaging stories, she brings readers along as her companions as she explores, laughs, and marvels at the richness of other cultures. Whether she’s picking through the worst meal ever in the wilds of Tanzania, eating a transcendent strudel in Vienna, meeting the locals in an isolated opal mining hamlet in Australia’s outback, or learning to make noodles in a Chinese village, she invites you to share in her experiences.

Whatever kind of traveler you are, novice or experienced, or even if you prefer sitting in your armchair, these stories will transport you deep into other ways of living in the world—and, hopefully, inspire you to set out on your own journeys!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647425579
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Karen Gershowitz grew up in Manhattan. During her long career as a marketing researcher, she crisscrossed the globe, conducting thousands of focus groups and interviews. While traveling, she used her interview skills in ordinary conversations to get strangers to open up and connect with her. Her work received an honorable mention at the 2018 Oregon Writer’s Conference. Travel Mania is her first book. She lives in New York, New York.

Editorial Reviews

08/21/2023

Travel writer Gershowitz (Travel Mania) shares her lifelong fascination with international cuisine and cultures in this ho-hum essay collection. Growing up in 1950s and ’60s New York City, the author caught the travel bug from her mother, who brought her to museums, “international performances,” and hole-in-the-wall restaurants to sample knishes, empanadas, and sushi at a time when “eating raw fish was considered instant death—or, at a minimum, the source of severe stomach problems.” These outings inspired an “insatiable need for new experiences” that took the adult Gershowitz around the globe, suffering through a carb-heavy diet in 1970s London, sampling apple strudel in 1994 Vienna, and learning to cook bulgogi in 2012 Seoul, among other excursions. Unfortunately, Gershowitz’s recollections are rendered in rote prose (“Despite the horrible directions from the tourist office, we located the bus stop. The two-hour drive took us through small towns and winding hills in various stages of new foliage”), and her insights about food’s ability to bridge cultural divides can feel overly pat (when the author tried strudel in Vienna at the suggestion of a local, she realized that—despite her childhood hatred of the pastry and misgivings about the city’s Nazi past—“Clearly I’d been wrong about the strudel. No doubt I’d also been wrong about the people”). Despite her best intentions, Gershowitz doesn’t quite deliver on her uplifting message that “the world is filled with extraordinary people, quirky places, and curious cuisine.” (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

2024 IPPY Awards Silver Winner in Travel (Essay)
2023 Best Book Awards Finalist in Travel: Guides & Essays
2023 American Book Awards Finalist

Praise for Wanderlust:

“What I love most about Karen’s writing is the magic she discovers in the unexpected and the unplanned, bringing us back to why we travel in the first place—to step into the unknown and become our best selves. She’s a wonderful storyteller, and her keen observations about people, culture and behaviour always make me laugh—and inspire me to discover these quirky, off-the-beaten-path places right this very moment!”

—Carolyn Ray, CEO + Editor, JourneyWoman

“You've heard of going around the world in 80 days? You can do that in less time with Karen Gershowitz's new book, Wanderlust. From Marrakesh to Malaysia to Montana, Gershowitz mines her memories, notebooks, and photos to take you places you'll want to visit and introduce you to food you may or may not want to eat. Oh, and she'll explain why accepting a cup of tea from an Istanbul carpet salesman isn't always a good idea.”

—Rudy Maxa, travel journalist & broadcaster

“For someone who's been stubbornly holding out for teleportation before undertaking any extensive travel (that would be me), Wanderlust is a Godsend. Karen Gershowitz offers what amounts to a virtual reality tour, including the smells, tastes, and personalities she's experienced on her many trips to the plethora of countries and cities she's visited over the years. Great book for the armchair traveler and by the time you're finished reading, I wouldn't be surprised if your first call (maybe even mine) isn't to your travel agent.”

—Charles Salzberg, award-winning author of the Henry Swann series and Second Story Man

“With an eye for the unique and a penchant for trying everything, Gershowitz is the best kind of traveler. A master of sharing the essence of place, she makes us laugh, nod our heads, want to try new things. She inspires us to travel and learn about the world.”

