The new phrases you need on holiday
I’ve been away. Sorry. Away away, on an actual aeroplane, long haul, for work. (Who am I trying to kid? It was the reopening of Richard Branson’s Necker Island, for the travel section. Check it out in yesterday’s paper.) You can tell how long it’s been because I just had to check how to spell “aeroplane”. I am now so proficient at nasal tests, medical types applaud, crying: “Great swab!”
If anyone tries to tell you that the form filling is straightforward, treat them with the scorn they deserve. Necker is a green-zone destination, and still it was akin to having to work out one’s astrological chart in each new queue: only on a mobile, at 4am, in Urdu, complete with Kafka-esque officials looming over you, suspicious that you weren’t aware that your moon was in Capricorn.
Happily, the languagelearning types at Busuu have compiled a list of phrases to help us out. “J’ai eu le vaccin AstraZeneca,” we will chirp. “¿Necesita ver el resultado de mi PCR?” “Mi scusi, è da un po’ che non esco dal Regno Unito!” And, most vital of all, three different ways of expressing: “Is alcohol allowed here?”