Travelling (Transport, travel and holidays)

Each day people all over the world go from one place to another, often to a place that is far away. They may travel either on business or for pleasure, and a lot of people spend their holidays traveling. Traveling is always exciting because people may see other continents and countries, modern cities and the ruins of ancient towns, and it’s better to see ones than to hear many times. I wish I would have a chance to travel around the world or to fly by spacecraft in outer space. Such a travelling may be the greatest event in person’s life.

Modern travelling by means of a vehicle, aircraft, or ship offers people good opportunity to choose from being a driver or a passenger. We can travel by car, by bus, by bicycle, by train, by ship, by plain and even by spaceships. In recent years a number of non-governmental startup companies have sprung up, hoping to create a space tourism industry for commercial customers. Traveling is exiting and remarkable in all seasons and has much in common with camping and going on hikes. You have to consider all pros and cons for each journey to figure out which one would be the right choice for YOU.

Many lovers of nature spend their days-off in the country and prefer hiking with a backpack or cycling. They can stop where they like and having a sweet country retirement enjoying fresh air, swimming in a cool river or a lake and having lunch under a shady tree. They needn’t keep any time-table or get tickets at the booking office. They don’t think of Traffic Regulations, road accidents and crashes, toll roads or strict traffic controllers. They don’t feel uncomfortable in the overcrowded transport. They don’t look for filling stations and services with parking where motorists can buy petrol or have a meal though travelling by car also gives a golden opportunity to enjoy picturesque places, to see ancient monuments and other places of interest.

Each kind of traveling has its advantages and disadvantages. Although flying by plane is very fast, it’s expensive and has some inconveniences such as taking into account weather conditions, noise from airplane engines, turbulence, ever-shrinking seats without enough elbow- and legroom, time difference between the departure time to which a person is accustomed and the arrival time. A long journey across different time zones results in extreme tiredness and other physical effects felt by a person after a long-haul flight beyond six hours and more in length.

Besides traveling by plane passengers are to observe the airline’s flight schedule very attentively and arrive two hours ahead of the take-off time to catch their planes. Aboard the aircraft they are not allowed to use cellular phones and to move around at will until the captain turns the seatbelt sign off. Once up in the air, flight attendants will usually serve drinks and food to passengers and then people will ask you to let them get out, pass by your seat to the washroom and disturb your private space interrupting your sleep and relaxation. Your seatmates will recline into your lap and shoulder.

Air travellers can’t enjoy spectacular scenery and are offered only nice view of the clouds unless it is the one over the wing! And last but not least surprising event at the airport is the moment when you are sitting in the departure lounge waiting until it is time for your flight to depart and hear the announcement: “Attention, please. The flight has been delayed. Passengers are requested to go to Exit 3.”

Rather than cramming yourself into an airplane seat or squinting at road signs trying to figure out where to make your next turn, many travelers board the train. It's one of the least stressful forms of travelling: someone else does the driving; you'll have more legroom than you would on an airplane, and you're watching your wallet. Trains are an increasingly cost-effective alternative to planes, particularly if you're going a relatively short distance or if you're travelling where train service is fast and frequent.

Travelling by train is usually chosen by people who have enough time to get to their final destination. They make their choice in favour of both comfort and pleasure. Modern trains have very comfortable carriages with compartments where passengers can have full rest on upper and lower berths. Anyway, on a train you can get up, stretch your legs, walk up and down the train cars. Restaurant carriages serve meals which make even the longest journey very pleasant. Passengers can look through the window watching nature and life, have tea chattering with neighbours and get off the carriage at railway stations to take a walk, look at new places and buy some souvenirs for their relatives and friends. As for me, I like the slow pace of land-based travel.

But tastes differ and some people prefer travelling by sea, especially if they don’t feel seasick. Luxury liners with five passenger decks look like white floating cities moving through sea water accompanied by the sea-gulls’ escort. Sea voyages always deeply impress people by spectacular sunrises, gold sunsets and the light of a full moon.

As for me I have always been enthusiastic about travelling and some of my friends are also travel nuts. We often travel at the weekend with the sole purpose of enjoyment or just because the funniest things happen when we’re traveling. Usually we stay in a youth hostel турбаза, which provides cheap food and lodging for travelers. Some of my friends tried hitch-hiking and travelled by getting free lifts in passing vehicles but in some regions it’s a dangerous undertaking as well as driving-away is also a touch-and-go business.

When travellers get tired of relaxation, they become home-sick and feel like returning home. They realize that “East or West - home is best”.

When I hear the word ‘travelling’ I imagine a highway, a road, or a narrow forest path. I close my eyes and dream of scenery changing while riding a car or a train or, maybe, the breathtaking beauty of nature during the walk. But in general I do not travel a lot and most of my travel routes I have done during my parents’ annual holidays and my vacation.

