[下午6:04, 1/5/2024] Kitlong: Hong Kong people love to travel. They mostly choose nearby places such as Japan, Thailand, and South Korea for short holidays. Some go further afield to Europe or elsewhere for longer vacations. I have a friend who prefers going to places that are off the beaten track. To travel further afield means to travel a long distance away. If a place is off the beaten track, or off the beaten path, it is a remote place where not many people or tourists go. My friend likes to have vacations in such places.

He has been on a safari in South Africa, visited the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia, and has just returned from Peru where he went to places that were off the beaten track. Much of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, but parts of it can be accessed in eight other countries, including Bolivia and Peru. I have been to many places, including Lebanon, Nepal, Turkey, Australia, Japan, South Korea, different countries in Europe, and many cities in the US and Canada. Now that I am footloose and fancy-free, I want to travel in a way that is more exciting.

If you are footloose and fancy-free, it means you are free to do what you like and go where you like because you have no responsibilities. I became footloose and fancy-free after I quit my TV shows and newspaper columns in 2021 but mostly visited relatives in the US. Now I want to visit the Grand Canyon in Arizona, see the northern lights in Scandinavia, and travel across the US on an Amtrak train with a private room so I can enjoy the different sceneries.

香港人熱愛旅遊。他們大多會選一些鄰近的地方，例如日本、泰國和南韓作短途旅遊。有些則會去遠方（further afield）的歐洲或者別處來個長一點的假期。我有一位朋友則情願去一些偏遠的（off the beaten track）地方。To travel further afield是指去很遠的地方作長途的旅行。若一個地方是 off the beaten track或 off the beaten path，意即它是偏僻、人迹罕至、不會有太多遊客到訪的。我的朋友就喜歡到這些地方度假。

他就曾到南非參與野生動物觀賞之旅、到訪玻利維亞的亞馬遜熱帶雨林，剛剛又從秘魯回來，在那裏他去了一些人迹罕至的地方（off the beaten track）。亞馬遜熱帶雨林主要在巴西，但也有一部分可以從其他八個國家到達，包括玻利維亞和秘魯。我也去過許多地方，包括黎巴嫩、尼泊爾、土耳其、澳洲、日本、南韓、歐洲各國，以及美國和加拿大的許多城市。現在我已是 footloose and fancy-free，我想用更刺激的方式去旅行。

若你是 footloose and fancy-free，意即你自由自在、無拘無束，喜歡做甚麼便做甚麼，愛去哪裏便去哪裏，因為沒有負擔。我自從於二零二一年辭掉我的電視節目主持工作以及好些報章的專欄後，便無工一身輕（footloose and fancy-free），但我主要還是到美國探訪親友。現在我想到訪亞利桑那州的大峽谷、去北歐斯堪地那維亞看北極光，以及搭乘美鐵 Amtrak，住火車上的私人套房在美國穿州過省，好能享受沿途不同的風光。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