Three people are talking about their vacations. Write the names of the countries they visited.

1. John _______________ 2.Nora ______________

3. Andrew ______________

 

3. Listen again. What happened to these people? Tick (√) the correct answer in the boxes.

John	got sick had nice weather	took great photos lost his passport	got hurt stayed in a nice hotel
Nora	tried surfing got lost	swam a lot missed her flight	lost her train ticket tried sailing
Andrew	had jet lag went shopping	ate bad food met old friends	sang in a karaoke bar had bad weather

 

Match the words in the box with correct definitions.

an expedition a flight a tour a voyage a package tour an itinerary a trip travel a cruise a crossing

 

1. A journey by ship for pleasure.

2. A journey by plane.

3.A journey by sea.

4. A journey for a scientific or special purpose.

5.A journey from one side of the sea to the other.

6. The plan of a journey.

7. An informal word sometimes meaning “a short journey”.

8. A holiday which includes organized travel and accommodation.

9. Taking journeys as a general idea.

10. An organized journey to see the sights of a place.

 

Now fill in the space with the words given above.

The travel agent will send you the __________ for your trip.

My aunt went on a guided ________ of Rome.

Last time I went from England to France. We had a very rough ________.

The first prize in the competition is a luxury Mediterranean ________.

When you go on a/an ________, you pay one price for everything.

Olympic announces the arrival of ________ OA 269 from Athens.

The university organized a/an ________ to search for the ancient ruins.

The Titanic sank on its first ________ in 1912.

________ is one of my main interests.

Mr. Bean is away on a business ________ now. Can I help you?

Reading: The British on holiday

First, match these words and expressions with their explanations.

 

a. soap opera b. expat community c. caravanning holidays d. a little further afield e. intrepid backpackers f. holidays not requiring a phrase book

1. A group of people living outside their country 2. Holidays spent in a house that can be pulled by a car 3. People with rucksacks who are not afraid of TV series 5. a little further away 6. holidays where English is spoken

 

Before you read the following text, discuss these questions in pairs.

A. What are the most popular holiday destinations for people from your country?

B. What do you think the most popular holiday destinations are for the British? How about Australians? Canadians? Americans? The Irish?

 

Now read this text to check if you were right about the British.

When you think of the British on holiday, you think immediately of Spain. Cheap trips to the sun with good food and friendly people have been attracting Brits for almost 40 years. It is also one of the top destinations for the British to live if they decide to leave ‘Blighty’. This phenomenon even inspired a television soap opera, the BBC’s Eldorado, which was set in an expat community on the Costa del Sol.

For those in search of fine food and drinks, France, of course, has always been popular. It also has the advantage of being close to the UK. The ferry journey from England takes between four and nine hours, making it the perfect destination for a driving or even caravanning holiday.

A little further afield, but still reachable by car, is Italy. The British love affair with the land of lovers began in the eighteenth century. By the 1920s, cities like Florence had well-established English communities, many of whom refused to leave even when the Second World War devastated the country. In the 1980s, Tuscany began to become extremely popular again with the British and remains so. In fact, so many British now have holiday homes there that are sometimes referred to as ‘Chiantishire’.

Recent falls in the price of airline tickets have opened up new destinations for the British. Thailand, once the destination of the most intrepid backpackers, is now popular with Brits of all ages. Fly-drive holidays to the United States are also a common feature of summer holidays. Perhaps the attraction of the common language helps there. Added to the list of destinations not requiring a phrase book are, of course, Australia and South Africa. Both are popular among the British.

 

4. Read the text again and find the words and phrases that mean the following:

1. a colloquial (every day) word for ‘British people’

2. a colloquial word for ‘Britain’

3. a strange happening

4. a passenger boat

5. a joke name based on a British county name

6. a word that means ‘quiet’

7. a phrase meaning holidays involving planes and cars

8. another word for ‘vote’