Jun

Wanderlust in Waiting

by Joyce McGreevy on June 29, 2020

People walking in Piazza Trento e Trieste, Ferrara, Italy, a vibrant place recommended for a visit in the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Have you had to walk back your travel plans?
Above: Piazza Trento e Triste, Ferrara, Italy.
© Joyce McGreevy

Travel Planning Tips for Italy (& Other “Delayed Gratification” Destinations)

You can take the girl out of the travel, but you can’t take the travel out of the girl. Like many people today, I’ve put international travel plans on pause, but that hasn’t changed my love of journeys. My wanderlust for Italy is simply waiting in the wings.

Make that on the wings, whether those of a spacious Dreamliner or a petite Britten Norman Islander, a plane so small you basically wear it.

Perhaps you, too, have postponed overseas travel for a year. Or two. However long it takes for a vaccine to be developed and your dream destination to re-open its borders. If so, consider planning a “delayed gratification” vacation.

Why plan now for a trip that may be far off in the future? Firstly, science has proven that the pleasure of anticipation benefits your brain. Secondly, time in abundance presents unique opportunities to enrich your travel experience.

Here are a few of my favorite plan-ahead (way ahead!) strategies. Mine are travel planning tips for Italy, but the general approach works for almost anywhere.

A food market stall in Bologna inspires wanderlust for Italy and is part of the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © by Carolyn McGreevy)

A food stall in Bologna, Italy offers an abundance of choices.
© Carolyn McGreevy

Educate Your Taste Buds

If your experience of Italian cuisine is based outside of Italy, then the real thing will surprise you. Surprises are good, but first-time visitors are often so flummoxed by unfamiliar dishes that they end up sticking to what they already know. What’s the fun of that?

Several varieties of cookies, pasta, and sandwiches in Mantova, illustrating why learning about the regional food is part of the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

But which ravioli, biscotti, or panini? There are hundreds of varieties.
© Joyce McGreevy

Instead, make tasty test-runs before you go. The culinary gems I’ve found online include illustrated and in-depth guides to food by region, online cooking courses, recipes, and interactive food maps. For links to these and other great travel resources cited in this post, download “Italy Online,” our free travel planning tips for you (see link at end of post).

A gelato shop in Italy inspires wanderlust for Italy and illustrates why learning about Italian cuisine is part of the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © by Carolyn McGreevy)

Sweetest pre-travel homework ever: researching Italian gelato flavors.
© Carolyn McGreevy

Conquer Tricky Details Before You Go

Ladies and gentlemen, signore e signori, I proudly present . . .la logistica! OK, even in Italian, “logistics” isn’t as appealing as la spontaneità. Yet thinking through trickier aspects of travel in advance will free you to be more spontaneous.

Case in point: Arriving in Milan, you head to the train station, a head-spinning hive of hyperactivity that makes utterly no sense to the uninitiated. By the time you’ve cracked the intricacies of buying tickets, finding the platform, validating tickets, and decoding the Italian for train class, carriage, compartment, and seat . . .you’ve gotten on the wrong train anyway and are hurtling back toward the airport. Enjoy your jet lag!

You know what’s more fun?

Relaxing at home with a multimedia guide to trains that walks you through the process.
Finding an app that makes it easy to buy train tickets worldwide.
Knowing all you’ll have to do is board, sit back, and enjoy the scenery.
Celebrating—spontaneously—because you found a nonstop train with elegant carriages and services. At a discount. Evviva la logistica!

Evening in Comacchio, Emilia Romagna, awakens wanderlust for Italy and is a place recommended for visit in the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Careful prep makes for carefree travel to places most overseas
tourists miss, like Comacchio.
© Joyce McGreevy

Take Time to Amass Travel Treasures

Official tourism sites often offer a range of free goodies. For instance, I’ve found maps, screen savers, audio guides, calendars, recipes, language lessons, and even virtual reality tours.

While you’re at it, stop by your local library to gather a stack of books. From travel books that you can spread out across the coffee table and leaf through while sipping your favorite Italian beverage, to novels and nonfiction that will transport you to Italy from your sofa.

Far from spoiling the thrill of discovery, getting lost in a good book makes it even more fun to get lost in the actual country, because it illuminates aspects of place that pique one’s desire to know more.

