English Audio Request

We have been talking about a place you have enjoyed visiting and now I would like to ask you some more general questions relating to this topic.

DESCRIBE different types of holidays which people choose

Firstly, I think it’s important to say that for the majority of the world’s population, a holiday is probably an unattainable luxury. If you are living in poverty and hardly have enough money to put food on the table, then you’re not going to spend a lot of time thinking where to go for a break. The best you can probably do is visiting a relative or friend. For more affluent people though, there are lots of types of holidays to choose from. Many people fly to other continents where they can do some exotic sight-seeing or sunbathe on a tropical beach. Others go on adventure holidays or hike round the countryside with a rucksack on their back, staying in youth hostels or camping. I’ve heard of some people doing house swapping, so they live in somebody else’s house, probably in a foreign country, and somebody stays in their home. And some people go on spiritual retreats or working holidays. Of course, there are those who just carry on working and say they don’t need a holiday at all.

EXPLAIN why some people prefer not to take holidays

Some people seem to see it as a waste of time. These are probably high-flying business executives who are keener on making money than spending it. If they take time off, they are worried sick that something will go wrong at work. Other people just hate the hassle of travelling: long queues at the airport, stress over the plane being late, eating dodgy foreign food, getting sun-stroke. You hear all sorts of nightmare stories from travellers and some just prefer to avoid it. Personally, I know there are stresses and strains involved in going on holiday, but I just love the chance to experience new destinations.

DESCRIBE the benefits of travelling to another country

They say that travel broadens the mind and I think it’s absolutely true. When you go abroad, you get the chance to see how other people do things, how they have a different outlook on life and a different perspective on living. You get the opportunity to see amazing sights and try out wonderful new foods. Lots of people who visit foreign countries make life-long friends with the locals. When I was a bit younger, I went back-packing round the world and it was an eye-opening experience for me. It really changed the way I felt about myself and the world around me.

DESCRIBE the dangers of travelling abroad

Obviously things can go terribly wrong when you’re travelling in foreign countries, because you don’t know your way around, you can’t recognise danger signs, you are an easy target. Some of the problems which travellers have in other countries are because of things like food poisoning, diseases, sun-burn and that sort of thing. Sometimes they just get lost or do things which local inhabitants find offensive or inappropriate. It’s generally a pretty good idea to prepare yourself well, arm yourself with knowledge and information, before visiting a foreign country. Learning a few key phrases in the local language or dialect makes a lot of sense as well.

COMPARE the types of holidays people take now with holidays taken in the past

Nowadays people from my country, at least those rich enough, often go extremely long distances to seek out something new, exotic, entertaining and novel. For a lot of them, holidays seem to be something to boast about and show off about later. Half the point of the holiday appears to be to collect photos or video shots or souvenirs to show the neighbours. Maybe it’s always been like that but I feel holidays have become less about relaxing, winding down and taking it easy, and more about status and social position. I’m probably being a bit cynical but I think that in the past when people went away they wanted to have some fun, spend time in each other’s company, mess about and do things that didn’t really matter, take a break from the monotonous daily routine. All that seems to have changed now.

SPECULATE on the type of holidays people might take in the future

It’s difficult to say really. I was reading a few months ago about space tourism and I suppose that will be a definite possibility for really well-off people. They might like the idea of blasting off into space and looking down on our planet from thousands of miles away. I have to say, it doesn’t appeal to me much. I would imagine that rich people will continue looking for even more exotic holiday destinations here on Earth and I can imagine some developing countries being really spoilt by tourism. The problem is that tourists always seem to want something new, unspoilt and different. For the average person, I don’t suppose holidaying will change too much. People love going to the sea-side, to mountains and lakes to places where the weather is warm. Visiting famous cities has become more popular recently and I suppose that trend might continue.