Seeing how girls swoon over Gael's foreign charm, Ted and Barney decide to pose as out-of-towners in order to score chicks. Meanwhile, Robin loses her sense of relaxation she'd acquired in Argentina, and Lily and Marshall write letters to each other that are to be read if one dies before the other.
This episode provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Economics: Marshall's and Lily's subplot involves them writing their death letters, with information for their spouse to make use of after they die. Lily's includes her bank information so Marshall can close out her accounts, for example. That's all crap; every organization like a bank or Facebook is perfectly aware that people die all the time and they have provisions in place so grieving relatives can take care of that stuff relatively easily. That's not to say it's a bad idea, however; Marshall's loving letter is, ironically, far more practical than Lily's, since the sort of information she gives changes pretty frequently over the course of a person's life.
- Artistic License – Geography: The portrayals of Argentina in Robin's flashbacks, big time. It seems the creators see Argentina as a mix between Hawaii, Philippines and Mexico, inhabited by a white tribe of sub-Saharan Africans with a Mexican accent. The show portrays what looks like a Caribbean island more reminiscent of Hawaii, or Southeast Asia, full of hippies, nature lovers, and the like, living in communal shacks or tents, in the wilderness, having sex in public (with a Mexican accent, which sounds extremely different to an Argentinian accent).In real life, there are very small towns, but there are no tribal villages. While there are beaches on the ocean shore, most of them are too far south, making it quite cold, even in summer. Not to mention that the water is barely above the 10ºC (even in summer). There are mountains, but nowhere near the ocean: as a matter of fact, they're at the other side of the country. And both recreational and medicinal drug use is illegal as is female nudity (both of which the show portrays as a normal, everyday occurrence). Some of the hippies, nudity, and drug use could be explained by Robin only visiting a wild tourist resort, but this was not explicit, and to say that Argentinian fans were pissed at the implication that this portrayal represented their entire country is a major understatement.
- Berserk Button: Ted and Barney put up with a lot of crap from the girls they're trying to bed, but Ted loses it when they say that where they live in Jersey is "pretty much New York".
- Catapult Nightmare: Robin flings herself up as she wakes up from her sex dream with herself, or rather the relaxed version of herself from the vacation.
- Desk Sweep of Passion: Gael likes showing his passion to Robin this way. When they're in Argentina and he sweeps off some fruit with the words "I must have you" and sits her on the table, Robin is turned on. When he sweeps off stuff in her New York apartment, she just desperately cries, "Ooh, Laptop! Laptop! Laptop!"
- Erotic Dream: Robin has a dream about kissing the vacation version of herself. She wakes up in horror, but later talks about it with Barney and says that vacation Robin may be sandy, but that chick knows what she likes.
- Everyone Looks Sexier if French: Robin returns to New York from her vacation with an Argentinian boyfriend. Every woman in the pub seems to fall for Gael's effortless foreign charm, his accent, his stories etc. Ted and Barney envy him and pretend to be out-of-towners to score hot chicks as well. It works even though they only play tourists from Missouri.
- Foreshadowing: "I will do a lot to get laid, but I am not going to New Jersey!"
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the flash-forward to Marshall's future, there's a newspaper clipping visible over his shoulder with the headline: "NYC Lawyer Captures Nessie".
- When the girls reveal they are from New Jersey, Barney's expression shows that he is in full agreement with Ted, but he quickly recomposes himself in hopes of salvaging the situation.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Barney is immediately intrigued when Robin mentions that she had a second dream about Vacation Robin, and nods approvingly when she adds that they went "all the way."
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: Barney is ecstatic that he, Ted, and two girls they're lying to get mugged because that means they'll get really great sex as a consolation.Barney: We and two beautiful women just survived a mugging. Do you know what that means?Ted: 'Thank God we're alive' sex?Barney: 'Thank God we're alive' sex! It's even better than 'I can't believe you just proposed to me' sex, which I've only had like, four or five times.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Ted goes on his elitist anti-New Jersey rant, he asks the police officer if he can escort him and Barney home just like their dates. The officer reveals he's a Newark native and leaves them there to fend for themselves.
- Oh, Crap!: Barney realizes what Ted's going to do when the girls say New Jersey and is pretty much the same as New York.Barney: Oh boy, here it comes.
- Romantic Spoonfeeding: One of Gael's ways of showing his love. He feeds Robin some fruit. He only uses his fingers, and it's even more intimate than using a spoon. It turns Robin on. However, when he uses his fingers to feed her some spaghetti and sauce with sensual "here, taste, experience your food", she's just nervous that he's gonna ruin her sofa.
- Screw Yourself: Robin sees the version of herself on vacation in her dream. It ends when Vacation Robin tries to kiss her. At the end of the episode, she admits to Barney that Vacation Robin showed up again, and this time they went all the way.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Since Gael is not a native English speaker, this is invoked by the gang to continue discussing Robin and Gael's relationship without him knowing after he arrives at the bar.Barney: I'm telling you, in three days- [Gael enters]Lily: Oh, he's here, switch to big words!Barney: Uh...within a triad of solar periods, you'll recognize your dearth of compatibility with your paramour and conclude your association.Robin: My journey was transformative, and I reassert my commitment to the aforementioned paramour and the philosophy he espouses.Barney: [Patting Gael on the shoulder] This is all going to return to masticate you in the gluteal...support my hypothesis, Ted!Ted: I'm simply jubilant my former paramour is jubilant.
- Tempting Fate: Invoked by Ted and Barney to screw with Marshall.
