On his 1,500-mile road trip, Nick Martens finds comfort in LCD Soundsystem and Malcolm Gladwell while battling the frustrations of snowy weather, bad traffic, and Idaho.

This is the eleventh installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. With good holiday spirits, Kevin attempts to wrap his head around Czech Christmas traditions, which involve rope, blackface, magical pigs, and the Second Coming.

This is the tenth installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Suffering from the falling U.S. dollar, Kevin goes Christmas shopping at the country’s strangest chain of bargain stores.

This is the ninth installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Many bands sing about change, but few ever really impact the country’s political climate. Inspired by a simple desire to make music, Czech psychedelic rock outfit the Plastic People of the Universe accidentally became directly responsible for the Velvet Revolution.

The CouchSurfing Project is a site connecting young travelers around the world. In an uncharacteristically adventurous move, Kevin Nguyen sleeps on a stranger’s couch in Barcelona.

This is the eighth installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Kevin’s family arrives in Prague, and he finds that the usual annoyances are not mediated by glorious architecture or goulash.

Ever since Hemingway and Pound made their way across the ocean almost 100 years ago, the title of expatriate has carried a stigma of hope and elitism. Told through the lens of Germany’s richest and also smuttiest city, newbie expat Locke McKenzie discovers that the only way to get by abroad is to be a good American.

This is the seventh installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Although Prague is generally considered a cheap vacation destination, Kevin finds he needs to take a page from Thoreau to keep his checking account happy.

This is the sixth installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. With skinheads and thieves on the prowl, the city can become a dangerous place come nightfall.

This is the fifth installment in a series of essays by globe-trotter Kevin Nguyen, who is currently studying at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Meandering the streets at night, he recognizes the grandeur in the city’s thousand-year-old architectural legacy.