A visitor photographing one of the many gardens in Italy recommended for a visit in the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Italy’s many hidden gardens are a great reason to do some advance travel research.
© Joyce McGreevy

Get Comfortable with Another Language

My obsession with language-learning began as a teenager in Milan. I can no more resist language lessons than I can resist Italian food. It’s not about mastery—in some countries, I speak like a kindergartener—but about experiencing places at a more intimate level. But give me a week and I’ll at least do a crash course. Now imagine what you can do with several months.

Convinced you’re too busy? Start by setting the bar low. “Phrase a Day” calendar? Perfetto! Five-minute podcasts of “Coffee Break Italian”? Va bene! Ten minutes a day with an app? Le possibilità sono infinite!

Eventually you’ll wade in deeper. Meanwhile, you’ll be amazed at the big difference a little learning can make. The secret is to make it sustainable over time.

A young author in Italy showing off her first published book illustrates why an important travel planning tip for Italy is to learn some Italian before you travel. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Reason #738 to learn Italian: In line for a bus, you meet a young historian
who’s just published her first book.
© Joyce McGreevy

Save for Travel the Easy Way

Even at home, “travel” is part of my budget. To make saving painless, I automate it using an app or online banking program. This lets me stash a specific amount each week or round up to the nearest dollar with each transaction.

Because I “set it and forget it,” I’m used to living on less. On a tight budget each amount is small, but over time a little becomes a lot.

A sign in Italian advertising a half-price sale in Ferrara, illustrating why an important travel planning tip for Italy is to learn some Italian before you go. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

“Final Days–Everything Half Price.” Saving for travel offers multiple rewards.
© Joyce McGreevy

Explore the Cultural Scene—Online

It’s never been easier to access the world’s great museums and popular media. I often tune into online radio stations from Italy. Do I understand every commentary or lyric? Heck no, but the ambient sound alone evokes a rich sense of place.

While Italian movies have long been available worldwide, Italian TV programs are harder to find. MHz Choice and public libraries are your best bets, and some cable companies will add Italian channels to your line-up.

Should you bother? Consider this vignette from the Olden Days before Internet.

On an extended visit to Italy as a single mom, I and my then 13-year-old son fell in love with an Italian miniseries—about a single mom and her 13-year-old son. Every Tuesday, we’d make supper with fresh ingredients from the Mercato Centrale. Then we’d watch L’avvocato delle donne (“Lawyer for Women”). Filmed on scenic locations, the series inspired many side trips—to the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna, the Trastevere district of Rome, and more.

Even a frivolous show boosted our conversational skills. In Colpe de Fulimine, (literally “thunderbolt,” the Italian expression for “love at first sight”), a roving host pulled two young strangers off the street and got them talking. While the responses were as varied as the individuals, the conversational framework stayed the same, making it easy to learn authentic Italian expressions.

A view of the rooftops of Rome inspires wanderlust for Italy and illustrates why Rome is a recommended destination in the author's travel planning tips for Italy. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

After a stroll through the Trastevere, relax in the Roman sun-glow.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Joy of . . .Travel Delays?

For now, my wanderlust for Italy (and a dozen other destinations!) will have to wait. Yet, following my own travel planning tips for Italy while I wait to travel will only deepen the excitement of my eventual journey. In other words, don’t let the need to postpone travel dishearten you. Instead, make the most of having added time to plan a trip to Italy, or wherever your wanderlust calls you.

Oh, I see: When life puts your travel plans on hold, turn “wanderlust in waiting” into a travel advantage.

A stone window in Ferrara, Italy reminds the author that wanderlust for Italy and a well-organized travel plan for a trip to Italy can inspire a whole new perspective on the world. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Taking the long view can enrich your perspective.
© Joyce McGreevy

Download our free travel planning tips for Italy to help you get to Italy eventually and to bring Italy to you right now!

Comment on the post below.

Joyce McGreevy 2 Comments

Art of Travel/Italy/Language & Culture

May

Cultural Sayings or Quarantine Quotes?

by Joyce McGreevy on May 26, 2020

A gate in Istanbul evokes the Turkish proverb, "Kind words can unlock an iron door,” a reminder that in the context of the pandemic, cultural sayings have take on a new relevance as quarantine quotes. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Kind words can unlock an iron door.”—Turkish proverb
By doing our best for one another, we’ll get through this.
© Joyce McGreevy

Old Proverbs Help Us Cope with the Pandemic

Anonymous, that endless font of wisdom, once said, “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” This contemporary proverb appears in busy workplaces and hectic households, wherever humans gamely endeavor to keep life on track—even in crisis.

Anyone experienced a crisis lately? A calamity that’s disrupted your schedule for months? Raise your hand. Oh my, 7.8 billion of you? I thought it was just me.

