Travel Idioms I

Do you know what idioms are?

If you are a Spanish student you might think that idiom means Idioma, as it sounds really similar but that, my friend is a mistake. The English word for Idioma is language as you surely know.

Thus, what´s an idiom? An idiom is a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own. In other words, they are expressions used by English native speakers, usually in informal conversations.

They are, literally, hundreds of English idioms and they are quite difficult to learn or understand for non-native English speakers. But they are really important if you want to have fluent conversations in English or if you just want to understand what people are talking about. For example, most of the TV series, movies and English songs use countless idioms; hence the need to learn them in order to understand most of the jokes and plot twists.

That´s why I´m going to devote at least a couple of posts to teach you some of the most common idioms related with the travel business.

Let´s start right now!

Globetrotter: someone who travels to a lot of different countries. 

e.g. You have visited Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan and Brazil in the last year! You surely are a globetrotter!

To thumb a lift/ a ride: to stand near the edge of a road and hold your hand with the thumb raised as a signal for a vehicle to stop and take you somewhere.

e.g. When I was young I didn´t have much money to travel so I use to thumb a lift.

Fleapit: a dirty, uncomfortable and usually cheap accommodation. Also an old cinema or theatre.

e.g. I stayed at the cheapest hotel in Bangkok and it was a real fleapit

In the middle of nowhere: isolated from any towns, villages, etc.

e.g. Next summer I will go to cabin at the mountains, far away from any village. It´s in the middle of nowhere.

Rip-off: (noun) something that is not worth what you pay for it. e.g. In Venice we paid 12€ for a cup of coffee, what a rip off!

(verb) act of cheating someone by charging too much or not giving anything of value for money spent. e.g. Don´t eat at the main square, it´s a rip-off.

Now, play this game to check your knowledge