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Africa, Europe, Luxury Journeys, Uncategorized, USA and Canada

Fun Anglophone Variations

November 30, 2020 by Luxury Gold No Comments

*Photo by Kiwihug on Unsplash

 

As you pack your bags for a vacation (hopefully in the near future), it’s usual to throw in a phrase book to navigate your way through a new country, or even just order a beer. However, many people have at least a few words of English, so it can be helpful to fall back on, even in countries where it’s not the official language. After all, it’s the most widely spoken language in the world. But what happens when you’re in an English-speaking country but you still don’t understand what they’re saying?

English isn’t the most straightforward language, as it happens. Many countries have put their own stamp on it, after having adapted it over the years. Different cultures have changed it to suit their accent, their customs or even melded it slightly with another lesser-spoken language. So, if you’d like a tasty snack for your luxury journey in South Africa, you’d ask for padkos (travel food), whereas in Australia, you’d ask if there was something for tea (a meal, not a drink). One reason for the variances is that there is no centralized governing body for English, unlike French, which has the Académie Française and Spanish, which is standardized by Real Academia Española. 

 

When you embark on a luxury journey such as Castles and Kingdoms in the UK, you may raise your eyebrows when you hear certain phrases or struggle to understand what you are being asked to do. We’ve decided to gather some frequently used words and phrases from across the English-speaking world that will give you a deeper understanding for more fun travel experiences.

 

The United Kingdom

Once the largest empire on earth, the United Kingdom is responsible for bringing the English language to most of the world. However, even here you will hear massive disparities in how things are referred to, causing some funny misunderstandings. Discover the country with the British Royale tour and you may need to use some of the following words or phrases.

Barm / tea cake / cob / bap / scuffler – meaning – bread roll

The humble bread roll has many names across the country. If you’re in London, bread roll will suffice, but if you fancy one with your soup in Leicestershire, Derbyshire or Nottingham, then you need to ask for a cob. In Manchester, they say “barm”, over the Pennines in Leeds, they eat tea cakes, whereas further north in Durham and Northumberland, they call them buns. In some parts of Yorkshire, they are still referred to as scufflers. Perhaps keep a handy checklist in your pocket when choosing somewhere for lunch.

I’ll give it a gander – meaning – I’ll have a look at it

Gander is the proper name for a male goose, so if someone says this, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they were about to present some poultry. However, what this actually means is to take a look at something. So, you could bring your car to a garage to have something checked and a British mechanic might say, “I’ll give it a gander and come back to you.”

That’s mint – meaning – very good, cool

When referring to something good, people in the midlands and North of the U.K. often say “mint”. So, if you’d like to fit in with the locals, you can tell them that the VIP tours to York Minister are “mint” and they’ll know exactly what you mean.

Knackered / Cream-crackered – meaning – tired

Although many English words can be traced back to Shakespeare, most people don’t speak in the manner that much of his work is written. Words like tired seem pretty straightforward, but across England, you’ll hear people exclaim about being knackered or cream-crackered, when actually they mean they are tired. Some people also say “shattered” when they need a good night’s sleep.

Wind your neck in – meaning – be quiet or stop complaining

If you’re being told to wind your neck in, you may have said something to upset the other person! This is a phrase that is often used by parents to quiet the complaints of children, or you may overhear it said by one man to another when arguing over soccer in the pub. If you want to stop someone from saying anything else on the matter, a simple “wind your neck in,” should do the trick!

A few sandwiches short of a picnic / not the full shilling – meaning – not right in the head

When someone is described as a few sandwiches short of a picnic, don’t despair, it doesn’t mean that lunch will be sparse. Rather, the person in question likely doesn’t fully grasp everything going on around them. Sometimes they are referred to as “not the full shilling” too.

 

Ireland

Just across the water and once a part of the British empire, Ireland has long had English as its first language. However, the Irish have got particularly creative with certain words and phrases and even if you can understand the accent, you may not fully comprehend what they mean. However, with their congeniality and genuine helpfulness, Irish people will usually clear it up for you if you ask. If you’re planning to join our Ultimate Ireland journey, you can brush up on some of the following to make your vacation easier.

