Kristine Fuangtharnthip gets down to the nitty gritty of language and travel culture.I FIRST SAW the words in a hostel in Spain. Le persone non fanno i viaggi, sono i viaggi che fanno le persone. For the rest of the trip and for years after, I was under the impression that this was some ancient Italian proverb.

Jules Torti is on a blind date in Cuba. With 6 people. For 10 days.IT’S A GROUP TOUR. The sentence glowed in the email like a neon sign.I was flattered to be selected for the Adventure Center travel scholarship, but hadn’t considered the possibility of being at the mercy of strangers and a set itinerary for two weeks.

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What do you do when you’re presented with the worst meal of your life?ROUGHLY AN HOUR AFTER BOARDING the plane — a plane which was still parked on the tarmac — I caught a whiff of what I thought was baked beans, but was actually a man changing his baby’s diaper. What was shocking to me wasn’t the fact that he was changing him right there on the seat, but that a dirty diaper was making my mouth water.

Feature photo by jimbrickett. Photo above by bill barber (off flickr for a bit).Spencer Klein winds through his hometown of Virginia Beach.THE PART OF VIRGINIA BEACH THAT MATTERS is a box framed by four roads: Shore Drive and Laskin Road, which run east-west; and Pacific Avenue and Great Neck Road, which run north-south.

Lisa Jose is ready for the inevitable, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have questions.THE PHOTOGRAPH IS black and white. That is not surprising since it was taken 61 years ago. The edges are torn. The dark haired girl sits on a chair looking at the camera, unsmiling. Next to her, a tall man stands erect with his hands awkwardly clutching the back of the chair.