| adrenaline arrival
high |
n. travel-related
excitement when you arrive in another country that keeps you pumped for
2 days of city exploring, usually followed by a crash. Example:
After Jen joined me in Venice, she was on a adrenaline arrival high
until we took it easy in Cinque Terre. |
| Bicoastal |
adj. Friend you've met on West
and East coasts. He is my bicoastal buddy |
| Bicontinental |
adj. Friend you've met on two
continents |
| Do a city blind |
To arrive in a city without a
guidebook, friends, or any idea how to do anything when you get off the
plane/train. Example: Since my Let's Go guide omits Scandanavia,
I did Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki blind. |
| Blind ordering |
At a restaurant, ordering a
menu item you have never heard of before, and can just barely
pronounce. Happens all the time in other countries or fancy-schmancy
restaurants |
| castled out |
adj. see -ed out |
| changestuck |
adj. to have leftover
change from another country's currency which you don't want as a
souvenir, you can't exchange cause it's not a bill, and can't stand
keeping in your pocket cause you confuse it with the change of the
country you are in. Example: I was changestuck with 5
dinar coins from Jordan. |
| countryspotting |
n. trying to
guess other tourists' nationality based on their appearance, dress,
accent |
| -ed out |
suffix indicating burnout of
an attraction. e.g. Museumed out, tombed out in
Egypt, castled out in Europe |
| disdrift |
n. flea market bargaining
technique in which you express interest in an object, dismiss it,
then drift away as the shop owner discounts the price more
the further you walk away. Example: Disdrift works
really well in Egypt and Tijuana, but not as well in Paris, and not at
all at Macy's |
| Kiwis |
New Zealanders (I didn't make
this one up) |
| museumed out |
adj. see -ed out |
| museum surf |
v. to briskly walk thru
museum rooms at about 30 seconds per room. Avoids museum sleep and
lets you do a museum in a half hour, under the philosophy it's better to
at least see it in 5 seconds than not at all, right? |
| pocketfold |
v. to refold your map to
the part you want to see, so it fits easily into your pocket. This
avoids the map-open-newspaper syndrome, which is like a bullseye target
on your forehead stamped TOURIST. Example: In Rome, Barcelona,
London, Paris, it's wise to pocketfold your map. |
| restaurant fluency |
language fluency allowing you
to order food in a restaurant and ask for basic directions, but not
enough to talk politics, business, meaning of life. Example: I
speak restaurant Spanish. |
| triangulate |
v. determine what hotel/hostel
you want to stay at based on its proximity to the city center,
restaurants, attractions, and/or easyEverything Internet cafe. Example:
It's often difficult to triangulate where to stay using Internet
hotel booking sites, whereas Let's Go and Lonely Planet show nearby
restaurants and sights. |
| tombed out |
adj. see -ed out |
| tricontinental |
adj. Friend you've met
on three continents. Example: Julius is my one of my few tricontinental
buddies cause I've met him in New
Zealand, San Diego, and London |
| Wonderful |
adj. country or city
with more than 2 Wonders. Example: London is Wonderful,
with easy access to Stonehenge, Big Ben and the Chunnel. Note:
Capital Wonderful! |
| Wonderlight |
adj. country or city
with no Wonders. used euphemistically. L.A. is Wonderlight |
| Wonderlist |
list of Wonders of the
World. Example: After the 7 Ancient Wonders, there's no
universally agreed upon Natural Wonderlist, Modern Wonderlist,
etc. |
| Wonderlust |
n. urge to see a Wonder.
Example: After not seeing a Wonder for three weeks in Scandanavia, I
satisfied my Wonderlust my seeing three Wonders around London |
| Wonderspotting |
n. identifying Wonders of the
World. Example: An cheaper way to do some ersatz Wonderspotting
is to go to Las Vegas or the It's a Small World ride |
| Wonderstruck |
n. sense of "ohmigod
awe", "this is HUGE!!" and "THERE it is!" when
seeing a Wonder. Example: No matter how many Wonders I see, I'm
still Wonderstruck when I see the next one. |
| WOW |
Wonder of the World.
(Hopefully you figured this one out by now) |