A global health crisis calls for worldwide wisdom, so this week OIC Moments presents the best cultural sayings and quarantine quotes for the occasion. Oh, I see: In the context of the pandemic’s social distancing, old proverbs from around the world have taken on a whole new relevance .

A public mural evokes the Greek proverb, “What is a city but its people?”, a cultural saying that has new poignancy as a quarantine quote during the pandemic lockdown. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“What is a city but its people?” —Greek saying. The virus turned our world inside out.
© Joyce McGreevy

What, We Worry?

We humans are wired for worry. As the Swedish say, “Worry often gives a small thing a great shadow.” This actually underscores our amazing ability to adapt. Think about it. Here we all are, undergoing a pandemic, yet we still find time to worry that we’re never going to lose those ten pounds or that Costco will run out of toilet paper.

Why? Because our brains are designed to give us a break by shifting our focus now and then from major to minor matters. As the Lebanese say, “Sometimes forgetting trouble is the best way of curing it.”

Perhaps our smaller, sillier moments help us cope with life’s more sobering challenges. Even as coronavirus casts a giant shadow, we humans somehow manage the day-to-day. As the Maori say, “Turn your face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind.”

An old saying from Kazakhstan translates into, “I see the sun on your back.” This means, “Thank you for being you—I’m alive because of your help.” In the context of the pandemic, it beautifully encapsulates our gratitude for doctors, nurses, and other essential workers.

A man in PPE evokes the Australian proverb, "Heavy givers are light complainers,” a cultural saying turned quarantine quote because it now applies to brave medical responders and other essential workers during the pandemic. Image by Pixabay/Fernando Zhiminaicela

“Heavy givers are light complainers.”—Australian saying
Image by Pixabay/Fernando Zhiminaicela

Comfort Across Cultures

A recurring phrase in different languages, cultures, and eras is These are challenging times. Spoiler alert: Humans have always lived in challenging times. No history book declares, “And for the next 100 years, folks just went about their business, occasionally pausing for cups of tea.”

Thus all cultures speak of comfort in sayings that are as timely as ever. In Uganda, “Even the mightiest eagle comes down to the treetops to rest.” In Morocco, “Reading books removes sorrow from the heart.” In Scotland, “Whisky may not cure the common cold, but it fails more agreeably than most other things.”

According to American folk wisdom, “Trouble knocks at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurries away.” During the pandemic, an outpouring of highly creative humor online has lightened our heavy hearts. Meanwhile, an old saying from India—”A heart at rest sees a feast in everything”—gains new meaning as people find heart’s ease through everything from online meditation to families dining together via Zoom.

Music has also comforted the world during this time, reminding us that “If you can move, you can dance, and if you can speak you can sing.” (Zimbabwean proverb) Creating music “alone together” online has inspired our resourcefulness, proving that “One string is good enough to a good musician.” (Mexican proverb)

A finch in a tree evokes the Chinese proverb, "Make your heart a green tree, and a singing bird may come,” a cultural saying that has a taken on new relevance as a quarantine quote about hope and patience during the pandemic’s lockdown. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Make your heart a green tree, and a singing bird may come.”—Chinese proverb
© Joyce McGreevy

When Lockdown Leads to Locked Horns

We’ve all become close during lockdown. Very.Very. Close. Wherever two or more humans interact, misunderstandings occur. Severe stress makes smart people say and do Stupid Stuff. As Japanese wisdom reminds us, “Even monkeys fall from trees.” Fortunately, we can improve: “By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree.” (Proverb of Cameroon)

When nerves are frayed, we may imagine that Everything Is Another’s Fault. Yet ancient Romans said, “It’s silly to try to escape people’s faults. Just try to escape your own.” To quote a Tagalog proverb, “The rattan basket criticizes the palm leaf basket, yet both are full of holes.”

Chickens sharing a perch in a henhouse evoke the humorous side of cultural sayings like “There’s no place like home” and “The more the merrier,” which now seem like quarantine quotes for families "cooped up" in the pandemic lockdown. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“There’s no place like home” takes on new meaning after months in lockdown.
© Joyce McGreevy

Old Wisdom and New Breakthroughs

What was your favorite subject in school? Regardless, we’re all rapt students of science now. Here, too, old sayings gain new relevance. On the news we see medical experts humbly acknowledging their limits while striving to achieve breakthroughs. They would appreciate the Nez Perce saying, “Every animal knows more than we do.”

