Do words construct worlds? That's the idea behind this Wall Street Journal article: Lost in translation . Scientists and linguists have been doing some fascinating research into how languages affect cultures. Even the simple act of reading can be quite complex and revealing. English speakers read from right to left, but Hebrew speakers read from...

Celebrate summer with a harvest festival. That’s right. In Barbados, the exhausting sugar cane harvest ends in June, and Crop Over is an over-the-top summer carnival to mark the relief at the delivery of the last crop. Started in the 1780s, when Barbados was one of the world’s most important sugar producers, Crop Over celebrated...

We all have them, whether it’s the extra time we could have spent in a destination, or bringing far too much gear on our travels. Many times, travel regrets don’t stick with us for very long after we return home. When they do, they can be a lesson for future trips. One of my biggest...

"An American asked why he calls the brothers of his parents and the husbands of his parents' sisters by the same kinship term, is likely to reply, 'Because they are all uncles,' or he may ask, 'What else could you call them?' Were he asked why he doesn't eat fruit salad or ice cream and...

If you’re in South America and looking for a grand cultural festival in June, head to Cusco, Peru, for the Southern Hemisphere’s winter solstice. Every year, on June 24, more than 200,000 people gather at the Incan fortress of Sacsayhuamán for Inti Raymi —the celebration to honor Wiracocha, the Sun God. The original festival was...

Western manners don't teach us how to respond to non-Western hospitality. I'm talking about generosity that's over-and-above what we're used to. The sort of generosity where saying please or thank you is shunned as unnecessary, or even taken as slightly offensive. India is famous for its hospitality, and lately I've been feeling confused about how...

When you’re researching a trip, it’s not always easy to determine whether your tour operator or hotel cares about sustainable travel. And when you’re paying a middleman instead of giving your money straight to a business in your destination, you may not know how much of that money goes to the local communities. Some tour...

"We all go through a similar process of being formed by the culture around us. It is something described well in Bruce Wexler’s book Brain and Culture: Neuroscience, Ideology and Social Change , in which Wexler argues that much of human conflict arises from our efforts to reconcile the world as we believe it to...

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Life, today more than ever before, often involves the navigation of cultural stereotypes. It's a tricky business, as world leaders, soldiers, missionaries, and Kentucky Fried Chicken will tell you. Stereotypes aren't necessarily negative. Like stories, they help us frame and understand the world. They give us a starting point from which to...

Meeting an artwork at the right time and place can unlock new reserves of understanding. However, the same work in a different setting can bring you down like a black banana peel. Let's take music as an example. What happens when melody is mixed with new people and places? Stan Getz can drop the temperature...

Bac Ha, Vietnam Having an unfamiliar barber have a go at one’s hair can be a tremendous exercise in trust, particularly on the road. The challenge may come on account of the barber being untested in the style we seek. Or, it may come in the form of a mangy dog on the floor, used...

"Culture is the sea we swim in -- so pervasive, so all-consuming, that we fail to notice its existence until we stop out of it. It matters more than we think." --Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss (2008)