One morning in August of 2022, in the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia, Brewer Schoeller pulled back the flap of her ger and saw something unexpected: snow. The window of tolerable weather, painfully short in this remote region, had apparently closed.
As one of the camp hands came in with wood to build a fire, the wind and snow intensified, and what began as flurries exploded into a full-blown blizzard. The people she’d come 7,500 miles to see, the nomadic herders of the Gobi Desert, would soon be breaking down their gers—portable felt-and-timber structures resembling yurts—and heading down the mountain with their families and livestock to avoid Mongolia’s devastating winter. Intrepid travelers like Schoeller and her husband, Chris, would go with them.
But first, there was someone they wanted to meet.
“We went to Tsambagarav Mountain, to the ger of a Kazakh eagle hunter who had won the Golden Eagle Festival three times,” she says. “He was kind of a big deal.”
Dressed in a traditional yak fur coat and hat, the hunter rode up on his horse and invited them inside. Every square inch of the dwelling was draped with colorful textiles that had been hand-embroidered by the women of the tribe. In a corner of the ger, meat—obviously the reward of the hunt—was hung to dry. When Schoeller inquired about his hunting prowess, he took them outside for a demonstration with a magnificent golden eagle he’d trained since it was a fledgling. She even got to hold the bird of prey and experience the awe of its six-foot wingspan. More significantly, she was able to witness the connection between man and eagle, which she likened to the bond between father and child.
In those last few moments of summer, with the thermometer rapidly plunging and travel conditions bordering on extreme, Schoeller felt more alive than ever. “It ended up being one of the all-time best trips we had ever taken,” she says. “It was genuinely mind-altering.”
“All-time best” takes on considerable weight given the source. Born in the U.K. and brought up between London and Beirut, Schoeller has logged millions of miles traveling to every corner of the globe that intrigues her—the more obscure, the better. She’s not a “travel influencer” or a bucket-list maker. She’s not even a country counter (though, judging by her Instagram and personal stories, the count is well into the triple digits). She travels for the thrill of discovery, for the pure joy of being in other places—often solo—and out of her comfort zone. She finds other cultures endlessly fascinating, and on every trip she engages with the local people. In the spirit of Mark Twain, who famously said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” she has dined with Bedouins in Wadi Rum, visited with residents of shanty homes in Soweto, and taken tea with mountain dwellers in Uzbekistan. Embracing cultural differences, she says, leads to authentic connections with people.
In Tsambagarav, for example, the village women, who are known for their hospitality, insisted the couple stay to dine with them. They prepared a huge spread that included deep-fried dough stuffed with a mystery meat, likely Bactrian camel or yak, and the requisite yak curd and milk. Some was delicious, and some—yak milk, for instance—smelled and tasted foul.
What is an astute world traveler to do? Eat every bit of it and smile.
“It’s really rude not to eat what they give you,” Schoeller says. “Maybe you find it uncomfortable, but they’re giving you the best they have. Think about it: their very best. When you put it into perspective, you realize how spoiled we can be.”
When asked how much comfort she’s willing to give up to have a transformational travel experience, Schoeller answers, “A pretty good amount.” A couple of years ago, she walked 100 miles along the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago (also known as the Way of St. James) pilgrimage despite a back injury she’d sustained on an earlier leg of the trip, in Madrid. “What followed were days when I was in so much pain I cried while walking through forests and scaling hills, along with beautiful moments of being truly present in nature,” she says.
When she told her guide what was going on, he said, “Well, this is your camino.” It may sound like a puzzling response, but to Schoeller, it made perfect sense. “Everyone carries their own personal burden or mission on the walk,” she says. “Their perspective showed me that my injury was my ‘burden’ on the walk, and this led me to approach this physical challenge in a much more mindful way.”
As a result, she completed the pilgrimage and was able to celebrate the “truly epic” Pilgrim’s Mass in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Navigating the pain—and understanding that one must carry on despite it—made the experience that much more rewarding.
“The point of travel is to push yourself a little farther than you thought you could go, because in that space between ease and difficulty is where the best experiences are made,” she says.
Schoeller has never shied from challenge, nor has she let fear rule her decisions. That, and her ability to appreciate both high and low, makes her what longtime friend and pro traveler Melissa Biggs Bradley calls an “all-terrain traveler.” Having known and traveled with Schoeller for 30-plus years, Bradley, who owns the membership-based, luxury travel agency Indagare, knows firsthand that Schoeller can go from a palace to a jungle with equal ease.
“Brewer can have dinner with a maharajah and the next day be out in the middle of nowhere in an undeveloped part of the world,” says Bradley. “She has a true curiosity for super-high culture, as well as really adventurous experiences. I would go anywhere with her.”
She points to a recent Indagare Ambassadors’ trip to Istanbul, where the group was invited to dine at a private home on the Bosphorus. Both the home and the hostess were fascinating, Bradley notes. “Brewer was leading the conversation around what [the hostess’] family history was,” she says. “She asks questions in a gentle and respectful way that gets to the heart of what matters to people. The traveler who goes out not just with an open mind but armed with the ability to ask questions, that is a real gift.”
Authentic curiosity is one of Schoeller’s superpowers. On a trip to Saudi Arabia, she and her companions had gone to Elephant Rock in al-Ula but the roads were closed. Their guide suggested they go for coffee at a café tourists did not frequent. Naturally, she was intrigued.
“Never in a million years would we have found it,” Schoeller says. “We entered through a crevice between two cliffs. Granted, there was a fear of falling rock, but the place was amazing. Sometimes the unplanned experiences are the best. Always stay open to what might happen next.”
Her knack for discovering travel gold due to her willingness to try new things has recently earned her the honor of Indagare Ambassador, meaning she can curate private trips with friends and even host trips with Indagare clients. Last year she hosted a trip to India, and this January she’ll be hosting friends in Sri Lanka, a destination that has long fascinated her, not least of all because of her love of tea.
Whether it’s a new destination or a return trip, in a five-star hotel or a parador, Schoeller is excited for the possibilities travel holds. She looks at it as a way to keep learning.
“Travel has taught me to notice and appreciate even the smallest nuances in places, people, and cultures,” she says. “It has broadened my entire world view and expanded my mind in every way. My whole instinct is to seize the opportunity in front of me.”
Traveler’s Notebook
Dying to go to: The subantarctic island of South Georgia
World’s best-kept secret: The white city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Farthest from home on a single trip: New Zealand
Remotest place she’s been: Easter Island
Most pristine place on Earth: Greenland’s ice sheet
Doesn’t care to return to: The Killing Fields of Cambodia
Favorite hotel: Tie between The Peninsula, Hong Kong and Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
Best bathroom: Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, South Korea
Best shopping: Jaipur, India
Coolest souvenirs: A necklace from the Himba tribe of Namibia and a tribal dagger from Sumba, Indonesia
Most memorable dishes: Fermented shark (Iceland) and horse meat (Russia)
Most bizzare food: Octopus tongue (Hong Kong) and fermented mare’s milk (Mongolia)
Coolest stamp in her passport: Turkmenistan
Next up: Papua New Guinea
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