Globetrotter
Handle customs questions, visa paperwork, and cultural differences — calmly, in Spanish, out loud.
At the border you'll hear two different checkpoints named: la aduana (customs, where your bags are) and passport control — which most of Latin America just calls migración, not el control de pasaportes. The one question to be ready for is ¿algo que declarar? — anything to declare — and in Argentina expect the voseo version of the purpose question: ¿venís por turismo o trabajo? Paperwork words shift by region too: Latin America says la visa where Spain says el visado. &Be teaches all of this the way you'll actually need it — out loud, answering an official's questions, not on flashcards or fill-in-the-blank forms.
Below: the airport, visa, and embassy vocabulary lesson by lesson, the regional words travelers trip over, and a way to rehearse the whole border crossing before you're standing in the line.
The warm-up pack
The words for the airport, the border, and the visit — said the way you'd actually need them, moving through each one.
01 · What you ask before boarding
¿De qué puerta sale?
What gate does it leave from? (Southern Cone — casual airport phrasing.)
This is the exact question you'll want at the exact moment the departures board stops making sense.
02 · The bag you're keeping with you
¿Tienes el equipaje de mano?
Do you have your carry-on luggage?
El equipaje de mano is the precise term — say 'la maleta' alone and you might get asked to clarify which bag you mean.
03 · The exact words you'll hear at customs
¿Algo que declarar?
Anything to declare?
This isn't a paraphrase — it's the literal phrase customs officers use. Recognizing it instantly means you're not scrambling to translate under pressure.
04 · What the officer actually asks
¿Venís por turismo o trabajo?
Are you here for tourism or work? (Argentina — voseo, said by an official.)
Even officials use voseo in Argentina — knowing that means the question doesn't catch you off guard.
05 · Getting the paperwork started
Necesito sacar la visa.
I need to get the visa.
Sacar la visa is how this gets talked about across Mexico and Central America — more natural than 'obtener' in everyday conversation.
06 · The one document they always check
¿Tienes el pasaporte vigente?
Is your passport valid?
Vigente — valid, current — is the word that actually matters here. A passport with a distant expiry date isn't always vigente for entry rules.
07 · Booking the appointment that unlocks everything
Voy a pedir cita en el consulado.
I'm going to request an appointment at the consulate.
Almost every consular process starts with this exact sentence — worth knowing before you need any of the ones after it.
08 · Explaining it, not excusing it
Es la costumbre acá.
That's the custom here. (Mexico — 'acá' for 'aquí'.)
A short, neutral way to explain a local norm without over-justifying it — said matter-of-fact, not defensively.
09 · Asking instead of assuming
¿Cuál es la costumbre aquí?
What's the custom here?
Asking this first — rather than guessing — is the single move that turns a cultural misstep into a genuine conversation.
10 · The thing you buy before you need it
Necesito el seguro de viaje.
I need travel insurance.
El seguro de viaje is worth saying correctly before a trip — it's not the moment you want to be improvising vocabulary.
11 · The question every time zone forces
¿Qué hora es allá?
What time is it there?
Simple, short, and asked constantly the moment you're coordinating with home from somewhere new.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/globetrotterRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| boarding pass | la tarjeta de embarque | el pase de abordar |
| currency exchange | la casa de cambio | la cueva (informal) |
| money (casual) | la lana / el varo | la plata |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
There's nothing to memorize from a list here. In the Globetrotter lessons you talk your way through the trip with Olivia: she plays out the customs line and you answer ¿algo que declarar? without freezing; she asks about your paperwork and you explain you need to sacar la visa and whether your pasaporte vigente is enough; she turns local and you ask, genuinely curious, ¿cuál es la costumbre aquí? Every word gets said out loud, in a real exchange, before you ever need it at a real border.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Globetrotter is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
The classic is ¿algo que declarar? — anything to declare. At passport control expect a purpose question; in Argentina it comes with voseo: ¿venís por turismo o trabajo? Answer briefly, use usted with officials, and name your documents precisely.
Both are correct — la visa (feminine) in Latin America, el visado in Spain. In Mexico and Central America the everyday phrase for getting one is sacar la visa.
La aduana is customs — where your luggage gets checked and you declare goods. Migración is what Mexico and Central America call passport control, where your pasaporte vigente gets its sello de entrada.
La escala. Related airport essentials: la puerta de embarque (boarding gate) and el equipaje de mano — though in the Caribbean and Mexico you'll often hear la maleta de mano for a carry-on.
El choque cultural. To talk about dealing with it, natives say me cuesta adaptarme — it's hard for me to adapt — which sounds more natural than a bare adaptarse.
