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Why do we swoon over some accents and gag at others?

Carrie, an American reader desperate for advice, submitted the following question to the Non-Expert:

I recently started dating a British guy. I think he’s cute, but maybe it’s just that he has an English accent. How can I tell the difference?

Carrie did not know if she was actually physically attracted to her British beau or if she was blinded by his accent. The way a person speaks can change our opinion of him, whether it be in a negative or positive way. More

Who needs the illegal stuff when you’ve got the whole world open for adventure?

Highs. They’re good. Much, much better than lows. It certainly can be easy to turn that frown upside down with a little bit of chemical motivation. But what about the natural highs we can experience during our travels?

This doesn’t have to be about hitting every pub in town or scoring a bag of something that is hopefully-more-than-weeds from the seedy park downtown.

In fact, this type of behavior doesn’t make for good long-term travel; you’re just exhausted after a few days.

So in the great tradition of counting down what is best in life, here are five of the best ways to get high while traveling without worrying about ending up in a foreign prison. More

Matador Network’s Alex Nolette took the beefy challenge of picking 50 of the world’s best burger joints. He came through with a list of the most recommended, droolific burgers on earth. More

Spring Break 2010 might be over, but now’s the time to start getting pumped over summer vacation…and all of the splurge purchases that come along with it; from “collector” novelty cocktail glasses to sweatpants that read “Down Under” across your bum, nobody can resist the urge to return home with cheap goodies that flaunt your tropical travels in the most garish way possible.

And what’s the king of souvenirs? The T-shirt! If you remember the days of “Coed Naked this” and “I Survived that,” and even those trompe l’oeil scuba tees that, when you turned around, revealed you’re hooked up to a Corona bottle and not an air tank, then prepare to be blown away by these.

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You always hear about the distinction made between tourists and backpackers, but even among backpackers, we love to group each other into categories by who is the better traveler. Check into any hostel, and you will find a variety of different travelers wearing their distinctive tribal gear. Here are some of the more common that can be found in a hostel’s jungle  …More

photo by Cormac Mulhall

What is Busking?

Busking is the time-honored practice of performing for spare change in public – generally on the street or in a park. Most buskers are musicians, but if you have any sort of talent, you can generally make some good money by putting on an honest performance in a high traffic and relatively affluent area.

If you’re looking to get a sense of the local culture, street performance is a great way to do it. Your status as a foreigner adds to the exoticism of your act, so it can help give you a leg up on the locals.   …More

Ever wonder what it would be like to live in France? Sophia has been blogging about her time on SWAP France… more >