Easy Spanish words for travellers 20 words

 Spanish - English (memory aid)

carro - car (Double the r to remember to roll your r. Add an o because unlike ships traditionally she in English, cars are a man's or boy's toy.)

buena - good (una buena idea = a brilliant/beautiful idea)

buscando - (I am) looking for (busy scanning the surroundings or the horizon)

cielo - sky (like ceiling)

clase - class

costa - coast (as in Costa del Sol in southern Spain)

demasiado - too, too much (think of deluge)

ellas/ellos planean - they (each and every one, female or male, like los angeles meaning the angels is plural for the) plan 

equipage - luggage, (like equipment)

es - is (yes it is)

estatua - statue

gratis - free, no charge

idea - idea

isla - island just drop the last two letters, (it's a small island)

libre - free, unoccupied

los - the (plural, like Los angeles, city in the USA, meaning the angels)

sol - sun

solo - only/solo (both words have the letters o and l)

train - tren (you have to roll your r, or listen for the word said with a rolled r. To roll your r, pull the tip of your tongue backwards along the roof of your mouth whilst breathing out - say three whilst breathing out)

el turista - the tourist

If you know all these words you can now say, it is a car, it is luggage, it is an island, it is a tourist. Raise your voice and your eyebrows to turn a statement into a question in Spanish.

Useful Language Websites

duolingo.com

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Costa+del+Sol

See my other posts on Spanish.

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Packing To Leave & Return Home

Packing box and see-through box. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Planning To Leave

I once came home with only one slipper. A popular modern saying which is set as an impromptu speech (a two minute 'table topic', selected from the table or screen by number) is 'We learn faster from our mistakes - do you agree?'

Yes. After losing my slipper, I learned to keep a list of what I packed.

What have my family left behind, or nearly left behind? The food for the jourrney left in the fridge. The toddler's toys in the hotel cot and cupboard. The pen, noebook, map, hat and gloves in the ca's glove box.

Packing lists are useful for three reasons. Firstly to check that I packed everything on leaving. Secondly, to be sure nothing went astray in transit on arrival. Thirdly, to be sure everything is with me on leaving the hotel or holiday home.

1 Packing Lists

1 Make a packing list before you leave. 

That way, when returning home, if the slippers are missing a tick on your checklist, you know to check under the bed or in the bathroom or in the cupboard.

For A Brief Trip

2 Addresses

Take the addresses and phone number of the place and people you are leaving, . Also make sure every member of your group has all numbers of those at the destination. This ensures everybody is organized. Your passenger can check or ring ahead if you are the driver, stuck in traffic, unable to check a phone number. Or you can separated on the journey. Or your jacket contained your paperwork goes missing.

3 Umbrellas

Pack an umbrella. Or keep one in the car. You can keep it in the glove box, the boot, under the seat. Remember it is there. Retrieve it from a hire car. Collect it from the umbrella stand at the entrance to a restaurant.

4 Fill the vehicle tank

Fill the car with petrol. 

If it is not full, allow time to stop and fill up. This applies when leaving 

Put the address in your satnav in the car and in your mobile phone. Get familiar with the car satnav and the google maps or other service such as Street View on your mobile phone.

Check for train cancellations. Check weather warnings. Check road motorway closures and diversions.

Packing

I have managed to leave all sorts of things behind. You may know the humorous song, because of battle the kingdom was lost, because of the horse the battle was lost, and all for the loss of a horseshoe nail.

What have I lost? A bathrobe behind a bedroom door. It belonged to my boyfriend. I was checking out while he was on the last day of the conference. That relationship came to an end. I married somebody else. 

A passport in a shoulder bag on the back of a dining chair of family friends in France. We never got to Italy from France.

Crockery in the dishwasher. Food in the microwave. The dictionaries - I have loads at home - why buy more, unless you don't want to carry them outwards, but then your packing is heavier on return.

Friends have left behind pets, which went missing. One family even had to cancel their emigration flight because a child who didn't want to leave went and hid.

To sum it up, packing needs preparation, and precision in planning, when you need to return home from a hotel or a winter home overseas, or moving country for a new job, or back home to look after parents or see grandchildren. Your mind is on your destination and plans. But you need a checklist of things you must take with you and do.

Let's start with the commonest situation.

Leaving A Hotel

Check items in the bathroom. And on hooks behind the door. On the shower shelf.

On the balcony. Items hanging over railings. Left on chairs. 

The Bedroom

Check under pillows, inside bedding, under the bed.

