Word for the Travel Wise (05/15/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Since Neil has started the process of pooling the masses for recommendations and tips for his upcoming trip to Croatia, Albania and Montenegro I’ll use this fine opportunity to enhance our lingo skills from each of the three areas. I imagine there aren’t many of you out there studying any of three countries everyday vernacular or street slang, so I’ll keep it fairly simple this evening and stick to a word that may come in handy for our dear Neil or anyone else with big travel departure plans to Croatia.

Today’s word is a Croatian word used in Croatia:

kolodvor – railway station

Falling under the western group of south Slavic languages, the Croatian language is used primarily by the Croats and is written in the Croatian alphabet. Croatian is an official language of Croatia as well as Bosnia and Burgenland (Austria). Wiki is the perfect starting point to learn all the background notes on the language as well as an example of the language as found in The Lord’s Prayer. This Hrvatski jezik website has a few lists of useful words and phrases for the traveler looking to get by in the country. Things like days of the week, shopping, sightseeing, customs, and basic greetings are all covered. Learn-Croatian.com is another good tool for picking up enough to make due and offers a number of links to help those interested in learning further. As always two of my personal language learning fav’s include the BBC Quick Fix Guide to Croatian with audio for download and LP’s pocket sized Croatian phrasebook.

Red Corner: Dubrovnik

by Neil Woodburn on

May is one of my favorite times to travel because the weather is starting to get warm, but the tourists haven’t begun swarming yet. Adrian Mourby of The Independent agrees with me and in a recent article tosses out a gem of a suggestion on where to head in the following month to take advantage of this unique window of travel time: Dubrovnik, Croatia.

48 Hours is a regular column in The Independent and Mourby takes advantage of its set-up to educate readers about what they can expect to see in Dubrovnik in just two days. I love such articles because they cut to the chase by succinctly providing highlights, practical travel and accommodation suggestions, great links, and where to eat. After just a few moments of reading Mourby’s article, I now have a good idea of where to go for brunch, where to shop, which cultural pursuits I want to pursue, and which hotel to check out (naturally the one with the quayside from which I can dive directly into the Adriatic). The only problem is that I’m going in June; I just hope it’s not going to be too packed.

Best Ethical Travel Destinations

by Dave (Blogsmith Old) on

While on the subject of responsible travel, I want to be sure to mention the fascinating report released this week by the Ethical Traveler. Executive Director Jeff Greenwald worked with Stanford University researchers to compile the World’s Best Ethical Travel Destinations. The thirteen names that appear on the list ranked high in each of three categories reviewed by the team: ecotourism practices, environmental standards, and social development indicators.

The report starts off by clarifying its interpretation of the terms “ecotravel” versus “ethical travel”, which is helpful to understand before diving into the details of their findings. Thankfully, the results are presented in clear and simple language, providing thoughtful reasons why they think these are the best places for Americans to visit. The big winner here was Latin America: eight developing countries from the region make the list. I was delighted to see two European nations – Croatia and Slovenia – mentioned too. I’m already excited about spending time visiting each of these countries next spring, and will now pay special attention to how I can best respect the natural habitat and people of these countries while traveling through them.