Travelling

Introduction

Travelling is a part of life of each of us. If you don’t live in a town you work or go to school you have to commute. Travelling could be also a hobby. Lots of young people like to travel through Europe or America or if they are rich round the world. They found new places, new culture, meet new people. A lot of people travel for their holiday for examle to the see or to the mountains. Some people travel abroad to learn new language or to earn some exta money for examle AU-PAIR. It is a job for some people, for instance travel agents, managers professional sportsmen, singers etc. Some people travel far away from their home because of starting new life in a place where they can be free where nobody knows them and where they can be on their own.

Disadvantages: smugling, dangerous – we can met bad people, we can get lost, be murdered, money can be stolen, in dangerous places it’s better to take a guide, travelling spoils the nature – environmentaly unfriendly, time consuming, diseases – insurance, find some informations about a place, take some vaccinations, boil water

Means of transport

by bus – quite fast, cheap, crowded, dirty, careless drivers, dangerous in some places, uncomfortable – lack of place, usually no toilet in a bus, no privacy, can get everywhere

by train – fast, cheap, more comfortable – more space, more privacy, sleeping and dining cars, toilettes, can’t get everywhere, for long distances, less dangerous than a bus

by plain – for a long way, comfortable, expensive, food including, less dangerous, very fast, if you go with a travel agency you have to be at the airport two hours before

by bike – cheap, healthy, good for environment, you can get everywhere, stop where you want, slow, very dangerous, problems with luggage

on foot – the cheapest kinds of travelling, healthy, keeps you fit, improves your condition, slow, for short distances, dangerous when you are alone

on boat – slow, only at the places where is the water, could be cheap of expensive, noisy, not so dangerous

hitchhiking – very cheap, could be fast or slow, dangerous

double decker – in London

romantic: going on yacht, canoeing, gliding, hot-air ballooning, windsurfing

for young: roller-skating, skateboarding

commuting: tram, underground, taxi

At the airport, railway station, at the customs

Railway station

main hall (hlavní hala); ticket office(single, return, season ticket) (výdej jízdenek, pokladna); inquires office (informace); booking off (seat reservations) (rezervace); waiting room (čekárna); left luggage off (úschovna zavazadel); luggage locker (skříňka na zavazadla); restaurant; book stall; phone box; men’s; ladie’s; rest room (odpočívárna); time table (jízdní řád); arrivals and departues board (delay) (příjezd a odjezd (zpoždění)); entrance (vstup); exit-platform (nástupiště); passenger train (osobák); goods train (náklaďák); fast (rychlík); stopping; expres (rychlík); get on (nastoupit); get off (vystoupit); coach (vagón); compartment (kupé); window corner, vacant (prázdné) seat; rack (polička); dining car; sleeper; non-smoker; ticket collector = conductor (průvodčí), corridor (chodba); road transport (silniční doprava); passenger transport (osobní doprava); public transport (hromadná doprava); goods transport (nákladní); airship (vzducholoď); station lobby (nádražní hala); change at (přesedat v); delay (zpoždění); direct (přímo); check (odbavit)

Phrases:

How often do train run from … to? Can you tell me the last (early morning) train to…? What’s the fare to…? How much is a single to…? Would you mind if I pull down (up) he window? I turn on (off) the heat, you kept the seat for me, you kept an eye on my bag for a minute; Excuse me, is there a seat left? Is this seat taken? Where are we now? Do you happen to know how many stops for…?

Airport

Air company (letecká společnost); air terminal (terminál); check in (odbavení); the exit gate (východ); to weigh one’s luggage (zvážit nečí zavazadla); pilot; hosteless; fasten the seat belts (zapnout si pásy); be requested to stop smoking; hijack a plane (unést letadlo); take off (vzlétnout)

Going abroad, travel agency

You have got two possibilities – you can go with travel agency or you can go alone – arrange your own holiday.

With travel agency  – package holiday – everything is done for you, you need only money, because the travel agency cares about everything – accommodation, booking, ticket for plain or other kinds of transport. But it could be sometimes very dangerous, because if the travel agency bankrupts, you can stay in the foreign country without help. In this case you have to find out our embassy and ask for help. Or it could happen, that you pay for comfort holiday and you get terrible accommodation without bath, air condition…

But it has got a lot of advantages – you have got special program, you can do a lot of trips with a tour guide a get more information about the town, sights, habits…

Own holiday – you have to care about everything only alone, you have to book the place for accommodation, full or half board, tickets or travel with own car, you have to have own insurance, map. But you can do everything what you want, you aren’t depend on other people.

Necessary documents and things: valid passport, visa, we must change the money, insurance for traveling and for whole stay, phone number for embassy,

Transport problems

Buses or cars aren’t very friendly to the environment because of gasses in the atmosphere, which cause green house effect. Gasses cause breathe damages, terrible noise from motor vehicles cause on the human mentality.

We can’t forget the catastrophes in the oceans. Time to time can we hear about oil tankers, which were wrecked. If we look at the transport by plain we can find one big disadvantage, because the plain uses up so much air as a normal person for all life does. Flights in the universe – the spaceships burn big amount of fuel and they also throw the fuel-tanker in the atmosphere and it burns there.

There are many accidents in the streets especially in bad weather. Road-menders aren’t able to clean all of the communications. In our country the streets and highways aren’t very good but we have no money for repairing them. The floods did a lot of damages too. Busses are expensive but they aren’t very good, they don’t go on time to some villages they go only a 4 times a day. The new tickets for busses are problematic too. You have to watch the time and watch the zone. It’s normal that people don’t understand it. The majority of cars in our country don’t have catalysator so they damage the environment. Especially in our country it’s very modern now that the travel agencies goes bankrupt. It’s a pity that we don’t have many cycling tracks so cycling is very dangerous. Skating of roller-skating could be also problem. If skaters don’t have special parks they use normal communications – stairs, banisters…