Crises also bring out those whose genius is self-proclaimed. But as a South African proverb points out, “No one is great just because he says he is.” Instead, we’re discovering that greatness is rooted in kindness. As an Irish proverb affirms, “A kind word never broke anyone’s mouth.”

A baby chimp clinging to its mother evokes the British proverb, "Two thirds of help is to give courage,” a cultural saying that now seems like a quarantine quote about offering empathy and support during the pandemic. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Two thirds of help is to give courage.”—British saying. We’re learning empathy.
© Joyce McGreevy

Timeless Wisdom for Timely Action

Old wisdom tells us it’s time to “Do good and care not to whom” (Italy). Time to support all who are vulnerable, to remember that “A child is a child of everyone” (Sudan). Time to “Be a mountain or lean on one” (Somalia). It’s time, not to seek credit, but to “Do a good deed and throw it in the sea” (Egypt).

Two people in raincoats crossing a footbridge in a downpour evoke the Brazilian proverb, "Good will makes the road shorter,” a cultural saying that now reads as a quarantine quote about the need to protect and respect each other during the Covid pandemic. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Good will makes the road shorter” (Brazil). We’re learning to respect and protect each other.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Danish have a saying: “He who comforts never has a headache.” In giving selflessly, we gain our humanity. And if you think you’re too small to make a difference, says one African proverb, then you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito. We can each do something.

For example, a Russian proverb advises, “Do not have 100 rubles, rather have 100 friends.” Millions of people have been economically impacted by the pandemic, yet countless social-media friends have pooled small donations into major support, sending it wherever needs are greatest. As a native Hawaiian proverb explains, “No task is too big when done together by all.”

Cultural sayings endure for good reason. When current events overwhelm us, old sayings help us find perspective. And so, at a time when both social distancing and connection are called for, this Tuareg proverb might just be the perfect quarantine quote: “Keep your tents apart and your hearts together.”

A mural of a heart on a city wall carries the proverb, “Love thy neighbor,” a cultural saying that is also an apt quarantine quote in the context of the Covid pandemic’s social distancing. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

What new or old saying helps you “keep calm and carry on”?

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 2 Comments

Cultural Diversity/Proverbs & Sayings/Secrets to Life/Worldwide Sites

Feb

The Many Worlds of English

by Joyce McGreevy on February 18, 2020

A female traveler looking at the electronic board of departures in an airport, symbolizing an opportunity for crossing cultures (Image © Jan Vašek/Pixabay)

Do you ticket travel only to countries that speak your language?
© Jan Vašek/Pixabay

Why Crossing Cultures Always Means Learning a Second Language

Most English speakers who travel internationally and enjoy crossing cultures have, at one time or another, depended on people in other countries to also speak English. Such moments may arise because

even a polyglot is bound to miss one or two of the world’s 6800 languages.
your language learning app doesn’t cover how to say, “Could someone help me retrieve my cellphone from the hotel swimming pool?”
long-haul flights, long layovers, lost luggage, jet lag, and an unfamiliar environment have temporarily stalled your progress in speaking a second language.

Or as a public speaker once said, “It’s cool that people Over There are all multilingual and stuff, but me, I just travel where people speak English.”

British English and American English dictionaries suggest that crossing cultures is like learning a second language. (Public domain image by Pixabay)

Humorist Stephen Leacock wrote, “In Canada we . . . use English for literature,
Scots for sermons, and American for conversation.”
Photo by Pixabay

The Universal Language?

OK, the “public speaker” was actually a fellow airline passenger talking on his cellphone, but clearly, he intended everyone onboard to have the benefit of his perspective. As a flight attendant approached him, he delivered one last insight: “More people speak English than any other language.”

Did anyone correct our talkative traveler? I’ll never know. We were all retreating into our headphones by this stage. But more than 1.2 billion speakers of Mandarin Chinese might beg to differ.

“We’re Number Two!”

English actually comes in second, with 983 million speakers. That includes people who speak English as a second or third language.

Still, it got me wondering. What if the man in Seat 37-B keeps his word—his English word, apparently—only visiting countries where English is an official language?

He will be in for a surprise. Because while millions of us around the world speak English, we don’t all speak it the same way.

Imagine our traveler in another English-speaking country. He puts down his cellphone long enough to hear a local say . . .

