Easy Malay words

 Malay - English easy words (alphabetically)

anda - you

artichoke - artichoke

asparagus - asparagas

bas - bus

makan - eat

menu - menu

sandwic - sandwich

taman - garden

teh - tea

tiket - ticket

tomato - tomato

tuna - tuna

vinaigrette - vinaigrette (from the French)

Confusing words Malay - English

air - water

English - Malay

water - air

Useful Resources for learning Malay

google translate

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Malay_phrasebook

to see the differences and similarities between malay and Indonesian

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Indonesian_phrasebook

German Words For the Weekend

 

German - English easy words

Bald - soon (I remember soon you will be bald)

Bank - bank

der Computer - the computer

endlich - finally

der Laptop - the laptop

einen Moment - one moment

Projekt - project

Medizin - medicine

Nachmittag - afternoon

English - German words 

Useful Websites For Learning |German

duolingo.com

Staying Home - Guest towels

 When it's your turn to stay home whilst the others are travelling, you may find yourself suddenly organizing your own food again after weeks away in hotels.

If the people you stayed with are now visiting you, you might think what you need.

I like to have guest towels in the bathrooms and shower rooms and guest toilets, marked guest. 

I found guest towels on Temu and on Etsy.

Useful Websites

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1683120612/embroidered-guest-towel

Organizing your suitcase

 I have various pouches for luggage. In black But I like the idea of a matching set, labelled with the contents.

I have seen

Medicine bags

Cable and charger bags

Sock sorters

Cube bags ' Sets of matching colours of cubes to fit neatly in a suitcase. Zip up. 

You can also get hanging bags with compartments, ideal for parents and children on holiday, or business people staying overnight in a hurry.

Compressing bags

My favourites

Useful Websites

Amazon

https://www.shein.co.uk/6-Pcs-Waterproof-Patterned-Luggage-Travel-Storage-Organizer-Bags-Set-Portable-Zipper-Oxford-Cloth-Storage-Cubes-For-Clothes-Suitable-For-Travel-Dorm-Suitcase-Minimalist-Style-All-Prints-Letters-Random-Back-To-School-Supplies-p-14949155.

Temu

German words - same, easy, difficult, confusing

Where can you learn and practise speaking German? 

Flag of Germany

Flag of Austria

Flag of Switzerland

You can use German in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.  Also Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and parts of Belgium and Italy.

Flag of Luxembourg.

Flag of Liechtenstein.

 German - English  the same word

The same words, except that nouns start with a capital letter in German

English - German

laptop - Laptop

party - Party

popcorn - Popcorn

snacks - Snacks

team - Team

German - English easy to remember  similar words

nie - never (letters n to start and e later)

Salzig - salty - the first three letters are the same and the last letter has a tail, also called a loop and a descender

Schokolade - chocolate

sehr - very  (Both words have the letters e and r)

English to German easy words

chocolate - Schokolade (Capital letter at the start for a noun. Three letters changed. Add an s at the start, change c to k in the middle and t to d at the end )

German - English, new and difficult to remember

dort - there

kerzen - candles (The two languages use the sounds of ck and n)

ohne - without (The letters o and h are in both words)

Popmusic - pop music (capital for a noun, and German runs words together)

viele - many

German - English - confusing words

immer - always (not just immediately, right now, but all the time)

Kekse - cookies USA / biscuits UK ( not cakes)

Lust - desire for (noun, not sexual like the English word lust, but could be craving for a food, or to be in the mood to eat something, or to feel like having it)

Kuchen - cake

magst du - do you like (not do you make, I think of do you munch)

Spiele - games (not a long story, which is Yiddish)

toll - great (not tall, nor the noun toll, but think of a great size and a great toll, alt is high)

Useful Websites

Learning languages including German and many more online for free

duolingo.com

Translate words and sentences

translate google

Useful phrases and sentences for travellers

wikivoyage phrasebook German

Describe parts of a letter

https://bydawnnicole.com/the-anatomy-of-letters/

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Nandos - perfect for chicken and children

Four of us, three adults and a five year old child, went to Nandos for lunch. Nandos is a family favourite restaurant and a known quality. 

Chicken, corn and mashed potato and butter at Nandos, Stanmore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.

Parking in Stanmore

In Stanmore you can park outside if you are lucky. Other car parks are around the back, a public car park. 

Behind Sainsbury's we thought had public parking. It seemed to be mostly for customers. The criss- crossed markings on the spaces were reserved for local businesses, but only for Monday to Friday. 

Many Tables

Inside is a huge place with loads of tables. We had no need to book on a Saturday late lunch time July 25th 2026. We chose one of half a dozen alcoves with benches which suited mother and child, and granny with a big bag containing a pop-up reading book.

Children's Menu And Colouring

As soon as we arrived, we were given the family menus and children's menu. Also a jar of crayons and pages for children to colour. 

Pre-paying

The most active of our group went to order for us all from the counter. Pay in advance, like at the smaller fast food places with smaller menus. The advantage of pre-paying for the customer is that you can leave instantly when your car park reminder goes off on your phone. The driver can run off to collect the car, and then pull up outside to load up your passengers who don't need to walk back to the car park.

Suitcase Sizes, Car Boot Sizes

Isle Drink, by Trevor Sharot, about island wine, UK, New Zealand, and many islands worldwide. Order the book from Amazon.

Weighty Books To Read Whilst Waiting

My husband travels to  wineries and wine events with a copy of his book Isle Drink. I travel with at least one of my books. You might travel with your own book to show potential readers, or a product sample to show potential customers. Or take books to read during long waits at stations and airports. For long delays, you might need a suitcase or bag with room for books. Or an e-reader.

