In Karen’s own words:

“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: Stories of Wanderlust” 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.”

On this episode of The One Way Ticket show, Karen shares her one way ticket to see what New York City was like from the 1920s onwards. Plus, she also shares her second book, "Wanderlust: Extraordinary People, Quirky Places, and Curious Cuisine". Throughout the conversation, we talk travel, travel, and more travel!

Michelle Lawton is a food and wine lover and founder of joyfulplate, a food and beverage research and branding consultancy. She is a happy home cook to her “Irishman” (aka her partner, Michael) in New York City, where she enjoys brainstorming on bike rides in Central Park and the kitchen -- her happy places.

Michelle holds an Advanced Wine Certificate from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and shares her wine, food, and travel experiences on Instagram @joyfulplate and joyfulplate.com/inspiration. 

Michelle is passionate about community, volunteering with the West Side Campaign Against Hunger in New York City for 15 years and with Les Dames d’Escoffier NY, a nonprofit supporting aspiring professional women in food and beverage hospitality. 

Our guest on episode 39, Michelle returned to The One Way Ticket Show, where she shared a new one way ticket – to a place of protected health and joy. She also shares her book, Moderating a Love Affair with Food: 10 Tips to Mindful Eating and Drinking.

 On this special episode of The One Way Ticket Show, Host Steven Shalowitz sat down with Dr. Jonathan Schanzer to provide perspective on the barbaric invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists on Saturday 7 October 2023.

The interview is from Steven’s conversation with Dr. Schanzer on the Jewish National Fund USA podcast, IsraelCast.

Dr. Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at FDD, where he oversees the work of the organization’s experts and scholars. He is also on the leadership team of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power, a project on the use of financial and economic power as a tool of statecraft.

Jonathan previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers. He has held previous think tank research positions at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Middle East Forum.

Jonathan has written hundreds of articles on the Middle East, along with more than a dozen monographs and chapters for edited volumes. His new book, Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War (FDD Press 2021), challenges and corrects some of the wildly inaccurate news reported during the conflict. It is the first book published on the war. His three other books have made unique contributions to the field. State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State (Palgrave Macmillan 2013) argues the main roadblock to Palestinian statehood is the Palestinian Authority’s political dysfunction and mismanagement. Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine (Palgrave Macmillan 2008) is still the only book on the market that analyzes the ongoing Palestinian civil war. Al-Qaeda’s Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups and the Next Generation of Terror (Washington Institute for Near East Policy 2004) was the first to explore the al-Qaeda franchises of the Middle East. 

Jonathan testifies often before Congress and publishes widely in the American and international media. He has appeared on American television channels such as Fox News and CNN, and Arabic language television channels such as Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera.

A sought-after public speaker, Jonathan has traveled widely throughout the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.

Jonathan has studied Middle East history in four countries. He earned his PhD from King’s College London, where he wrote his dissertation on the U.S. Congress and its efforts to combat terrorism in the 20th century. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew.