Tour Tales
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| ETBD! Say it and they will come. |
Every month we feature funny or inspiring anecdotes from Rick Steves' tour alums. If you have a true tour tale to share, send it to stories@ricksteves.com. If you have a photo that illustrates it, please attach it. Don't forget to tell us which city and state you live in. We'd love to hear from you!
Learning Turkish...sort of
A few years ago, we were on a Rick Steves Turkey tour. Throughout the tour, our Turkish guide would call out in accented English, "ETBD!" whenever she wanted to get our group's attention. We knew that when she referred to Europe Through the Back Door in that manner, it was the signal to gather together so we could continue on our way.
Anyone who has ever been to Turkey knows that the language presents special problems for those attempting to learn even basic words. At the end of our tour, one of the women was proudly recounting to her husband the Turkish words she'd learned. In amongst the phrases she recited was an interesting one: Ittih biddih. When her husband asked about the word and its meaning, she didn't miss a beat. "Don't you know?" she asked. "Ittih biddih is Turkish for 'come on, let's go!'"
— Mary in The Dalles, OR
Fine print: We reserve the right to edit and post all Tour Tales submissions. Please provide us with your full name and city/state. We will not print your last name or email address in Tour News.