It's a question based on the "walk a mile in someone else's moccasins" premise: To fully understand and experience travel, do you have to spend time on the hospitality side as well? Some might argue that not all travelers are customers of the hospitality industry. True, not too many vagabonds will be booking Club Med...

Malacca, Malaysia Early in 1988, a newlywed couple from the States was traveling in Malaysia. While in the ethnically diverse, historical treasure-trove of a town called Malacca (Melaka), they hired the services of a 60-year-old rickshaw driver named Peter Ong. Thanks to a simple act of thoughtfulness on their part, Peter remembers them still today....

A lot of vagabonders are hardcore volunteer-ers and, often, tend to be more progressive and liberal with their politics. This doesn't mean that anyone who travels is a hippie pinko Commie rat, by any means...just that there tends to be a lot more support for giving your money away rather than saving it like Scrooge...