Pass that yoke – meaning – give me that item, thing, anything you can’t remember

Yoke refers to anything you can’t find the word for right now. So, it may be a screwdriver or a hat, but somehow Irish people always know what the other is looking for when they hear “pass me that yoke there”.

Now we’re sucking diesel – meaning – things are going very well

This is a funny one that always brings a smile to foreign visitors. While on your extraordinary travels around this green isle, you might hear someone say “Now we’re sucking diesel”. This could be in reference to anything at all, from a sports team doing well to making headway on a new project, but what the speaker means is that things are going very well.

 Stall the ball – meaning – wait up, or wait a moment

If an Irish person is trying to catch up to you in the street, they may call out to “stall the ball”. This is a gentle request to hang on or wait a moment. It can be used in a variety of circumstances, from waiting to see the outcome of a situation to taking pause in the conversation.

 Press – meaning – cupboard

Always a source of confusion, particularly to visitors from just across the water, is the fact that Irish people refer to cupboards as presses. This arises from the cupboard where the boiler/water heater is kept being called “the hot press” in Ireland, so all other cupboards became presses too.

Having the craic – meaning – fun, a laugh

Some travelers might think that Irish people are particularly fond of class A substances, but in fact craic comes from the Gaelic language, and it means fun or a laugh. So, when Irish people are having the craic, it’s a much cleaner and more responsible sort of diversion.

 

South Africa 

Long a melting pot of cultures and abundant natural resources, South Africa offers exceptional travel opportunities for those who venture there. Spectacular South Africa brings guests on unique vacations through astonishing landscapes and nature reserves alive with magnificent wildlife. English is widely spoken throughout the country although there may be words that even native speakers struggle with! The locals have melded words from English and Afrikaans, which is perfectly clear to anyone living there but incomprehensible to visitors. Here are some examples:

Ja, Nee – meaning – Yes, No

Here’s a phrase that can mean a number of things. Sometimes it’s used to agree “Ja, nee, you’re right”, and other times it can indicate hesitancy. Often, when someone doesn’t want to upset you but also doesn’t want to commit to an answer, they’ll simply say “Ja, nee”. So, it all depends on who you’re with and what you’re talking about!

Bra / Bru – meaning – friend or pal

South African’s often greet each other by saying “Hey bra!” or “Hey bru!” Much like the Aussies’ “G’day mate”, it’s a friendly term to people they know. However, they are just as likely to use it with someone they’ve just met to show they’re friendly.

Lekker – meaning – brilliant, fantastic

“Last night was lekker,” is a phrase you might hear after having dinner with some new friends in South Africa. They mean that they had a good time, that it was a great night. It can really be applied to anything to signify that something was good, whether that is a person, place or event.

Shame – meaning – what a pity, or to express disappointment / annoyance

South African’s use the word “shame” probably as frequently as they use “lekker”. It’s often used in response to someone to sympathise if something goes wrong, or to mean “cute”. Honestly, if you don’t know what to say, just say “shame” and your new friends will nod in agreement.

Jol – meaning – a good time, a party

Perhaps your Traveling Concierge may suggest a “jol” or tell you about a journey that was “jol”. This means that some fun is about to happen or has happened. “It was such a jol” means that a great time was had.

 

Australia

Long part of the Commonwealth, Australia has been using English customs and language for over 200 years. However, the Aussies made the mother tongue their own with brilliant colloquialisms and phrases that set them apart from other English-speaking countries. Add these to your repertoire when enjoying some of the extraordinary travel experiences this continent has to offer.

 

She’ll be apples – meaning – She’ll be alright, it will be ok

When someone says to you “she’ll be apples”, they aren’t referring to fruit or a nearby orchard. Aussies use this term to denote that something will work out ok. Even the “she” is not meant to be taken literally, as it could just apply to the situation at hand.

Bloody oath – meaning – that’s the truth

Certainly a phrase that makes people think twice is bloody oath. This is something that Australians use to attest that they are telling the truth, or to agree with someone. So, they may be agreeing with you when they say “bloody oath”, even though it sounds like an insult!

Cactus or Cark it – meaning – it’s broken or it’s died

While on your travels, if you take your phone out and it’s had a reaction to the hot sun of Australia, your friend may ask “Is it cactus?” Many people would react that no, it’s certainly not a prickly plant, actually the correct answer would be “yes, I think it’s carked it.”

