📘 Part 3: Travel and tourism

This episode's vocabulary

Value For Money (noun phrase) – The quality you get compared to how much you pay. → You get better value for money when travelling abroad.

Head Overseas (verb phrase) – To travel to another country. → Many people choose to head overseas for holidays.

Extortionate (adjective) – Unreasonably expensive. → Holiday prices can be extortionate.

Routine (noun) – A regular, repetitive way of life. → People want to escape their daily routine.

Explore (verb) – To travel around and discover a place. → Some people enjoy exploring their own country.

Destination (noun) – The place you are travelling to. → The destination makes the journey worthwhile.

Long Journey (noun phrase) – Travel that takes a long time. → Some people enjoy long journeys.

Sightseeing (noun) – Visiting places of interest. → Sightseeing can make travel more enjoyable.

Prepare (verb) – To get ready in advance. → You need to prepare for a long journey.

Contingent on (phrase) – Dependent on something else. → Preparation is contingent on the type of journey.

Supplies (noun) – Items you need, such as food or equipment. → You need supplies for overland travel.

Mental Preparation (noun phrase) – Getting ready psychologically. → Mental preparation helps with long trips.

Personality Clashes (noun phrase) – Conflicts between people’s characters. → Group travel can involve personality clashes.

Social Experience (noun phrase) – Interaction with other people. → Travelling alone offers less of a social experience.

Economically Viable (adjective phrase) – Financially reasonable or affordable. → Flying is sometimes the most economically viable option.

Travel Freedom (noun phrase) – The ability to travel without restrictions. → Travelling alone gives more travel freedom.

Cultural Exposure (noun phrase) – Experiencing different cultures. → Travelling abroad increases cultural exposure.

Travel Fatigue (noun phrase) – Tiredness caused by long trips. → Long journeys can lead to travel fatigue.

Budget Constraints (noun phrase) – Financial limits. → Budget constraints affect travel choices.

Alternative Transport (noun phrase) – Other ways of travelling besides flying. → Trains can be a good alternative transport option.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Why do some people prefer to travel abroad?

Rory: Well, I mean, have you seen the prices for holidays in this country? It's extortionate. I don't know about other countries, but I do know about mine. You get much better value for money if you head overseas. Plus, the weather is usually nicer in foreign countries, at least compared to my own. If we talk about other places, I suppose people want to escape the more routine and boring aspects of where they live.

Maria: Why do some people prefer to travel in their own country?

Rory: Well, they could be very rich, and they're able to afford the expense of going to nicer places there. Some people also like exploring aspects of their own country and culture, which is quite understandable. It could also be cheaper as well, depending on where you live.

Maria: And why do people like making long journeys?

Rory: It could be about the destination making it all worthwhile in the end. Or maybe they have something fun to do during it that works for them. Something like reading a book or sightseeing along the way.

Maria: What do we need to prepare for a long journey?

Rory: I think that's contingent on what the journey involves, isn't it? I mean, if you're travelling over land, then you clearly need a car and some supplies. But if it's a plane trip, you might just need your phone and a book or something. And probably there's some mental preparation that goes into that as well, just so you know what you're getting into.

Maria: What are the differences between group travelling and travelling alone?

Rory: Well, the company, for starters. You might have to deal with personality clashes and personal preferences that could make things less straightforward than if it's just you doing it. On the other hand, you don't have as much of a social experience if you're just by yourself. It could be a bit dangerous as well, depending on where you are and how you're making your way to wherever you're going.

Maria: Do you think it's a good choice to travel by plane?

Rory: Well, you have to keep in mind the context of it all, don't you? If it's the only option, or the most economically viable one, then it's a good idea to take a plane. But if it's expensive, or takes a really long time, and there are other better options, then no, you probably want to explore alternatives and reconsider the whole trip completely.

Discussion

Maria: The reason why people prefer to travel abroad could be money, and you can use the word extortionate. So extortionate prices, like super expensive. Have you seen the prices? They are extortionate.

Rory: They're extortionate, it's very expensive!

Maria: The price of a holiday in my country is extortionate. And you get much better value for money if you head overseas. So go abroad or head overseas. You get much better value for money. And the weather is usually nicer abroad than in my country. Or you can say people travel abroad because the weather is nicer abroad rather than in their own countries. And people want to escape their routine. So go away from their routine in their country and explore some exotic places. However, some people prefer to travel in their own country. Even if the price is extortionate, they are well-off, they are rich, and they are able to afford the expense of going to places in their own country. Well, if it's expensive. If it's not, then no.

Rory: And if you want to talk about the other places, then you might talk about things being more routine and boring.

Maria: And people enjoy exploring their own country. So travelling in their own country or exploring, learning about their own country and culture. It might be cheaper, depending on where you live. We make a journey. What about a trip, Rory?

Rory: You take a trip. You can make a trip as well, actually.

