as a naïve 16 year old exchange student in 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, her work as a therapist and mediator, 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 19 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 was an on-line columnist for www.boomergirl.com, while expanding her writing to include international travel. She is particularly interested in the psychology of travel, solo travel for women, and making the most of travel after 60. Susan is a dynamic and engaging speaker in small workshop formats as well as regional and national conferences.