Empty the fridge. Ensure you have your food, drink, medicine. Check any food, drink, or pills, left downstairs in the hotel kitchen or bar.

 Check all the hotel drinks and foods are returned if you took them out to make room for takeaway food.

Reception Checkout

Check you have handed in all room keys. 

Pay bills, and check bills. 

Leaving A Ski Resort

Remove drying boots and clothes from balcony and radiators.

Check for any skis and boots and jackets left in a locker room. Return locker keys. 

Reclaim deposits on rented skis, boots, clothes, snowboards. 

Allow time to clean off ice and dirt, pack skis and boots and snowboards in zip up bags or special packaging, and large item check-in at airport.

Beach Resorts

Remove swimsuits, swimming hats, bath towels, beach clothes, wraps, and swim shoes from balconies or radiators and bathrooms, and lockers.

Pack children's beach rings, buckets and spades, or allow time to give them away. Unless the airport has an area for tourist to leave beach items for others, to loan and recycle instead of using landfill for abandoned items.

Leaving A Winter Home

Turn down heating. However, leave enough heating to prevent broken pipes bursting and leaking. Arrange for family to check property heating and plumbing

Leaving For A Holiday or New Home

Check all travellers have passports, o ID including driving license, plane or ferry or train or coach or bus tickets. 

Check neighbours will push in post.

Check all members of the party have address and phone number of destination, last check-in time, onward travel from airport to destination. 

Overnight clothes in case of lost luggage, photo of luggage to fill in forms asking colour and make of lost suitcases.

Arrange neighbours to water plants, or put plants outside, or add watering systems.

Check no items are left behind a front door or bedroom door. 

Rental Car

Check  no luggage or bag is left on the doorstep. Nor on the top of the car. 

No keys left in the front door.

No car keys left in the car - unless that is required by a rental company. Nor in the boot, or glove box

Leaving Your Old Home For A New Home or Holiday

Fridge

Empty fridge of milk, or take it to neighbours. If you leave it on their doorstep, warn them in advance, or leave a note or email to tell them it was from you.

Gas, Electricity, Lights

Check you have turned off gas, electricity, lights. Check you have set timers to turn on lights or sounds to deter burglars, or engaged house sitters. 

Insurance

Your insurance might have a limit on the amount of time the property can be left empty. They may extend the time 

1 f you inform them in advance, 

2 have relatives  and/or neighbours going in and out to make the place look busy, 

3 or are willing to pay an extra premium to insurance, if you decide this is cheaper than a house sitter. 

More On Smoke Alarms Choosing, Fixing, Using

You may wish to choose a smoke alarm for the home you are renting out whilst travelling. Or a portable smoke alarm for camping. 

Choosing A Smoke Alarm For A Residence

If you don't know anything about smoke alarms, you can compare costs. Why pay more for an identical product. I found smoke alarms for twenty pounds. Then others, supposedly later models, with ten year batteries. 

However, not suitable for kitchens or bathrooms. Why? Because they are so sensitive that every time you cook toast in a toaster or steam up the mirror, the alarm goes off.

The danger is that the occupant will get annoyed, the neighbours will get annoyed, and the occupant will remove the battery, so the smoke alarm does not do its job.

I thought about this. Maybe if your toaster is causing the smoke alarm to go off, you should eat bread and not toast, because you are sending damaging smoke into your lungs.

What about the mist in the bathroom? Maybe if you are creating mist in the bathroom, you are creating moisture which is creating mould. So you should be opening the windows before and during your shower. And running the extractor fan, which should be checked and cleaned regularly.

Smoky air and  a bathroom with no fresh air are not good for your health. Having thought about that, I went back to the question of whether to buy a smoke alarm which does not goes in the kitchen and bathroom. You will want to close the bathroom windows shortly after the mist has cleared, to prevent burglaries. We had a burglary at a neighbour's, through the bathroom window, when the residents were downstairs watching the noisy TV. The burglars took  jewellery from a bedroom.

Following the instructions, we fitted a smoke alarm in the corridor between the kitchen and the bedrooms.

The idea is to alert you to a fire at night. You should not be leaving food cooking unattended in a kitchen. You set an alarm to remind you to check on it and turn it off. You check all switches are off before leaving a room.

What is the ease of setting the alarm? Some alarms have a button you push. If the ceiling is low, you can reach up. You might think of standing on a safe stool, rather than on a chair, with somebody else to steady you, steady the chair, and check you don't fall, or catch you. Another way is to push up with a broom handle. This means keeping the broom nearby.