Maria: Make a trip or take a trip. So people enjoy taking long journeys, like for eight hours, for a day. And it could be about the destination. So the place where you're going. So it's worthwhile in the end. So you spend like eight hours going to this one location, and it's worthwhile. So it's useful, important, because it's beautiful. And you have some fun to do during the trip or during the journey, like reading a book or sightseeing along the way, like looking through the window. A good synonym for it depends on, we can say it's contingent on. It might sound a bit strange, but if you're tired of saying it depends on, it depends on, it's contingent on, contingent.

Rory: It depends on.

Maria: Yeah. It's contingent on the weather. It depends on the weather.

Rory: So much depends on the weather, my mood, how good the holiday is, where the holiday will be.

Maria: Yeah. And here we can use a tag question. So that's contingent on what the journey involves, isn't it? Isn't it? So that is contingent on, that's why a negative question, which is not a question, isn't it? So pretty much you're saying that it depends on the weather, doesn’t it? So kind of like, yes, it does depend on the weather, or it does depend on what the journey involves. If it's a cruise, you go on a cruise, you are on a ship, so you take this stuff with you. But if you go on a hike in the mountains, so that's a different story, right? So you take some other things. And if you go to Paris, for example, to just, you know, enjoy the city, shoes, passport, credit cards, dresses, that's all you need.

Rory: Haha, shoes and other things that cost too much money.

Maria: If you travel over land, what does it mean?

Rory: It just means you travel on the land, it could be on the road by bus or by train. If you don't do that, then it could be by air or by sea, on a boat.

Maria: Yeah, or if you just, it's not a holiday, but you just go somewhere by car, or it's a plane trip somewhere. And also you can talk about mental preparation. So if you take a plane or if you go by boat, you should be prepared mentally, you know, so getting relaxed, like thinking positively, for example, avoiding being anxious or nervous. We have group travelling and travelling alone. And the difference is in your company. Company in this context, meaning people you are travelling with. You might have to deal with personality clashes if you travel with a group of people. So people have different personality traits, and if they clash, you have a conflict, right? So very often you have to deal with personality clashes, like fights, arguments, and to clash is a C2 word, proficiency band nine, yeah, it is.

Rory: Oh, look at me using the highly advanced vocabulary and grammar.

Maria: So yeah, personality clashes. Or for example, you can use it as a verb, like students clashed with the police. They started fighting. Or students clashed over money. They started arguing about the money. So if two opinions, statements, qualities clash, they are very different from each other. So our interests clashed and we couldn't work well together. Yeah, actually, two events could clash (also C2 band nine). Oh, for example, like my party clashes with your birthday. Yeah, so Rory's birthday and my party are at the same time on the same day.

Rory: No, but they're not. You must always be there.

Maria: And if you are just by yourself, if you're travelling alone, you are on your own by yourself, you don't have as much of a social experience. So you are just on your own. So you don't have much social experience. And it could be a bit dangerous in some places, like in Rio de Janeiro, for example, you just go there alone and you go outside the city centre and that could be really dangerous. And a standard question, is it a good choice to travel by plane or like what are the advantages of going by plane, like the usual aisle stuff, you know. And you can say that it could be the most economically viable option.

Rory: But that just means the ones which are the best use of your money.

Maria: Yeah, and sometimes really it's much cheaper to go by plane than by car, by train. And viable is an adjective which is C2, band nine again. So viable, able to work as intended or able to succeed. For example, my plan is economically viable. So economically, money-wise, it's going to be successful. Or my project is financially viable. So it's going to be financially successful. And here Rory says that travelling by plane could be the most economically viable option. So it's the cheapest option. So you can say, yeah, travelling by plane is cheap, okay, band 5, 6. But you can be like band 9 and say travelling by plane could be the most economically viable option.

Rory: Especially with could, using modal verbs.

Maria: Yeah, if it's quite expensive, then you could explore some alternatives. Reconsider the whole trip by not choosing plane, but maybe like a train, a car, bicycle, horses, going on foot, you know. Rory, in some answers, you were pretty vague. So you didn't know what to say. So what did you say?

Rory: So for example, in the first question, I said, if we talk about other places, I couldn't name any specific places. So I just said other places, other places, others, another option. And then the more routine and boring aspects. I don't know what those are. So I just said these aspects. And then we could talk about things like depending on where you live, like it depends on where you live. Nothing specific about where you live, just it depends. Or it could be about something. Or they have something fun to do. I gave some examples here, but I could just say maybe they have something fun to do. And then some mental preparation, something like that. Maybe the ultimate one. You need to keep the context in mind. It depends on the context. Who knows? Maybe it's this. Maybe it's that. I have no idea. I'm not everybody.

Maria: I have no idea. I'm not everybody. Yeah, dear listener, it's normal. If you don't know what to say, you just say it, you know, as absolutely fine.

Rory: But something not vague is saying thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next time. Bye

Maria: Bye.

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