After the morning rain, the afternoon sun struggles to push its way out of the thick fog covering the mountains. My sister and I, umbrella in hand, walk side by side, jumping occasionally to dodge the puddles in the road. 

Beth Santos is founder and CEO of Wanderful, a global network for adventurous, independent women travelers. She is a recently transplant to Boston from Chicago and can be swayed to do pretty much anything if offered chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

Kyle Carey has lived in Alaska, New England, Cape Breton, Ireland, Scotland, and New York. From these experiences, she is forging music she calls Gaelic Americana, a mix that draws on music of the Appalachian south and wider American folk story as much as it does on musical traditions of Ireland and, especially, Scotland. 

Upon finishing her A-levels, Anna, an Austrian native, took a gap year as an Au Pair in France to improve her French and create new experiences. Currently, she is studying Cultural and Social Anthropology in Vienna. In Anna’s free time, she loves spending time with the scouts, cooking, yoga, and snowboarding. She hopes to continue traveling with plans to visit Asia and the U.S. soon! 

Jill Dobbe is an international educator and published author who writes about her experiences living and working in schools and countries around the world. 

There’s a rift between Santa and his Elves: half of his toy production team are on strike just a few days before Christmas, and the holiday gifts are in jeopardy. Noticing the troubling behavior of a six adolescents in line to see a mall Santa in Atlanta, the real Saint Nick uses his magic to summon them to his toy factory in order to help save Christmas. After failing to engineer an escape, the kids ultimately realize the importance of doing good for each other, and launch a plan to bring Santa and his Elves back together just in time.

Between 1975 and 1979, an estimated two million people (a quarter of the population at the time) were killed in Cambodia through starvation, torture, execution, disease and overwork under the ruling of the Khmer Rouge. Intellectuals were targeted, and as a result, Cambodia lost most of their educated population. 

Marie is passionate about travel and languages. She is studying Translation, Interpretation, and Intercultural Management in Paris. She speaks French, Spanish, and English fluently and is currently learning Italian and Breton. Marie’s goal is to speak as many languages as possible, mostly learning them by travelling around the world.