Some alarms have a cover which can be removed to check batteries, after the base is screwed to the ceiling. 

Portable Alarms

An alarm which changes colour for carbon  monoxide, and sticks on, can be taken with you and affixed in a rental property. Stick it on the flat surface of a cupboard. Write yourself a note or set an alarm to remind yourself to remove it after your last meal, before leaving the property if you are temporarily overseas.

Got a gap year? Want to increase your skills? Retired? Take a course in plumbing or electricity and qualify. This could be a source of employment and income. Save you time and money. 

If you are not qualified to do the work, you can still save time and money by briefing the workers. Enable you to check that workers are doing the right thing. Help you to choose suitable equipment. Youtube has loads of videos on how to fix simple things like smoke alarms. 

Below are what I have found. Not items I have tried and recommended. But useful links so you can start your investigation quickly.

PS

Rather than only being alerted to a fire after the event, consider fire prevention.

What to avoid? As we have learned from the tragic fire in Switzerland at New Year 2026, keep flames away from anything flammable and if possible, avoid using candles, incense, indoor and outdoor fireworks, pyrotechnics, furniture without a fire label (and don't remove the labels).

The oven should be cleaned regularly. When my son was a student, a group of boys share a flat. None of them cleaned the oven. Eventually the grease built up and the oven caught fire. 

If you have a dishwasher, some of the removable fittings can be washed in the dishwasher. If it does nto clean them completely, after one or two long wash cycles, you may find that the warmth of the dishwasher has loosened the grease well enough to make it faster and easier to clean by hand afterwards.

Useful Websites on Fires

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Monoxide-Detector-Rechargeble-Working/dp/B0DP2DDTPK/ref=s

'Which' UK consumer guides

Wikipedia

Wikihow

Youtube

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/vaud-bans-pyrotechnics-in-bars-and-restaurants/90747380?utm_source=multiple&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=news_en&utm_content=o&utm_term=wpblock_teaser-wide-card-query-list

https://www.britishfireworksassociation.co.uk/

https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/fireworks/

Update 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15534415/Boyfriend-waitress-killed-Swiss-inferno-reveals-hour-long-battle-try-save-life-truth

Jewish Book Week in London, the USA Yiddish Museum and the Jewish Sherlock Holmes !

 

Jewish book week, an annual event, takes place in London in late February, 28 Feb to March 8th in 2026.

I read through all the events, which feature authors, as well as a couple of workshops where you can do your own writing.

Some of the events you must pay for in advance. Others are free. But free events are still ticketed, so that presumably the limited number of seats are allocated on a 'first come first served' basis, in this case first applied first allocated seats

The venue is near, about 8 minutes walk from, Kings Cross and St Pancras station.

Subjects covered range from biblical era stories - researching the book of Esther as seen my Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Famous names pop up from the pop world, Bob Dylan.  And songwriter Carole King. 

New books, new looks at the Kindertransport, the Holocaust, modern Israel, the hostages and Israelis working with Palestinian Arabs from or in Gaza.

My favourite new discovery was the translation of a book translated from Yiddish about a Yiddish speaking detective, called the Jewish Sherlock Holmes. Fifteen stories of drama and disguise, rescuing a kidnapped girl being just one of them.

An amusing book to read on holiday. And I discovered a holiday destination, connected with the Yiddish language.

The Yiddish library in Massachusetts on a university campus. 

They run Yiddish language course, have a Yiddish music festival, and have an online bookshop.

Yiddish Book Centre. USA.

Useful Websites

UK

https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/jewish-book-week

USA

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

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

Watch the Barry sisters singing Rumania in Yiddish with a translation, an old film from the Thirties on You Tube. But my favourite version is the comical version by New York tenor, Moshe Schulhof. The song was by Aaron Lebedeff, written in 1923, but he died in 1960 and music copyright lasts 70 years after the death of the composer so it may still be in copyright until 2030. 

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Finding Facts About Fire Alarms & Portable Carbon Monoxide Detector

 When organising events at home or overseas, you might enquire about fire alarms and fire extinguishers or check them yourself.

If in doubt, I try to opt for a lower floor, or a two storey motel. Near the door, or the distant fire escape. 

Could you take your own fire alarm in the car if you are touring and don't know where you will stay and can't ask in advance?

I looked at fire and smoke alarms on line. Who cares about smoke? Smoke is warning that a fire will break out. Also smoke is likely to leave you unconscious and could kill occupants before the fire.

