In defense of the complaining expat

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Before a trip abroad I’ll often check out expat websites to get an idea of what the day-to-day life is like in a particular country. Sites like ExpatExchange and AlloExpat come in handy not only if you want to live in a country indefinitely, but also for planning short trips. In addition to having job and apartment listings, they often feature a calendar of upcoming events and forums for members to ask and answer questions.

The forums are often a great source of practical information you won’t find in many guidebooks, like where to get a decent haircut, how to open a bank account, or where to find peanut butter. You know, the essentials.

On topics other than these, however, I find the forums to be mostly a repetition of the same standard formula:

Jack: Boy I really hate ________ here.
Jill: If you don’t like it, leave.

While I’m sympathetic to the “Love it or leave it” sentiments, we should remember a few things before piling on the expat who complains about his adopted home country. First, adjusting to a new home can be a tough thing; once the initial excitement wears off, it can feel pretty lonely if you’re moved abroad by yourself. Second, remember this: you’re allowed to hate things about the place you live. As Chuck Thompson wrote in Smile When You’re Lying:

Like being a sports fan, one of the best things about being a traveler is complaining about the parts you don’t like– hating the Dallas Cowboys not only doesn’t make me any less a football fan, it probably makes me a more avid one.

So let’s cut the jaded, whiny expats a little slack– they’ll come in handy next time you’re craving a jar of Jif.

Urban Dictionary’s 12 funniest travel entries

by Aaron Hotfelder on

We can’t guarantee that you’ll ever use (or hear) many of these travel terms from Urban Dictionary, but we can guarantee that this list is a lot funnier than the real dictionary’s 12 funniest travel entries. (Sample Merriam-Webster definition for tourist: “One that makes a tour for pleasure or culture.” See? It’s really missing a punch line.)

Anyway, here are some of our favorite travel-related entries from Urban Dictionary, the most useful of all websites besides the one you’re reading right now…

12. Travelanche n. When a considerable amount of bags and/or suitcases get packed into the back of a vehicle to the point that they are about to fall out.

11. Hotel n. 1. A place you never want to work; 2. A chill place to work if you can shake off the sh*t cranky bastards throw your way for easily remedied inconveniences.

10. Backpackistan n. The country that exists in the minds of twenty-something-year-old travellers throughout the entire world. Its citizens are identifiable by their dreadlocks, faux-tribal tattoos and strict, tiresome adherence to Bob Marley tunes. They eat falafel and juggle fire torches. Their economy is based around mooching, and the sale of Tibetan prayer flags and Che Guevarra marijuana pipes. Backpackistanis are united by a common language: broken English.

Example: “Even though I spent a year travelling through Paris, Madrid, Morocco, Bangkok, Bali, Sidney, Sao Paulo, Machu Picchu, Guatemala, and Southern Utah, I feel like the only country I really visited was Backpackistan.”

9. Road Trip n. When a bunch of kids get in a car (most likely a VW Bus, most likely with tons of drugs) and drive to an exotic destination (like Vegas or New Jersey). It happened more in the ’70s.

8. Travel ‘Stache n. A moustache grown and maintained for the sole purpose of a special vacation. This particular mustache is a head-turner in airports, train and bus stations, and cruise ships in particular. May be more noticeable to women, especially women with children ages 5-12.

7. Gap Year Tragedy n. A student who is enlightened by the insight afforded by global travel to the extent of cringeworthy personality renovation.

Example: “Man, I saw John after he got back after his 12 months in South America- bobble hat, dreadlocks and all.” “I heard it was Jean-Pierre these days. What a Gap Year Tragedy.”

6. Travel Wanker n. When someone has travelled overseas and, upon returning, can speak of nothing else. They are at their worst when in the company of fellow travel wankers. The conversation quickly deteriorates into an excruciating game of one-upmanship.

5. Hostel n. The place in Europe where your girlfriend stayed while on that college backpacking trip and slept with a bunch of European men who promised to call her and told her they’d come to America to visit her so they could get in her panties.

Example: “I don’t think you really wanna touch her. She stayed at a hostel this summer.”

4. Travel Nazi n. A person who transforms into a completely serious and un-fun mood when the time of travel has come. They always appear to be in haste as they are always 10 to 15 feet in front of the family. They must arrive 2 hours early to an airport gate and you may not leave your seat no matter how much you need to urinate or else “you might miss the flight.”

Example: “Where’d the Travel Nazi run to?” “He’s like 50 feet ahead, scouting out the quickest path to the gate so we can arrive before the flight leaves tomorrow.”

3. Tourist n. Stupid a**holes from outta town that take pictures of anything and everything and annoy the crap out of all the locals and will stand in the middle of the road, block traffic and almost get hit by a car to take a fu*king picture of a church. [Guilty!]

2. Laviator n. A person or people who take photos of themselves in the lavatories (restrooms) of airplanes. [This word was coined by our own Heather Poole.]

