After decades in landlocked Kansas, writer Susan Kraus now spends 3-6 months of the year in places closer to oceans, preferably where the locals speak a different language. In the last two years she has tracked penguins off the Chilean coast, zip-lined down a remote volcano (never again), danced in the streets of Ghent during their Flikken Festival and got carried away by a Fasching parade in Schweinfurt, Germany. She spent two weeks “In Search of the Perfect Waffle” in Belgium, swam with wild dolphins off Oahu, explored the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and got naked with strangers in Baden-Baden (you can read that www.boomergirl.com column below.)

Susan’s lust for travel began as a naïve 16 year old exchange student in El Salvador (this was pre-revolutionary El Salvador), followed by a stint as an au pair in Paris, and a summer trekking Europe alone with a backpack and rail pass. Then “real life” intervened: graduate school, working as a therapist, marriage, kids, teaching at a university, developing a clinical private practice … yet always finding any excuse for a road trip. A book reviewer for many years, she started travel writing 15 years ago with a focus on family travel, as well as turning out a weekly regional travel column for three years for the Sunday edition of the K.C. Star. Her book, “A Game Day Guide to Towns of the Big 12,” was the first guidebook organized around the cities of a major university athletic conference, a result of her affection for college towns. She is an on-line columnist for www.boomergirl.com. In recent years, Susan has expanded to focus on international travel. She is particularly interested in the psychology of travel, solo travel, and the gratifications of engaging with different people and cultures. She has presented at regional and national conferences and is a dynamic and humorous public speaker.

• Susan has published in Hemisphere’s (United Airlines In-Flight), My Midwest (Midwest Airlines), Kaleidescope (Tokyo), Family Fun, Kansas!, K.C. Star, Lawrence Magazine. She received the top writing award from Society of American Travel Writers (Central States) in both 2008 and 2009.

Susan Kraus, M.S.W., L.S.C.S.W., has been a therapist for 30 years and a mediator for 15 years. She taught at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare (adjunct/graduate level) for over a decade. She has written advice columns for women, too many self-help features to count, and published in Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, and other magazines for women and families. Susan has graduate degrees in both English (California State University at Chico) and Social Work (University of Texas at Austin), and taught at both universities. She did post-graduate training in marriage and family therapy at the Menninger Clinic. However, it is her life experience, combined with an ability to be pragmatic and balanced, which makes her good at providing guidance and “directions” (whether for travel or the road of life.) Susan has been married for 30 years, with two almost-grown-up kids. She believes that a satisfying life requires taking risks, that waiting until you’re not afraid is too long to wait for change, and that most people are a lot stronger and more capable than they can imagine. She also thinks that travel opens emotional doors, provides perspective, and is a better value than therapy.

For more info on Susan’s mediation and therapy practice, go to www.mediationmakessense.com.

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