Unless you're in the habit of sharing your sneakers with your fellow man, chances are nobody truly knows what it's like to walk a mile in your shoes.

And quite frankly, that might be a good thing. After all, who wants their feet to get contaminated by whatever fungus is clinging to your kicks?

That said, the world might be a better place if we all understood each other just a little better, which is why it's important that we share our experiences — the good, the bad, and the funky. And with this year's Year End Double Issue — featuring terrifying tales about being lost at sea and staying put in Chucktown through Hugo alongside silly stories about cleaning up horse pee and getting high off salvia divinorium — that's what we're trying to do.

Consider it our little way of bringing the brotherhood of man and the sisterhood of the traveling pants closer together.

• Open Water
  For seven days, Troy Driscoll was adrift in the ocean. This is his story.
• On the road again
  What it feels like to tour in a hard-working rock band
• Speaking in tongues
  Are you experienced in Esperanto?
• In Good Hands
  When the smallest patients go under the knife
• Horsing Around
  Cleaning up after carriages is a thankless task
• Hugo-ing Crazy
  A shocking tale of broken glass, airborne wigs, and a severed tendon
• Life as a knob
  It's hard out here for a freshman at The Citadel
• Swimming in mercury
  Salvia trip is too weird to be addictive
• Gravity Rules
  Getting high with a man on your back
• Undo the ink
  Kiss that tramp stamp goodbye
• Redefining the World
  Facing off against the blue screen of death
• Just Add Water
  Adding new meaning to "baby pool"
• Write headline here
  And I don't have any ideas for a subhead either
• [White] House Hunting
  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton share their thoughts from the campaign trail