1. Passport Constipation n. When you have applied for a passport with the US Government 6 months ago and you are leaving tomorrow and still can’t squeeze out a passport for your spring break trip.

Example: “Hey Tracy, have you received your passport yet for our trip to Punta Cana on Friday?” “H*ll no, the US government has passport constipation! They can’t seem to squeeze out the passport I applied for 6 months ago!”

Bill Gates traveling in Antarctica

by Kraig Becker on

Where does one of the richest men in the world go to get away from it all? Apparently, in the case of Bill Gates, it’s Antarctica. The Chairman of Microsoft used his twitter account to post his thoughts on the frozen continent a few days back, saying “the beauty is amazing”, while lamenting the fact that his satellite Internet connection prevented him from uploading photos.

Gates is reportedly on vacation at the bottom of the world, taking some time away from his duties with the software giant that he helped found and his Gates Foundation which works with a number of different programs on a global level to improve the lives of people around the world in a variety of ways.

How Gates is traveling in the Antarctic isn’t clear, but it’s likely that he is on an adventure cruise through the icy waters that surround the continent. While travel into the interior is done for the season, cruises will continue for several weeks yet.

In one of his tweets, Gates says “I’m guessing not much tweeting has been done from Antarctica”, but he might be surprised to hear that a number of explorers that traveled to the South Pole on skis over the past couple of years have used twitter to send updates back on their status and progress. Clearly technology has pervaded every segment of our life and communication is now possible from all corners of the planet.

Gates promises to tell us more about his journey on his Gates Notes website in the near future. Can’t wait to hear more about his trip.

National Geographic announces Adventurers of the Year

by Kraig Becker on

Way back in November we told you how you could help National Geographic Adventure select their Adventurer of the Year for 2009. The list of contenders featured ten of the most amazing athletes, explorers, and scientists from around the globe, each doing exciting and unusual things in their field. Now, after three months of balloting and more than 20,000 votes, the winner has been announced. Well, make that winners, as once the ballot box was closed, and all the votes were tabulated, two names emerged victorious, with explorer Albert Yu-Min Lin and climber Marc Hoffmeister earning the title of Adventurer of the Year.

The two men share an adventurous spirit and a love of challenges, but aside from that, they couldn’t be more different. Yu-Min is working within Mongolia’s “Forbidden Zone”, located in the northern part of the country, in an attempt to find the long lost tomb of Genghis Kahn, the legendary Mongol warlord who terrorized much of Asia and Europe in the 13th century. Hoffmeister, on the other hand, earned his honors on the steep slopes of 20,320 foot tall Denali in Alaska, where he led a team of soldiers up the treacherous West Buttress Route. Many of the soldiers, including Hoffmeister himself, were injured in the war in Iraq, with some of them even missing limbs.
Both men expressed gratitude and humility after being told that they had won the award, and each of them stressed that they were just one small part of a team that made their individual adventures possible. You can read more about Yu-Min and exploration of the remote regions of Mongolia by clicking here, and his reaction to being told that he won here. Similarly, this story details Hoffmeister’s epic climb up Denali, the tallest peak in North America, and his reaction to winning can be found here.

These awards are handed out in the wake of the announcement last December that National Geographic would cease to publish Adventure as a traditional magazine. The organization promised that we would continue to see the Adventure brand being used in a variety of ways however, including future Adventurer of the Year competitions. After a taking a short hiatus, the Adventure blog has also recently returned to life, with regular updates from the world of adventure travel and outdoor activities.

How economics can help you find a diamond-in-the-rough restaurant

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Pop economics books, which purport to offer the surprising explanations behind seemingly ordinary events, are more popular than ever. You’ve probably heard of or read Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics, their new sequel SuperFreakonomics, or Tim Harford’s The Undercover Economist, but allow me to throw in a plug for a similar book you may not have come across.

Tyler Cowen‘s book Discover Your Inner Economist will be of special interest to those of us who like to travel, and in particular, those who like to sample local fare while on the road.

If you have to choose to have dinner in either Stockholm or Belize City, Cowen says, you’ll get much better food for the money in Belize. To Cowen, if a restaurant is located in a bad neighborhood, or is successful even in a poor country, the food must be really good. “Iron bars on the windows,” he writes, “and barbed wire on the fences, however bad for the residents or your own safety, are both good signs for the food.”

Experience tells us that he’s right, too. On the road, the food is often best, and cheapest, at out-of-the-way establishments. More than that, it is a worthwhile experience to share a meal with locals, and the proprietors of restaurants are often extra welcoming to those who choose their hard-to-reach establishment over all the others. Talking to a local is almost always the best way to find these hidden gems.

Cowen has gleaned another bit of wisdom from his expertise in economics, expanding on the old “money isn’t everything” cliché. “The critical economic problem is scarcity,” he says. “Money is scarce, but in most things the scarcity of time, attention, and caring is more important.”

For more, check out the Travel section of Tyler’s popular blog Marginal Revolution.