Gap Years: Taking a Year Off to Change the World?

by Victoria Pintar » 29 June 2009 at 4:36 pm

Take a year off to travel, work or volunteer abroad? The “gap year,” typically taken after high school and before university, is a long-held tradition in many European countries, and in Australia and New Zealand. But the tradition is unheard of in the United States. Author and committed traveler Rita Golden Gelman is launching a […]

Karen Refugees’ Rights Fall by the Wayside in Thailand

by Victoria Pintar » 30 August 2008 at 1:46 am

In Chiang Mai, a province of northern Thailand, jungle excursions to see Karen hill tribe villages are a popular tourist attraction. However, these excursions fail to provide a full and accurate picture of the Karen people, whose struggle to survive has been called a “forgotten story” by CNN. There are 148,000 refugees living in the […]