—Jessie Voigts, PhD, Publisher Wandering Educators

“Wanderlust is more than a travel memoir; it is an experience. Karen Gershowitz takes readers on vivid journeys that are so skillfully described that it makes you feel like you are part of her travels and misadventures. Karen’s stories will make you gasp, laugh out loud and excite your own wanderlust.”

—Tonya Fitzpatrick, Co-Founder, World Footprints. Lowell Thomas Award Winner and Black Travel Journalist of the Year

“In Wanderlust, Karen Gershowitz once again transports us across the globe, and this time her whirlwind digest includes, well, digestion! From sipping lulada in Colombia to nibbling ugali in Tanzania, her tongue remains intrepid, her curiosity unquenchable, her storytelling delectable. 'All artists are driven by a need to try something new, push the medium a bit further,' she writes, and these pages prove that with a cherry on top. All puns aside, Gershowitz reminds us that travel’s truest feast comes from the connections we make across the tablecloth, across perceived borders of state, and taste, and fear. This is a guidebook to breaking bread.”

—Marc Nieson, author of Schoolhouse: Lessons on Love & Landscape

“Karen's globetrotting tale celebrates a truly inspiring lifetime worth of journey. Her voyage demonstrates that adventure and transformation begin with you—and how you can make it happen for yourself. An exhilarating story that is a must-read.”

—Shebs Alom, Travel Professional, founder of Shebs The Wanderer & member of the British Guild of Travel Writers

“As a fellow Travel Addict, I love to read stories about adventure travel, and Wanderlust didn’t disappoint. Karen ventures to places where most humans would never consider. Just read about her camping escapades in Tanzania to admire her bravery, tolerance and quest to push the envelope of a quirky travel experience, including the consumption of scary looking food. That is one of many stories in this book where you will learn about how the rest of world lives from day-to-day. Wanderlust is full of surprises and unforgettable experiences. Furthermore, Karen now has something that many of us do not: memories of a lifetime from her travels. Get the book everyone, and you never know, you might be adding some trips to your ‘Bucket List.’ Great stuff.”

—Malcolm Teasdale, Host of The Travel Addict Podcast

“Karen Gershowitz’s second travel book, Wanderlust: Extraordinary People, Quirky Places and Curious Cuisine, is a tasting menu of travel. Vignettes from her decades of travel to dozens of countries are tempting morsels and a pleasurable read.”

—Margo Weinstein, author of Jalan-Jalan: A Journey of Wanderlust and Motherhood

Praise for Travel Mania:

“The book reflects the author’s love of globe-trotting adventure and describes how she built her whole life around it by getting a job in which she effectively got paid to travel. Her recollections take readers to many places around the world, from Southeast Asia to the Galápagos Islands to the American West, as she trekked for business and pleasure. These stories are also, in some ways, about the passage of time, reflecting on how travel has changed, for better and worse, over the decades.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Travel Mania is a godsend. It’s the perfect way to imagine I’m a seasoned traveler, without having to leave the comfort of my living room couch. Gershowitz who responds to the suggestion ‘let's go’ by packing her bags, hasn’t quite turned me into a travel junkie, but she has hooked me on reading about a woman who just can't sit still.”
—Charles Salzberg, two-time Shamus Award nominee and author of Second Story Man

“I loved the vignettes of Gershowitz’s life in far-flung places: Cairo, Singapore, a rodeo in Wyoming, climbing Kilimanjaro, on an elephant in Thailand. I was there with her, as she struggled with misadventures, found unexpected friends, or tested herself in places so utterly foreign that she needed to find something new within her to survive and thrive. That’s what I valued most of all about this book: Gershowitz is a wonderful companion and excellent storyteller. Travel Mania will help you appreciate how traveling the world is one of the best ways to find out who you really are.”
—Sergio Troncoso, author of A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son and Nobody’s Pilgrims

