The French have phrases the English really ought to steal. Here are a few of my favorites (and then we’ll get down to business):

Péché mignon = “cute/ little sin.” Whereas “guilty pleasure” sounds a little ashamed, “my cute little sin” sounds like you’ve ordered another martini and have made total peace with yourself.

C’est la fête du slip = “it’s the underwear party.” Used when things have become chaotic, ridiculous, undisciplined, or everybody’s doing whatever the hell they want. This one deserves immediate English citizenship, right?

Avoir le cul bordé de nouilles = “to have your ass lined with noodles.” It means to be unbelievably lucky. There is no defensible reason English lacks this expression.

Bon vivant = “good living” or “one who lives well.” I wrote about it here and if you haven’t read it yet then I just don’t know what you’re doing with your life.

And the real reason I’m writing this article today is for the French word dépaysement. Dé-what?

The Husband and I were just on a vacation in France (I know! Our asses were lined with noodles!) and our tour guide, Stéphane, used this phrase while carting us from winery to winery to winery. Dépaysement comes from pays (“country”), so it has the lovely literal sense of “un-countrying yourself”… of getting out of your usual environment and experiencing an unfamiliar place.

Stéphane (pictured here wearing his uncle’s shirt from 1976) had lived around the world and knew a thing or two about the pleasure of un-countrying himself.

Dépaysement describes that feeling of being away from your normal surroundings, especially when traveling: a mix of change of scenery, unfamiliarity, disorientation, gobs of cheese, and revitalization. Researchers have confirmed what might sound obvious: the novelty that comes from travel spikes our positive emotions and enjoyment. Here is a scienced-up diagram to prove this to you:

I live a life full of rituals. I am predictable. I love waking up and engaging in the same routine and eating the same cereal. But I also know that eating the same cereal might kill me one day—not because I will choke on the granola (🤞), but because it will slowly suck the life out of me. I could just make a new breakfast every once in a while but I prefer a good dose of dépaysement to help shake up the snow globe of my life. (That’s why I’m co-hosting a trip to Bhutan this upcoming spring. There are still a few spots left if you are interested in joining us. It’s going to be a really beautiful and meaningful and novelty-inducing experience. There will be monkeys.)

When was the last time you un-countryed yourself? Or maybe even un-citied yourself, by spending time in a place like Portland or Boise? You don’t have to engage in a faire des folies while on the road (“do crazy things,” splurge, indulge, behave recklessly—yet another stealable phrase). You could just walk through some new streets and eat at a diner and maybe have a glass of this or that and people watch people who aren’t on the streetcorners of your usual at-home life.

So let’s go dépaysement the crap out of our lives. Or, perhaps said more eloquently by philosopher Dagobert Runes, “cover the earth before it covers you.” Indeed.