I found smoke alarms for twenty pounds. Then others, supposedly later models, with ten year batteries. However, not suitable for kitchens or bathrooms. And needed fixing on the ceiling with screws. So no use to me as a landlord in the kitchen. But normally you place them in the corridor between the kitchen on bedroom. If your grilled meat is smoking, the alarm goes off. You have to kill the alarm and close the kitchen door. It does stop you filling the kitchen, flat, and adjoining properties with unpleasant cooking smells.

Carbon Monoxide Detector, Portable

Carbon monoxide detector, portable, cheapest tiny fist size £8.50

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D6Z53MG2/ref=sspa_dk_detail

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Finding out the facts about your destination

Finding Facts About the Destination

Most travellers on holiday or business are hoping to find out success stories, how another country does things well, or better, or differently. 

Many countries have a newspapers giving different views, with a popular newspaper first giving the governments news, which you might call PR or propaganda. 

Singapore & Neighbouring Countries

When I travelled from Singapore to Malaysia, I discovered that in the case of any negotiation or dispute between the two countries, you got more information, different information, when you looked at a second newspaper from the same country and then two more from another country.

Now I would expect to hear different accounts. I would expect to see different accounts from newspapers in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

WWI and WW2 -UK, Germany, Singapore, Japan

I would expect the same from any two countries which share borders. Or are in dispute. Obvious neighbours. Countries recently at war. Groups recently at war. And speaking to older people who recall WW2 or their parents accounts, or grandparents stories of WW2 and WW1. The Japanese and Singaporeans would have different information on WW2.

North and South Korea may see things differently. Or even faraway places and those whose capitals are far away, such as the |USA and Russia.

 Different accounts from Greece and Turkey. Different news stories and different accounts of the same story from Belgium and France, Portugal and Spain, Israel and Arab countries (Jerusalem Post and Al Jazeera). India and Pakistan. 

Coffee & Food Names

You may find the same food and drink on the menu under different names. Thick coffee, served in a small cup, appears as Greek coffee, Turkish coffee, Cypriot coffee. You need to know the local name to make yourself understood.

Fun Food Names

You also need to know the local names to bland in to local culture, and avoid giving offense. Even regions can have different language for the same or similar food. In France the pain au chocolat and the chocolatine are both a breakfast bun with a crispy or thicker outside with softer inside with a chocolate filling.

Sometimes it is a great pleasure to find that your familiar and favourite food or drink is available, but listed on a menu in a different name. 

Other times it is a delight to find a new variation on a familiar dish. Or many variations. 

Lonely Planet and Wikitravel have useful advice on how to avoid touchy subjects.

Useful Travel Websites

https://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page

https://wikitravel.org/en/List_of_phrasebooks

https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/collections/guidebooks

https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/collections/ebooks?

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

https://travel.state.gov/en/international-travel/travel-advisories.html

LANDLORDS' PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS WORLDWIDE - TASKS

 

1 LANDORD & OWNER EXPERIENCE

Whilst living overseas, renting in Singapore, I was a landlord in London.

What are the landlord's main problems?

1 Payment of rent - or lack of it. Unemployed tenant. Covid and self-employed worker.

2 Empty flats - insurance, dirt, leaks, vandalism, squatters, expenses of council tax and maintenance.

3 Children - damage and overcrowding.

4 Pets - damage to the flat, the common area, noise annoying neighbours. |New legislation says you cannot refuse to have pets for no good reason. A good reason would be that you are already bound to no pets by your own contract. You might be allergic to animal fur and feathers, as I am. A good tenant might be willing to have pets neutered and wormed and to take out insurance. 

On the plus side, one tenant told me that after a neighbour got a cat, the mice problem ended. 

5 Noise

You can download an ap on a smart phone to check noise.

6 Tenants leaving tenancy early too early or too late

7 Mould

8 Equipment failure.

9 Furnished or unfurnished.

10 Gardening, garage doors, subsidence drains, storm damaging fences and patio doors.

Useful Websites

When the landlord came round and saw the skimpy curtains a few weeks later, he said, I wish you'd told me last month, I could have got them replaced. Now it's too late. Landlord's loss.

The moral is, make sure anything missing or broken is listed on the inventory and recorded in an email immediately. 

It's good for the tenant. And good for the landlord.

 LANDLORD'S problems

Protecting Building From Damage By Movers 

On moving in and out, tenants had to pay management to put protective baffling on the lifts and corridor floors and flat doorways. This is very sensible. 

