Karen Rosenblum describes herself as a 40-something female world traveler that sometimes pushes boundaries on what many consider safe. She has been in the travel industry for over twenty years and visited seventy-nine countries. At this point, there is little guess as to her expertise in traveling the world abroad. But I wanted to know the human behind the travel.

As we sat down, there were the usual inquiries into past work history and travels. I mentioned that Karen had visited seventy-seven countries. She corrected me, “seventy-eight… no, seventy-nine actually.”

It may be a personal preference baked into my time on this planet, but anyone who loses track of how many countries and cultures they’ve experienced is going to have a well of experience to tap.

Travel Takes Hold of the Spirit

Lessons Learned, Experience Gained

After university, the year 2001, Karen began to work with STA Travel. Those childhood lessons in planning travel became a professional passion. The difference between planning travel as a child and now adult?

“I had a desk. I had a computer. I had business cards with my name on them. I had professional training, which was amazing. I was fluent in SABRE, you know, the old GDS system. They made us go through a lot of training.”, she remarked.

Not only does Karen still use some of the same travel suppliers (G Adventures and Intrepid) from her STA days, but two of her closest friends from STA are coming to visit Karen in Spain next month.

When Karen started working at AirBnB in 2011, it was a startup seeking funds for further growth. She was attracted to this growing sector of the travel industry, and the opportunity to work remotely fit into her lifestyle.

“It was like a cool startup. I could work from anywhere in the world, and I was. I was taking full advantage of that like a month in Buenos Aires. I was in Southeast Asia. I was back and forth between Spain countless times before I moved here, and Europe in general.”, she lamented.

Around 2013 to 2015 with the increase in corporatization of the tech world. The final straw for Karen was a memo from the company to the effect of ‘Employees can work remotely, but not from anywhere in the world.’

Realizing the freedom to work from anywhere was a primary motive for staying with AirBnB, Karen began to plot a different path for life.

Loss, a Turning Point, and a Seed Planted

Karen experienced the loss of her mother in 2015. Grieving, she remained at AirBnB until 2017. This journey of discovery included inspiration for her future business. This seed was Solo World Wanderer; a blog Karen attempted to monetize.

“It was more of a blog that I had taken some bad business advice, and then tried to turn into a business. It was also a .org, so that didn’t work out so well, but it was cool while it lasted. I did a lot of traveling during that period.”, Karen said looking back.

Later, Karen realized something was missing from the blog, “I didn’t quite have a focus, which is ironic with where I am now [Spain Less Traveled]. It was kind of like a jack-of-all-trades.”

That’s when she decided to become a resident of Spain, a country she’d frequented for five years already. With the knowledge from her travels in this country, Karen leapt into her new focused business: Spain Less Traveled.

Spain Less Traveled

Karen now resides in Málaga, Spain, located on the southern coast, and continues to assist travelers with experiencing a country that she has found a home in for eight years. Spain Less Traveled continues, now with Carlos Casuso on the team.

In the initial consultation with clients there is an intake form to assess their goals in traveling to Spain. “Is it a solo female traveler or a solo traveler in general? Is it a couple, you know? Is it a bubble of friends? Is it a family with little kids? Is it a multi-generational family? We all have different needs.”, said Karen.

She studies the intake forms, creating extensive notes for the best follow-up possible. At that time, we both agreed the human touch was a vital element of business.

“We’re humans. We’re not AI. We’re not gonna hallucinate on your itinerary. We’re not gonna send you to a national park that doesn’t exist.”, she said.

Though Karen enjoys working with the travel plans of clients, an enjoyment only a deep love for travel can bring, there are some inquiries getting passed on, “Our private tour guides, we’re giving them all the contact information. But I’m not actually writing an email or taking or booking it for them. Most clients, I would say, who gravitate toward us like that business model.”

Many of Karen’s clients are using points and miles and, like herself, prefer to have full control of their reservations. The discovery calls seeking a white glove, full-touch, concierge service are passed to trusted colleagues.

The destinations most raved about by clients? The north of Spain.

“Our clients always come back raving about the north of Spain when we plan a road trip to Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria, or Basque Country, but really the first three, because Basque Country is a little bit more on the trodden path.”, said Karen.

Interviewer’s note: While taking notes for this interview, I was impressed by the fifty-seven testimonials, all of them aglow with gratitude, on their website.

Damascus, Obliterating Assumptions

Karen’s recent travels have taken her to Syria, which brings us back to the claim of pushing boundaries on what many consider safe. And this destination challenged the general opinion of ‘considered safe.’ After receiving quite a lot of messages from family about how dangerous the journey would be, Karen stepped from the consensus and went headlong into the adventure.

Syria was love at first sight, particularly Damascus.

The Syria of pre- and post-Bashar al-Assad are drastically different. As the country rebuilds after an oppressive regime that lasted about twenty-four years, Karen sees the people are driven to rebuild and a sense of hope has returned.

“I mean, I just love the entire vibe of Damascus. The people are some of the kindest, most hospitable people I’ve ever met in my entire life.”, she said. “People are trying there, you see it, and you feel it, and there’s this energy, and the inspiration.”

The way she describes Syria as a female, solo traveler presents its own challenge to the assumptions many hold of traveling the country. And the only time she had to cover herself up was visiting the Umayyad Mosque, where she had to wear an awkwardly sized blue robe over her clothes. In the end, Karen says, “Women have choices and, again, this is coming from a non-Middle Eastern woman. I didn’t feel oppressed in the slightest there.”

Destination: The Horizon

When asked about the future, Karen said, “Spain Less Traveled is always going to be my baby, and it’s always going to be part of what I do. Like, I’m not abandoning it, I’m not leaving it, it’s always, it’s my baby.

“I love it, and I’m good at it, and I know it’s a great service, but I do also want to, you know, throw some other irons in the fire of this crazy economy.”

In my time talking with Karen, my thoughts often challenged the idea of ‘people’ as an enemy… which I found refreshing company. After twenty years of travel knowledge and experience, Karen said she wants to “help facilitate responsible, ethical, and sustainable, small group, very small group” travel.

Politics, religion, or heritage differences may try to stand in the way of travel. Those ideas may attempt to suppress the joy felt when befriending a stranger in a strange land or witnessing the absolute majesty of a thousand-year-old monument. But that sharing of the world, via travel between cultures, will always be beneficial to the planet as a whole.

And this is what people like Karen excel at, creating a travel itinerary or piece of writing to help a fellow human witness the world in ways currently unknown… an opportunity to let the world inform us of our own limited perception.

I wish Karen the best of luck with her future endeavors and, if you’re headed to Spain, let her give you a few tips and a pleasant conversation.