In doing Talking Travel interviews, I learned many guests use travel as therapy to deal with big life events. Recently I came across Karen Schaler, who took travel therapy to another level, creating a Travel Therapy platform.

A three-time Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, producer, bestselling author, journalist and national TV host, Schaler developed Travel Therapy to direct people to pick trips based on what they are experiencing at the time. She discourages people from simply picking a random place.

Relying on her trips to 68 countries, Schaler categorized destinations for romance, reenergizing, inspiration and more. These aren’t superficial lists. While giving several options in each category, Schaler provides her reasons for each. She also gives a nice mix of popular destinations and hidden gems.

Schaler’s platform goes well beyond escape suggestions. She wrote Christmas movies for Netflix, Hallmark and Lifetime, including Christmas Camp, the focus of several of her novels. She plans on making Christmas Camp into an actual immersive experience.

In 2023 Schaler added coloring books for adults (although I know kids love them, too). One is about travel, while the other is Christmas-themed. Each is 120 pages of pictures for coloring and inspiring quotes. Youngsters will enjoy coloring while learning from the quotes.

Schaler’s knowledge and enthusiasm is evident throughout our interview, as well as on social media, where she is very interactive. Schaler loves travel and wants to share that passion. She happily answers questions from her social media followers.

Talking Travel is an interview series on Global Traveler. Subscribe to the GT YouTube channel to be notified of all future interviews and other travel-related videos.

— John Wroblewski, online writer