Travelling Light & Weighty Items

I always plan to travel light. I look at those videos of tiny suitcases which take rolled up tee-shirts, underpants, and socks. I look at Temu's suitcase organizers. Neat cubes, colour coded. Even zip up bags for cables, or cosmetics.

But by the time I have added a book, a laptop, and a spare pair of shoes, plus underwear, night wear, swimwear, something smart for the last night party, that tiny suitcase is nowhere near big enough. Plus the umbrella. A sunhat. My diary. Ticket and passport. Travel guide - and phrasebook. Hiking guide or map. Second phone, or spare reading glasses. Evening bag. The number of things I need keeps expanding, and so does the suitcase.

Airline Luggage Weights and Sizes

You might check that each suitcase is small enough to be checked into or carried onto a budget airline, indeed any airline. Especially if you have multiple flights. But whether you are doing fly-drive or only driving, you also need to consider the size of your car boot, the luggage contents, and weight.

Contents You Can Cram In A Carry-on Case

I have seen airline staff and others travel with the tiniest wheel on suitcases. How do they manage it? They have work uniforms, so only need to carry a change of shirt or blouse and underwear, maybe a light dress for a woman for the evening, a dress shirt or tie for the man.

I used to travel to writing conferences with my books to display and sell. Lugging luggage up and down stairs at railway stations was tiring. I took a small suitcase. 

Reversible Clothes

Once my small suitcase was filled with books. I wore a reversible dress. That was two outfits. I looked at my other two reversible dresses. I tried one on top of the one I was wearing to see if I preferred the colour. The one underneath was hidden. They were both lightweight. I decided to wear two. What about the third? I wore the third. At the venue I admitted to a friend what I had done. years later, long after I had forgotten, and had turned to car travel, she kept reminding me of the time I had travelled wearing three dresses. 

Suitcase Sizes & Car Sizes

Check the luggage for all the family can fit hidden in the boot (called trunk in the USA). If you give a lift (called a ride in the USA) to somebody else you need room for their luggage as well as the extra person.

You might need to book a bigger car and warn the car rental agency that you need a bigger car for the number of passengers and pieces of luggage. Otherwise they might tell you on arrival that their larger cars are not available. They can only offer people carriers which cost a lot more.

Any sporting holiday requires more equipment. A ski jacket, gloves. Sturdy hiking boots. Thick socks. Goggles. 

Walking Sticks

A folding walking stick is useful for getting up and down stairs and walking about a hotel if an older person or somebody hurts their ankle or falls. Walking sticks are designed for flat ground and have a flat rubberised base which will not damage carpets and wooden floors. Some city walking sticks can fold.

Hiking Sticks And Poles

For hiking you need sticks with a pointed end to stick into sand, gravel and earth to hold firmly. Like walking sticks for city use, hiking sticks are available in versions which fold up for carrying or transporting in suitcases.

Walking sticks with points might be banned because they have the potential to be used as weapons. Or might damage other luggage. You might have to cover the point with packaging. Or check in the items separately as large items - more queueing (Americans say line up) so allow extra time). You will need to allow time to look for and collect separate and larger items, such as sports gear and musical instruments, on the arrival airport. That takes time, whilst your group is getting on a bus without you, or your booked taxi is waiting, charging you money for waiting time, or giving up thinking you are not on the plane.

Folding Hiking Sticks

One solution is a folding hiking stick.

You may need to check whether your existing suitcases are large enough to take a walking stick, yet the weight and dimensions still fit the maximum allowed on a plane, or fit in you own or hire car's boot (called trunk in the USA).   A folding walking stick which is too long might still fit in the suitcase placed diagonally, if you still have room for a rucksack, or life jacket, and/or other bulky items. 

If travelling by car, also pack sunblock, in waterproof and leakproof containers, ideally double wrapped. Videos on YouTube show all sorts of ingenious ideas, from balloons, to Clingfilm to nappies and sanitary pads.

Life Jackets

Another bulky item my husband took to Indonesia was a life jacket. A colleague from Singapore who moved to Indonesia told us that he always travelled with his own life jacket in Indonesia, which has many islands, and often requires an international flight into a bigger or nearer islands, then a smaller plane or ferry. Here's where you need a smaller suitcase to go on the plane. But big enough to hold a life jacket.

After my husband, who is a statistician, checked the latest water accident statistics, he found that there was a sinking or drowning every three days. He bought a life jacket online. The smaller ones are not designed to support you for many hours in open, deep water. But they would still be handy if you fell in the water trying to jump from a big boat into a smaller one in the harbour and needed to stay around for a minute or two until somebody pulled you out, or until you swam in open water to something buoyant which had floated off your sinking boat. 

The smaller life belts may or may not have whistles and lights to attract attention. So you might want to add these in pockets or lanyards, and familiarize yourself with the features of your lifebelt and its size.  Is a smaller lifebelt good enough? It may still be better than no lifebelt.

Expanding suitcases

I like an expanding suitcase. I pack it done up tightly. Then when I buy souvenirs or acquire brochures on the destination I still have spare room in my suitcase for the extra items. Make sure the expanding suitcase is still within the weight limit for your airline, and light enough for your arms to carry up stairs.

My husband likes the opposite. No soft-sided cases with zips which break and lose the zip pull. He wants a hard shell case to protect bottles of wine.

Websites - Useful Backpack & Suitcase Sources

amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Owntop-Buoyancy-Neoprene-Foldable-Lightweight

ebay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_flotation_device

https://www.finalcheck.co.uk/swim-vest/

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