As a landlord we should have this in the UK. Instead as a landlord, I suffered from complaints that the corridor carpets were ruined by tenants moving in out. 

I have tried to keep the flats fully furnished and not to allow furniture to be moved in and out.

Fire Safety & The Elderly

If you rent out to retirement age people, the advantage is that you don't have children creating noise and damage.

On the other hand, an elderly person might keep burning the toast and setting off the fire alarm.

They might fall over steps outdoors or in a hallway or stairwell and blame the owner or building management if a light bulb has not been fixed instantly. 

The solution to the light bulb problem is to stock replacement bulbs on the premises. The person in charge or changing light bulbs could be the resident porter, or another resident of the building, or the person reporting the problem could collect the key to the light bulb cupboard. 

A whatsapp group for residents could ensure another person provides a ladder, or person to ensure safety of the person changing the light bulb, and the protection of the cupboard from theft. 

Landlord problem - Leaks

In London we had a leaking heated towel rail in the bathroom. I tried two plumbers who were not available. 

I looked online and up popped an ad for a 24/7 service. They wanted about 90 pounds paid upfront, which I paid. They said the plumber was on another job half an hour away. I said ok. 2.30 pm. I go half hour postponement until 4.30 when it was dark. Then I was told the plumber agreed with the tenant to come back next morning. ok. I did not want to drive over in the dark and hang around. Later Sunday the towel rail burst sending water everywhere. The porter called the fire brigade who turned off the water and the electricity.

Next day the plumber arrived. He fitted a new towel rail and charged about nine hundred pounds.

He said that the radiators were on the same system and also likely to leak, and that would be about six thousand pounds. 

I called back the other two plumbers.

One said the towel rail was not on the radiator system but on a separate system which was turned off under the bath. 

The other one said that the towel rail on the hot water system should not have been stainless stell, which you identified by attaching a magnet. 

The original plumbing company would not tell me the maker or guarantee of the towel rail and said the guarantee was from their company. I would not let them do any more work for me because of their huge prices and unhelpfulness. The staff on the phone were very soothing and knowledgeable. But the plumber had not turned up in time. I then had to spend another thousand or so on replacing the wooden floor of the hall which was flooded, plus the disruption of time spent choosing flooring, pulling up the old damaged flooring, wait for concrete floor to dry, survey, choosing new flooring - I refused to have glue down flooring because I'd had that previously and when replaced, the carpet fitters said the wrong glue was used and instead of pulling up sheets, you had to chip off the stuck down panels inch by inch which took hours and cost me a lot. Glue could also be a fire risks.

Landlord problems - Fire Alarms and Extinguishers

After the New Year's Eve fire in Switzerland, I am now looking at supplying a fire alarm, fire extinguisher, and fire blanket. I am included to not get the fire blanket. Neither I nor any other amateur would be likely to risk getting close enough to put down a fire blanket.  Spraying powder or anything else from a distance is more likely to be done.

FINDING A NEW TENANT

DIY

Advantage

Advertise online for free or low cost.

Disadvantage

You could be inundated by time wasting replies and costly research into credit worthiness of people who turn out to have no income, to be bad payers, to have criminal records, bad references for damaging property, overcrowding and creating mould. Old tenant not leaving, so your prospective new tenant is lost or you cannot move back into your former home and take up a job or get married. 

Agencies

Management

Landlords' best practice

For landlords

1 Answer immediately. 

2 Fix problems quickly. 

3 Use check-a trade. 

4 Ask your local whatsapp group for reliable plumbers, electricians and other workers such as gardeners, fence builders, drain fixers.

The tenant is not a friend, but a business contact. 

Keep calm and carry on.

My family say,

 'It's not a problem, it's a task. Everything collapses after twenty years and needs replacing. That's what money is for.

Check reviews on Websites on tradespersons and businesses

checkatrade.com

tripadvisor.co.uk

Useful Websites on Fire Alarms

https://www.fireprotectiononline.co.uk/small-kitchen-fire-safety-bundle

£56.12 for smoke alarm, fire blanket and fire extinguisher (powder).

..................................

https://simplyextinguishers.co.uk/landlord-fire-safety-bundle

£46.79

.....................

Fire extinguisher and bracket 

£16.49 on ebay

.................................................

https://www.fireandsafetycentre.co.uk/collections/quantity-discount-available

£38.27 triple bundle

You might also want a carbon monoxide detector.

You can buy a combined smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm.

also check ebay, amazon, lidl and asda. costco uk and costco usa.