The PDI/IDP (Programme Doctoral International/International Doctoral Programme) organizes so-called "Spring Seminars" every year for its international Ph.D. student members, who present their research topics to an interdisciplinary audience. My talk consisted of presenting the theories that are key to scholars studying travel writing. Through an array of hand-picked extracts, I focused on the spontaneous and improvisational cultural contact zones found in the geographical areas under study.