Путёвка: package tour
I just
heard the saddest thing. I was bemoaning the fact that for the first time in my
life at the end of May I haven’t gotten out my summer wardrobe, put away my
wool coats, or changed my car tires back to summer tread, when someone said: “Зачемменять–то? Осеньначинаетсячерезтримесяца!” (Why change them? Autumn begins
in three months.)
Just let
that sink in.
And once it
has, you’ll want to book the fastest plane south for some sun. To help you do
that, here’s a little travel primer.
First,
booktransportation. Sayboldly: Я хочу забронировать авиабилет
на курорт в Турции. (I want to
book a plane ticket to a resort in Turkey.) Clarify: Туда и обратно. (Roundtrip.) Thinkagain: Или только туда. (Or just one way.) To make life
easy, book путёвка (a package tour). If you are desperate, poor or both, look for горящиетуры (last-minute travel offers, literally a “hot tours”).
These are package tours that travel agencies have already paid for but haven’t
sold, and they sell them for a song at the last minute.
Once you
have your ticket, you need to shop. If you want to lie in the sun, the verb you
need to remember is загорать (to tan), and buy лосьондлязагара (tanning lotion). If you are
fair-skinned, the verb you need to remember is сгорать (to burn), and you should buy
jumbo-sized солнцезащитный крем (sunscreen). It’s not hard to choose, since
Russian labels use “SPF” and numbers like elsewhere in the world. But you might
ask the salesperson for крем с самой высокой степенью защиты (sunscreen with
the highest level of protection) or, say, водостойкий (waterproof) if you plan to
be hopping in and out of the water.
Then make a
list of what to bring: солнцезащитные
or тёмные очки (sunglasses);
майки (T-shirts);
шорты (shorts);
нижнеебельё (underwear); плавки (swimming trunks for men); купальники (bathing suits for women);
and of course — вьетнамки, which are not, as they sound, Vietnamese women, but that beach
essential — flip flops.Some people
might bring бикини, which
is, happily, just what it sounds like (bikini). And be sure to stock up on
another beach necessity: пляжноечтиво (beach books).
Next up:
time to pack. The old way of talking about this involved the verb собирать (to gather together, to pack)
and noun сборы,
usually used in the phrase сборывдорогу (packing, getting things together for your trip). You can
ask for help: Помогимне, пожалуйста, собратьчемодан (Could
you please help me pack my suitcase?) The answer might use that native Russian verb
or the borrowed упаковать (to pack). Самупакуйсвойчемодан. (Pack
your own suitcase.)
Before you
go, make sure you have key items in your carry on (ручнаякладь): деньги, билеты, документы, зарядные устройства (money, tickets, documents and chargers). Finally:
убратьквартиру (clean your apartment); вынестимусор (take out the trash); закрытьокнаизадёрнутьшторы (close
the windows and curtains); and отключитьводуиэлектроприборы (turn off the water and unplug appliances).
What’s left? Присестьнадорожку (sit for a moment before your trip) and you’re an official
отдыхающий (vacationer). When you neighbor says: Приятного вам отдыха! (Have a good vacation!), you say: Счастливооставаться! (Have a good time at home!)
Поехала! (I’m
out of here!)
Michele A.
Berdy is a Moscow-based
translator and interpreter, author of “The Russian Word’s Worth,” a collection
of her columns. Follow her on Twitter @MicheleBerdy.