On ya – meaning – well done

In response to a job well done, or something performed well, an Aussie mate might say “On ya”. This is a word of positive encouragement and should be received with thanks.

 

Other Quirky Anomalies

Luxury Trips to other destinations will introduce you to other strange words that you may not get immediately. For instance, in Canada you may be offered a “scoff” (meal) when you’re hungry and in Singapore if someone says “catch no ball” that means they don’t understand you. Even across America, there are words and phrases that will baffle those who’ve spoken English all their lives – from roundabouts being called “rotaries” in New England to directing you to the “catty corner” (diagonally opposite) in the south of the country. What strange words have you picked up on your world travels?

 

 

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Africa, Asia, Europe, Luxury Journeys, USA and Canada

Bringing the Future into Focus

August 31, 2020 by Luxury Gold No Comments

BY ELLA LURIE TOLLMAN

Having been born a Tollman, I suppose it’s no surprise that travel has been such an important part in the first twenty years of my life. Though I grew up and currently live in Los Angeles – while Zooming into college at NYU – my earliest memories are of time spent with my family exploring the bush in South Africa, then later visiting cousins around the world and on family trips like the one above, in Paris.

This picture is one of so many photographs from our travels, which my parents compiled into the beautiful albums that I pore over time and again as I relive those adventures. It has been through these albums that I discovered my love of photography, which has so influenced my experiences of the places we have been and will shape those to come, in places I dream of discovering.

While I love photography of all kinds, my passion is film photography – the kind everyone did before digital cameras came along. You remember – rolls of film you would load into a camera, keeping them safely from the light? You would wind between shots and think carefully about the pictures you took, as each one used up a 35 millimeter rectangle of film. And while you might plan out a shot, you would never know exactly what you got until you either developed the film yourself or picked it up from a lab. It’s so different from a digital photo, which you see instantly. But there’s something about that waiting period that brings a sense of anticipation, which is so key in photography and travel.

Photography has taught me so many lessons that shape how I view life, travel, and the future. One I have been thinking of lately is about “depth of field.” Though a technical term, it’s something we all recognize, about which objects are in focus, those that are close or those that are far away. I love photographs where the foreground is a blur while the distance is sharp and, right now, that pretty much sums up how I feel about travel. The year 2020 has been about the blurriest and most challenging year for travelers since my great-grandfather, Solomon Tollman, opened the Paternoster Hotel in a fishing village on the coast of South Africa, launching the family business, exactly 100 years ago this month.

With a global pandemic that has brought travel screeching to a halt, we are just now beginning to take our first steps forward, looking for clarity on the road ahead. And yet, blurry as the present moment may be, I feel the vision for the future has never been clearer. Far from diminishing my interest in travel, this pandemic has made me all the more enthusiastic about experiences that await, discovering new places and meeting new people. My friends feel the same way – there’s a sense of urgency and excitement. Why put your life on hold? Quoting my Papa – as I call my grandfather – who is so very wise and has seen so much, “The world will keep on spinning, and there is a time in the not too distant future when it will be full speed ahead.”

He also says to make the best of this time, so I’ve been looking back at some of my photos, thinking about lessons learned that will shape my future travels.

In 2017 my family went to Kenya with Me to We to help build a school in the Maasai Mara. I took this photo with my new Pentax (well, new to me, though already old when I got it). When the photo came back from the lab I could see that there was some light bleed, but I just loved this group of kids, with whom I really bonded while I was there. With all that’s going on in the world there is still such a desire to connect, and in the photo you can feel the real warmth they sent us off with as they said goodbye.

My father often quotes a Maori saying “It’s the people. It’s the people. It’s the people.” Like my grandfather says “You can’t do anything without people. It’s what makes the world go round.”

For the past three years in December my family has traveled to stay with friends in Carayes, Mexico, about two hours down the coast from Puerto Vallarta. Part of that trip includes helping newly hatched sea turtles find their way to the sea. They’re an endangered species, and very few of the ones that go into the sea survive to be the magnificent sea turtles we know. The scramble from their eggs on shore down to the water is one of the most perilous parts of their journey, and by giving them a head start by carrying them to the water we’re helping the species to recover.

