Backpacker Nicknames for Places / Sites /Events

You're right, sf, I think people in Jo'burg say Jo'burg too, so maybe that disqualifies it for purposes of this thread.

I've heard Chi-town from travelers to Chicago, but I don't know if Chicagoans use it too. Where's NorthAmerican?

The only one I can think of is "the book" to mean Lonely Planet.

I once accidentally ended up in a Lonely Planet recommended hostel in Chengdu.

I asked the manager if there were any decent hostels in the next town I was headed to and he said "Yeah, such-and-such's. It's in the book".

I've heard travelers refer to the various travel guides (LP, Roughguide, etc.) as their 'the bible".

Although I have done a good bit of traveling.. I can't recall many slang names for festivals / places / events even though I recall using them at the time.

(1) Yep, BKK - is the airport acronym but I have always used it to mean Bangkok.

Of course there is the S.American 'Gringo Trail', Norther India 'Golden Triangle' and S.E Asia 'Banana Pancake Trail'

thinking hard but still can't recall others...I know the Israelis travellers have their particualr names for trails as well.

Maybe these names become so second nature, they are difficult to recall!

would possibly say saffer was more of a backpacker/traveller term for the only reason that I have never heard the expression used by anyone other than people who have travelled on a gap year.

I've heard it used a lot in London among non-backpackers in reference to South Africans here.

names from australia in the the 80s

bangkok, singapore and hong kong were bangkers, singkers, honkers (not bangers)

What is "Garlands..The Beach)"?

Take a look at this thread Yangers, Bangers, Singers. These terms are certainly not limited to backpackers.

According to an LP guidebook, Dogubayazit, Turkey, is called "doggie biscuit." I've never heard that.

Backpacker jargon

From a blog
>In Israeli backpacker jargon, there are 2 main ¨galim¨ (waves) travelling in South America. The southbound one (gal hayored) and the northbound one (gal haoleh). We would fall under the southbound wave since we started out in Peru and made our way south to Bolivia and then Argentina. The waves roughly move on at the same speed so that once you meet someone from a specific wave, you assume the others can´t be too long in joining him. In addition to these main waves, there are those amusing ones that people make up themselves-gal hamitakeiv (the delayed wave) for those who keep getting stuck in a place, gal hamebulbal (the confused wave) for those who change their direction in the middle etc. etc.

From a book about backpackers:
>In the jargon of Israeli travelers in INdia, the young adult travelers are called ha-mitnahalim--the "settlers." This expression is borrowed from Israeli political-military jargon for Israelis who settle in the territories that were conquered int eh 1967 war.

You might have better luck posting to some of the destination branches, to ask "do backpackers have nicknames for any of your cities?" If yo post to the US branch, be aware that not only is there no "backpacker circuit," but the term "backpacker" in the US means someone who heads out on foot into the wilderness with a backpack full of gear, including tent and stove.

If you're going to write a University Paper about this, I think you should know that 'Jogja' is short for 'Yogyakarta', not 'yogacharya' (which means 'yoga teacher').
'Jogja' is from the Dutch spelling 'Jogjakarta', although it's pronounced with English 'j' sounds. Indonesians often pronounce 'Yogyakarta' with English 'j' sounds when talking to tourists.

Not sure if this quite counts but I did realise one thing which used to be common amongst my friends in the UK when talking to those returning to NZ or Australia. We would say "see you on the flip side" or "Catch you on the flip side".

The expression itself is certainly not specific to backpackers, and it does have a few different meanings, but I do recall that the only time we used it was when saying goodbye to people returning home. So it had a backpacker/gap year/travel abroad kind of meaning if nothing else.

It is possibly unclear whether we were equating the flip side with the Southern Hemisphere, or equating the Southern Hemisphere with 'the next life' (other meaning of 'the flip side').

What about all the random names you've come across for either bars or bathrooms? I've heard SO many.

"Where's the best watering hole?" jumps to mind....