by Evelyn J. Mocbeichel
Whether you waited until children were finished with school or for your work schedule vacation weeks that had to be secured, you are free to travel now. Perhaps you drove, took a train or a plane to get to your destination. We normally simply call it time off, vacation or going on a getaway, but there are so many other expressions to describe this precious time we look forward to all year long.
Remembering an old expression my grandmother used to describe someone that was “out and about”, “here and there”, she’d say someone was out “gallivanting”. It can be described as wandering about and off seeking pleasure through travels. However, I think my grandmother used it to describe someone that was not in a place he or she was expected to be. To me it was said in a negative connotation, at the time. Another expression my mom used is “traipse” especially when she was talking to us children. Most often it was in the context of, “I just washed the kitchen floor, so don’t traipse through it”. She’d never just say, don’t walk on the kitchen floor, it’s wet. Today’s interpretation of the word traipse is often a more modern, relaxed manner of travel, to go here and there, perhaps with no exact destination in mind. This is a good word to describe college graduates spending the summer exploring Europe and will just traipse country to country without a schedule in mind. Another word to evoke worldwide travel is globetrotter, which is someone that goes to many countries, perhaps on a fairly frequent or regular basis, whether for work or pleasure. In fact, I think there is a cable program with that same name that features the host exploring different countries each week for viewers to enjoy. There is yet another term for someone that is a worldwide traveler and that is wayfarer. Perhaps not as common, nor popular, it came into the English language back in the 1400s. It describes someone that usually travels by foot in his/her explorations. The word wayfarer was such a great name to use that Ray-Ban sunglasses adopted it as a name for a pair of their top model sunglasses. These glasses were made even more popular back in the 1980’s when the classic film, Risky Business came out. It was Tom Cruise’s breakout role and in the film he was sporting Wayfarer sunglasses. Naturally, most people that saw the film remember the other iconic scene where a young Cruise slides across the room in his briefs, socks and button down shirt and pretends he is a rock and roller! Can you believe that film was made 35 years ago? So whatever mode you decide to use for your travels this summer or what word you use, have a safe and wonderful journey! Happy Vacation!
