A Road Without Obstacles is not Worth Traveling

Yesterday I was handed the best letter I have ever received. I was at St. Monica’s Home for Girls for the first time. Earlier in the day I had met Sarah, a 17-year-old junior in high school who has been living at St. Monica’s since fourth grade. Extremely intelligent, with a vocabulary and life philosophy [...]

How to Avoid Destructive Tourism

Traveling can be a big threat to the planet—both environmentally and culturally. There, I’ve said it. As much as those of us afflicted with wanderlust don’t want to admit it, that is a cold hard truth. There are many ways in which tourism is wreaking havoc with places—but there are also many ways in which [...]

The Fallacy of the American Dream

You know it well. Even if you aren’t American — everyone is familiar with The American Dream. It goes something like this: Go to college. Get a good job. Get married and probably have kids. Buy a house. Save some money. Retire so you can live “your dream.” I’m not saying there is anything inherently [...]

An Underwater Ghost Town, Emerged from the Drought

It was a Central Texas town, settled in the 1850s along the banks of the Colorado River. There was a general store, a cotton gin, a school — even a hotel. The town was called Bluffton, and life continued there for decades. By the 1930s, around 50 families were living in or around Bluffton. Then, [...]

Top 5 Reasons to Travel Sustainably

Sustainable Travel is all about leaving a smaller footprint in the places we travel, both on nature and the people who live there.  It’s also called ecotourism, green travel and my least favorite, responsible travel. Ugh. Can we get any less sexy? “Responsible travel” — it sounds like such a burden, doesn’t it. So onerous to [...]

48 Hours in Vientiane, Laos

When people arrive in Laos, the land-locked, slow-moving, peaceful country in Southeast Asia, they generally gravitate toward Luang Prabang as far as cities. But while a different vibe, the capital city of Vientiane has a lot to offer. It’s much larger, and more crowded and busy, than Luang Prabang to be sure. But it is [...]

Inle Lake, Myanmar: The Land that Time Forgot

The longboat glided silently through the water, as the narrow channel opened up into the large expanse of Inle Lake. The shores seemed very far away, their green mountaintops disappearing into misty clouds. We passed other boats occasionally; mostly fishermen who swung their nets overhead and moved their wooden craft with a unique one-legged rowing [...]

Beyond the Noodle Shop: Learning Lao Cuisine

I started today at the street market in Luang Prabang, Laos at 8 this morning. Just your typical day, strolling through cobblestone lanes between Buddhist temples, checking out delicacies on offer such as freshly-gutted tadpoles, live wriggling larvae, water buffalo ears and live snakes. Have you ever watched any of those cooking shows, such as [...]

Bridging the Digital Media Divide Across Continents

If you haven’t read my story about CNN Hero Ponheary Ly, perhaps I should suggest that you start there. This amazing woman survived the brutal Khmer Rouge genocide in her home country of Cambodia – which killed her father – and went on to form a foundation that enables thousands of Cambodian children to go [...]

Wildlife in Peril in Thailand

NOTE: This is Breaking News! A wildlife sanctuary in Thailand has just been raided, and more than 100 animals confiscated by the government. The reason? Because this particular NGO has been very outspoken in the media about elephant poaching and the slaughter of wildlife in Thailand. Update: There is now a WFFT Resource Center on [...]