I had intended to take a picture of the turtle, but when it came back I saw that the focus was on my brother’s hands. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked it – the shape of his hands, and the way you can see the individual grains of sand. To me, this picture echoes the message of TreadRight – that it is people who make travel matter.

One of the greatest gifts of travel is the chance to step into in someone else’s shoes. In 2018 we went on another Me to WE trip, this one to Rajasthan, India. As we had done in Kenya, we went on a water walk, seeing how far the women carry water each day.

Later, we met this woman who so kindly brought us into her house to teach us how to make naan, the traditional bread of that region. She was quite proud of her dog, and asked if we would take a picture of the two of them. That’s what I love about this picture – while it’s the picture of her and the dog, it is also of my mother taking the picture, as you can just her see on the left.

Afterwards I went downstairs and outside where I saw this girl sitting. She was kind of shy, but flirty, too, and I asked if I could take her picture. I love the composition and whatever she was sitting on. It’s nothing I could have planned, just a found picture. There are lots of travel experiences like that, moments you could never expect, but turn out just right.

While my last name is Tollman, my middle name is Lurie, which is the maiden name of my grandmother – you know her as Bea Tollman, president of Red Carnation and guiding spirit of Uniworld. I know her as Nana, and it is from her that I’ve inherited my love of design and fashion, which are shaping my studies at NYU. It’s a love that runs throughout my family. I see it in the way my Aunt Toni works with Nana to design and furnish all of Uniworld’s ships, and in all the countless ways my Aunt Vicki works with her to make Red Carnation Hotels so beautiful and welcoming. I also see that same aesthetic spark in my cousin Andrew, Toni’s son, who is Global Creative Director for The Travel Corporation.

I suppose this passion for design is the source of my long-time fascination with Japan. I love the aesthetic. The sense of presentation. And the sushi. I had long dreamed of traveling there, and when my family went there in 2019 it was all I hoped for and more. Once again, however, it was the surprises that struck me. I remember traveling to Kyoto to see all the things one might hope to see, which we did. But then my brother and I took a detour from the temples and found the most amazing Vintage Western Cowboy store. Though I have no picture of it, it’s clear in my mind, and was absolutely perfect. It was also a wakeup call for me, a lesson to keep my eyes open for the unexpected.

That’s what happened with this shot in an art museum in Tokyo. When we went in they told us I could take pictures but not use my flash. At first it was a disappointment, as I thought of the shots I’d miss. But then I saw my brothers and mother framed against this window with the Tokyo skyline in the background. They were looking at an exhibit of miniature doll houses, and there was this wonderful way, for an instant, they all became part of the exhibit.

More than anything, these photos help remind me how fortunate I am, and what a gift it is to be able to travel and discover the world. The more places I travel, the more connected I feel. That comes from my family – here we are in Jerusalem, for my Bat Mitzvah.

We live in a truly amazing time. It seems like yesterday that we were free to travel the world and discover how we all are connected. Currently, having to put that on pause for now, merely makes me appreciate it all the more. I hope to give the same to my children some day, the chance to discover the world, to open doors for them that my family has opened for me. I can see that same drive in my friends. They’re hungry to see the world and have experiences, excited, willing, and eager to tie service and travel together, and there’s no better way to see the world than while having a positive impact.

Philosophical as I may be about this pause in travel, I have to say how much I miss visiting my grandparents. I love this photo I took of them in France. There is truly no one like them, and I would give anything to be able to snap my fingers right now and be with them. For now, I hold on to our weekly zoom conversations, as well as those with my mother’s mother, and treasure every word they say.

Looking through my photos I came across this one, on my dad’s shoulders, taken on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, which has always been a favorite of mine. Looking at it, I can see that my attitude toward life now is very much the same as it was then, with the same Tollman outlook: I don’t know what tomorrow brings, but I’m excited nonetheless.

 

Sincerely,

Ella Lurie Tollman

Ella Tollman
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Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Luxury Journeys, USA and Canada

Five Must-visit National Parks

February 19, 2020 by Luxury Gold No Comments

If, like us, you’re in search of more mindful travel in 2020, look no further. A journey to one of the world’s conserved National Parks is not only educational but will allow you to enjoy your destination’s true essence.

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