Hello, fellow friends and travelers,

A recent article in a German magazine has me thinking about great words that do not exist in the English language.

Here are a few of my favorites:

For the tree hugger:  Shinrin-yoku – Japanese, for “forest bathing,” the “practice of taking a short leisurely visit to a forest for health benefits” (Wikipedia: forest bathing)

For Santa and his helpers, a unit of measurement: Poronkusema – Finnish for “the distance a reindeer could travel before stopping to urinate” (Wikipedia: poronkusema)

For the currently stationary traveler: Fernweh – German for the ache / longing to travel or get far away.

For the budget-conscious: Prozvonit – Czech for initiating a cell phone call and only letting it ring once, so the other person has to call back and you can save on minutes. (See Wiktionary).

And finally, for the art lover: Duende -Spanish for “having soul, a heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity” (Wikpedia: duende), i.e. the power that a work of art can have to deeply move a person.

Happy travels!