Probably one of my favorite things to do is identifying world racers. Every once in a while there will be more than 1 squad in a country. This especially happens in Asia. Every time I saw a group of gringos in their 20s i’d play the game “world race team or not?”. Here’s some ways to identify world racers:
1. Wifi!! Where 2 or 3 world racers are gathered, there is wifi. If you see a group of gringos glued to their devices at a cafe, they could be world racers.
2. Chacos and daypacks- this is apparently a world race staple. This girl right here didn’t even know what chacos were.
3. Non matching clothes- most days we throw on whatever is clean. 90% of the time it does not match.
4. Conservative clothes – most cultures abroad frown upon having a lot of exposed skin. Many even do not women to wear pants. Here’s the difference bet tourists and racers: tourists will wear shorts and tank tops if it’s hot out. Racers will wear tshirts and skirts or pants that fall below the knees, regardless of the ratchet temperatures.
5. Bandanas and head buffs – some rock them to be cute. Some of us have more bad hair days than we can count, #letsbereal
6. Charades – We speak very slowly and often with hand gestures. We are so used to struggling to communicate with people we’ve become charades masters.
7. Personal space bubble – we don’t have that. Upon arriving anywhere we tend to make it our own. We have so much stuff and it spreads to every inch of an area we are given.
8. Chargers and devices – we make 1 outlet work for 20 people and will flood every available outlet within sight, especially on travel days. You know those charging stations at airports? We own those!
9. Wifi searching – we’ve become those people who have their devices mid air and a frustrated face searching for a signal.
Soooo, if you ever see a group of gringos and they fit more than 1 of the above, they might just be world racers. Say hello for me 🙂
Stay Blessed
Kim 🙂
