The Accidental Tourist Class 9 English, Moments – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings

The Accidental Tourist is an amusing story by Bill Bryson who shares his experiences during air travels. He finds himself involved in difficult and embarrassing situations as a tourist. He has a confused personality and is always in troubles. His tendency to cause unintentional accidents makes the story humorous and entertaining. Bill Bryson is a narrator of the story and keeps on committing blunders whenever he is travelling. Bill Bryson’s Wife , narrator’s wife knows that the narrator commits mistakes while travelling. So, she asks her children to help the narrator whenever they are travelling together.

Summary

The narrator believed that he is not at all good at living in the real world. He felt amazed at how other people were able to do things so easily which he was unable to perform. He got easily confused. At many times he was unable to find the lavatory (washroom) in a cinema. He also forgets his hotel room number. He goes two or three times in a day at the hotel desk to enquire about the room number.

 

On Easter, the narrator went to England with his family for a week. On the Logan Airport in Boston, he suddenly remembered that he had a discount card of British Airways frequent flyer programme. The card was kept in the carry on bag. When the narrator tried to open his bag he found that the zip of the bag was jammed. He pulled the zip harder in anger. The zip of bag broke up and all things like tin of pipe tobacco, magazines, passport, papers, money, etc. were spread over a large area. Suddenly, he realised that his finger got injured in the incident and it was bleeding. His wife looked at him with wonder as he had caused so much mess.

The narrator always had mis happenings while travelling in an aeroplane that resulted into inconvenience to many passengers. Once on a flight, the narrator bent to tie his shoelace and someone on the seat ahead of him pushed his seat back. The back of the seat hitted the narrator’s head. He had to hold the leg of the other passenger to manage his position. On another flight, he dropped soft drink on the lady sitting beside him.

The flight attendant helped her clean up and got him another drink. He also dropped the second glass on that lady. He was confused on how it happened. The worst experience on the flight was once happened when the narrator was writing his thoughts in a notebook. He was sucking the other end of the pen from time to time and also talking to a woman seated beside him. After sometime, when he went to the washroom, he saw that the ink had leaked from his pen and made his mouth, teeth, gums and chin navy blue in colour.

The narrator wanted to be suaved (civilised). He wanted to leave the dining table neat and clean. He wanted that whenever he sits in the car, he should not leave the sleeve of his coat stuck in the door. He does not wanted to stain his light coloured trousers by sitting on various things.

On the flight, when narrator’s family was served meals, his wife directed the children to cover their heads with the hood to save themselves from the mess that their father (narrator) would create while eating. To keep himself away from any mishap, the narrator does not eat, drink or bend to tie his shoelaces when he travels alone. He sits very quietly and keeps his hands under him to prevent them from moving. He did not enjoy sitting like that but it helped him saving the laundary expenditure.

The narrator was a frequent traveller but he never got his discount on air miles. He must fly 100,000 miles a year but he had gathered only about 212 air miles from twenty three airlines. The reasons were that sometimes he forgot to ask for air miles or sometimes the airlines did not record them.

Once the narrator was travelling to Australia from which he was going to get about a Zillion air miles. But, he cannot get any discount on miles because the clerk told him that his name on the ticket was B Bryson while the name on the card was W Bryson. Consequently, he does not got any air miles and also he could not travel to Bali in first class.

 

Extra Questions

(1) Why was the author dumbstruck at the Logan Airport when he was checking in?

(2) How did the author open his carry on bag at the airport? What happened?

(3) How did the author react when the contents of the luggage flew in the air?

(4) Why was the author pinned on the floor once when he flew in an aeroplane?

(5)  How did Bill Bryson end up in a crash position in the air craft?

(6) How did the accidental tourist annoy the lady in the plane?

(7) What was the author’s worst experience on a plane flight? Why?

(8) This has become a real frustration for me. What is this and how does it arise?

(9) Why could he not get his frequent flyer miler?

(10) What made the author’s finger bleed? What was his wife’s reaction?

(11) Why did Bill hair go into panic mode?

(12) Do you think it is normal to behave the way Bill Bryson does at times ? Give reason for your answer?

(13) Describe the incident relating to the opening of the zip of the carry-on bag by the author?

(14) Why did Bill Bryson’s teeth and gums look navy blue?

(15) How did the lady react when the Bill Bryson dropped his soft drink in her lap for the second time?

(16) Give the character sketch of Bill Bryson as the most confused person?

(17) It is mandatory for the flight crew to go out of their way to ensure the comfort of the passengers? Do you agree? Give reasons taking reference from the story ” The Accidental Tourist”?

(18) Do you think the narrator’s attitude and activities were responsible for his suffering during the flights?

(19) Who is the accidental tourist? Why is he called so?

(20) Where did the narrator go on a big trip with his family? What did he search for in his bag at that time?

(21) Describe the lady’s reaction on whom the narrator dropped the soft drink twice?

(22) What precautions were taken by the narrator to avoid mischief when travelling alone?

(23) How do you know that the narrator family is aware of his situation?

(24) Why was the author unable to get the air miles?

(25) What is the author of the story “The Accidental Tourist ” Not good at ?

(26) Why did the author take a tobacco tin on his trip to London? What happened to it?

 

Word Meanings
lavatory	washroom, toilet
alley	a narrow passageway between or behind buildings
yanked	to pull with a jerk
budge	move
consternation	a feeling of anxiety
abruptly	suddenly
dumbstruck	unable to speak due to shock or surprise
fluttery	lightly
cascade	things falling or rushing forth one by one
blivion	the state of being unaware or unconscious
concourse	a larger open area inside or in front of public building
disgorging	pouring something out
gashed	make a long, deep cut in
shedding	falling
hysteric	a wildly emotional and exaggerated reaction
exasperation	a feeling of intense irritation or annoyance
perch	seat
stupefied	astonished and shocked
uttered	spoken
scattering	speaking
urbane	polite and confident
bons mots	witty remarks
suave	charming, confident and elegant
zillion	many