I could murder a cuppa. (British English)
Shall I be Mother? (ditto)
Strong enough to trot a mouse across. (Irish English)
Let’s grab a capp! (Australian English)
One double-double. (Canadian English)

A mouse on a fence evokes a common expression in Irish English that might baffle American English speakers, suggesting that crossing cultures is like learning a second language. (Public domain image by Pixabay)

In Ireland, what’s “strong enough to trot a mouse across?”
Photo by Pixabay

None of these English speakers is engaged in foul play, role play, building a bridge for rodents, stealing a hat, or placing a bet. The first three are discussing tea— craving it, pouring it, or brewing it—while the other two prefer coffee.

Oh, I see: English, the universal language, spans a universe of languages.

Opposite World

Even when English speakers use the same words, they don’t always have the same meaning:

In Canada, to table a motion means to consider a proposal. In the U.S., it means to set it aside. When Canadians write a test, they’re the ones taking it.
In England, public school is what Americans call private school, and vice versa.
In Ireland, being called bold or cute is not a compliment. The former means you’re acting out, the latter means you’re sneaky.

Like Day and Night

Something as simple as daily routine highlights differences among the worlds of English:

In Ireland, wearing a vest to work would mean showing up in your undershirt. A waistcoat completes that three-piece suit. Putting on pants? Do add trousers, or you’ll get chilly legs and chillier looks.

A brogue, or shoe, highlights the differences in American, Irish, British, and other English language words. (Public domain image by Pxhere)

No one in Ireland “speaks with a brogue,”
but some wear brogues on their feet.
Photo by Pxhere

In many English-speaking countries, drivers check under the bonnet and stow belongings in the boot before motoring to the company car park (or in Canada, the parkade). They top up the petrol, too. But if the car is munted (NZ), goosed (Scotland), or banjaxed (Ireland), they may ring a taxicab or cadge a lift from a friend.

A utility vehicle, or ute, evokes a common expression in Australian English that might baffle American English speakers, suggesting that crossing cultures is like learning a second language. (Public domain image by Pxhere)

Fear not the deadly ute! That’s Australian English for “impressive SUV!”
Photo by Pxhere

Eating Your Words

After work, do the messages (shop for groceries). In a hurry? In England, order a bacon sarni (sandwich) or other takeaway from the chippy. Wash it down with a bevvy. Don’t need much? In New Zealand, pop into the convenient corner dairy.

Dairy cows evoke a common word in New Zealand Kiwi English that might baffle American English speakers, suggesting that crossing cultures is like learning a second language. (Public domain image by Pixabay)

You won’t find cows at a New Zealand dairy—just grocery staples.
Photo by Pxhere

Prefer home cookery? American English speakers might puzzle over a shopping list of common words like rocket, capsicum, courgette, aubergine—or arugula, peppers, zucchini, eggplant. A Scottish English list might include brambles, tatties, and ‘neeps—berries, potatoes, and turnips or swedes.

Set the table with cutlery, crockery, and serviettes. Afterward, serve afters—dessert. During the washing-up, don’t be a silly eejit (Ireland) who overloads the garburetor (Canada) with food scraps.

Give Me a Break!

While Americans take vacations, many English speakers go on holiday. In New Zealand, Kiwi English speakers head to a bach, or holiday home, pack togs for swimming, and wear sunnies to protect their eyes. They take off their trainers, slip their feet into jandals, and sip cold stubbies from the chilly bin. But if the weather suddenly turns, they’ll don a pair of gum boots, a.k.a. wellies.

A boy at the beach wearing gum boots, wellies, or rain boots shows that English word meanings differ in different cultures, suggesting that crossing cultures is like learning a second language. (Public domain image by Pixabay)

Wade into any language and you’ll net fascinating finds.
Photo by Pixabay

Wading into a World of Words

As you can see, English, like all languages, is dynamic, forever exploring the multilingual. On almost every continent, different cultures shape English to suit their own needs, influences, and sense of place.

So where does this leave our traveler from Seat 37-B?

I’m hoping that as he explores the worlds of English, talking with people in new places, he’ll discover that differences enliven communication. That differences are, interestingly, something we all have in common. That crossing cultures and delighting in differences can even lead to the fun—and benefits—of learning a second language.

Two men enjoying conversation evoke the fun of learning a second language. (Public domain image by Pxhere)

Why blather on your mobile? Wherever you travel,
a proper natter with chums is much more fun!
Photo by Pxhere

See John McWhorter’s TedTalk on reasons to learn a second language here.

Comment on the post below.

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Crossing Cultures/Language & Culture/Worldwide Sites

World Views:

Topics

Category Archives: Loving Language