“Prepare to be swept around the world in the capable and enthusiastic company of KG. You will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, ‘poli-poli’, eat the famous-for-its-revolting-smell durian in Malaysia, trek through a scirocco in the Sahara, watch bribes being passed on Moscow sidewalks, ride a felucca on the Nile, and spend New Year’s Eve in Saigon. Wherever she goes, Karen is an astute observer and willing experimenter. You are in for a treat.”
—Christine Lehner, author of What to Wear to See the Pope and Absent a Miracle

“No ‘guided’ tour here. The only fitting description is: page-turner. Karen gives us wondrous—whether white-knuckled or resplendent—nuggets. Her own growth as a global citizen winds through the decades and essays and leaves me wishing I might have trailed along at least a few times. I’m already looking forward to dipping in repeatedly, and without booking a single flight.”
—Carolyn Lieberg, author of West with Hopeless and Calling the Midwest Home

“Karen Gershowitz suffers from the only traveler’s disease that’s fun to have and be around: the compulsion toward travel itself. This book is full of terrific stories, revealing with richness and particularity not just places and people, but the traveler herself—complicated and often conflicted, comforted by certain traveling companions and people met on the road, driven to distraction by others, but never daunted, never able to resist the pull of another journey. This book was a delight to me during these times of shutdown and is an inspiration for the times to come.”
—Lon Otto, author of A Nest of Hooks, Cover Me, and A Man in Trouble

“Alone or in the company of others, Gershowitz navigates the world with an open heart and a sense of adventure. This collection covers impressive ground, and whether she’s rocking out with Moroccans to the Blind Boys of Alabama, struggling up the slopes of Kilimanjaro, or doing business in Asia, her sharp eye brings the wonders of the world in focus.”
—Marilyn Johnson, author of Lives in Ruins and This Book Is Overdue!

“A witty, insightful romp through a lifetime of travel that reads like a sit-down with a friend. You’ll want to curl up and greedily gulp down Travel Mania in a single sitting—then read it again and feel like you are catching up with a dear old friend. If you like your wisdom laced with humor, look no further than this collection of tales from a traveler who has visited over ninety countries.”
—Amanda Burgess, Editor, JourneyWoman Magazine

“As a travel-industry professional, I’ve watched the world shrink as access has grown. Gershowitz’s lovely travel memoir is a look back at a time when faraway places really were far away, distant cultures were very different, single women travelling alone were an unusual sight, and travelers with open hearts had extraordinary experiences. Travel Mania made me appreciate current travel opportunities even more.”
—Sue Shapiro, former President of NY Skal, former President and CEO of GIANTS consortium

“Buckle up! Travel Mania is pure adventure and passion, circling and crisscrossing our exotic globe, ever eager for the next horizon. From those pre safety-belt days in the back seat of a DeSoto to the uncertain risks of traveling during our present-day pandemic, each leg of Karen Gershowitz’ life-long voyage is fueled with insights and intimacy, humor and poignancy. This is no mere itinerary or travelogue, but an inside passage.”
—Marc Nieson, author of Schoolhouse: Lessons on Love & Landscape

“The author's depictions of exotic, international locations and experiences are spot-on! Reading Travel Mania really made me feel like I was right back in these destinations that I too have visited. It's a very fun read with a great message. Anyone reading will certainly get in touch with their adventurous side and be inspired to see the world for themselves!”
—Dr. Evan Antin, author of World Wild Vet and host of Animal Planet’s “Evan Goes Wild”

“Karen Gershowitz is to be applauded for her sheer verve, which is on delightful display in this rollicking travelogue: Travel Mania. From the beginning one senses that Gershowitz is experiencing a kind of undeniable, enthralling need—the near-manic need to go somewhere else then somewhere else again. We—as safer, armchair travelers—get the unexpected benefits of that addiction, learning so much more than if we had just stayed home.”
—Tim Bascom, author of Chameleon Days and Running to the Fire

From the Publisher