Subject List for “Housing / living Conditions” (Тематическая карточка)

Nouns	Verbs	Adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech	Colloquial, common, figurative and fixed expressions
vehicle	to travel	exciting	to travel by car/ by bus/ by bicycle/ by train/ by ship/ by plain/ by spaceships
aircraft	to fly	ancient	to have much in common
driver	to offer	recent	to have lunch/ have a meal/ have tea
passenger	to choose	non-governmental	to keep any time-table
day-off	to spring up	hiking	flight timetable — расписание полетов train timetable — график движения поездов to run to timetable — ходить по расписанию
backpack	to look for/ look at/ look through	cycling	to get tickets at the booking office
retirement	to depend on	shady	services with parking
filling station	to get off	expensive	to feel seasick
motorist	to squint	picturesque	travel nut
petrol	to figure out	pleasant	to get free lifts
advantages	to take-off	spectacular	touch-and-go business
disadvantages	to buy	sole	to ride a car /a train
departure	to stay	cheap	to take a walk
arrival	to dream of	driving-away	make ar choice in favour of
weather conditions	to imagine	hitch-hiking	a long-haul flight
destination	to differ	narrow	to turn the seatbelt sign off
carriage/car	to result	breathtaking	at will
compartment	to recline	annual	to go on hikes
upper/lower berth	to board	enthusiastic	pros and cons
journey/ voyage	to get out	floating	the departure lounge
railway station	to cram	beyond	return ticket/round-trip ticket, single ticket, one-way ticket
youth hostel	to happen	ahead	a train ticket, an air ticket
lodging		aboard	flight attendant/ an air hostess
highway/ road	to spend	cost-effective	to fuel a car
route			luggage and packing (bag)
vacation
nature
seatmate
washroom

Tasks

1. Tell your fellow students about your travel experience and plans for your holidays by answering the following questions:

What do you imagine when you hear the word travelling? (Use: to go camping, to go hiking, to go fishing, to go hunting, to go skiing, to go canoeing, to go mountaineering, to go sightseeing, to youth-hostelling, to go hitch-hiking)

What kind of travelling do you like best of all? (Use: To my mind the best way of traveling is by car. The advantages of this way of spending your holiday are that you don’t have to buy a ticket, you can stop whenever you wish, where there is something interesting to see.)

Do you enjoy active open-air holidays? Say whether you like to go swimming and sunbathing, to go skating and skiing, to go camping, to go hiking, to go fishing, to go hunting, to go skiing, to go canoeing, to go mountaineering, to go sightseeing, to youth-hostelling, to go hitch-hiking.

Does riding the rails allow travelers to forget air-travel headaches?

What do you think of seaside holidays?

Do you like to lie in the sun for hours?

Do you like to sit on crowded beaches?

What do you think of a holiday in a tent?

Have you made up your mind how to spend holidays this (next) year? (Use: to be looking forward to your trip)

Have you any definite plans for your winter holidays?

What is your idea of a perfect holiday? (Use: to meet people, to brand new places, to get a lot of impressions, to enjoy the picturesque scenery, to explore new places, to go sightseeing, to learn history, culture and traditions of different lands, to come to know more about music, art literature and famous people, to become more educated).

What is a cheap way of spending a holiday?

Can people be disappointed with their trips? (Use: a journey turns out a real disappointment, to get bored, bad weather, a rather dull company, to feel tired, in case the trip is not well organized, the place from which you expected much appears to be back of beyond)

2. Self-study tasks

Situations

1. Discuss with the group whether it is better to have a holiday in winter or in summer. Every student gives his/her reasoning.

2. Discuss with your group the advantages of active open-air holiday.

3. Your younger brother has never travelled by train on his own. Now he wants to spend his vacation with your grandparents who live in the other city. Help him to pay for his journey and buy the ticket. Then make clear the ticket info using the following diagram.

Russian Train Ticket

The following diagram explains the various parts of a typical Russian train ticket:

1 - Train number

2 - Day and month of departure

3 - Departure time (note that Moscow time is used on all train tickets throughout Russia)

4 - Number and class of carriage:

• П - simple reserved seats carriage ("platzkartnyi vagon")

• К - soft-seated carriage ("myagkyi vagon")

• Л - first-class carriage ("SV vagon")

5 - Cost of platzkart (place in a carriage without compartments)

6 - Supplement for class of ticket above platzkart

7 - Number of people travelling on the ticket

8 - Type of passenger

9 - From/To

10 - Bed number

11 - Passport number and name (entered when purchased in Russia)

12 - Total cost of ticket

13 - Tax and service fee

14 - Date of arrival

15 - Arrival Time (note that Moscow time is used on all train tickets throughout Russia)

4. You want to travel Europe on the train. Your foreign fellow student gives you some tips for travelers - from planning your trip to buying tickets. Make up a dialogue comparing European and Russian railway regulations. Here's what you need to know about traveling Europe on the train.