Why Do People Love to Travel?

By Annabel Candy

For some, travel’s a dream that comes true once a year for the annual vacation. Often people yearn of a greater travel adventure like a year in Africa or selling everything and wandering off to Central America for 18 months with kids. For some, travel is a sweet plan for retirement on a boat, a housebus, with a backpack or by train. I haven’t quite decided yet and might have to run with all of those travel plans in my golden years.

For me travel has been an all-consuming passion, my first love. My whole life’s been geared towards travel. I trained to teach English as a foreign language so I could travel and get paid for it, and I did just that for years. I worked in exotic locations like Zimbabwe, Laos and France then saved up so I could travel extensively in Europe, Africa, South East Asia and Australasia.

So, Why Do People Travel?

These are my ideas in no particular order.

1. To challenge yourself

I shared toilet and bathroom when I worked in rural Zimbabwe with seven other teachers and their families. No running water, just a hole in the ground loo and no lock on the door either, the towel hanging on the door indicates the bathroom is occupied.

2. To enjoy new experiences

We have several photos where it looks as if my husband, Rich, had fun hanging out with a monkey. They were taken in 2006 at a monkey sanctuary in northern Thailand. You can’t experience that in England, can you?

3. To learn a new language

No sooner had our daughter started speaking, aged 18 months, than we whisked her off to Vanuatu to learn bislama with the natives. I love speaking foreign languages when I travel, it gives you a whole new outlook on life.

4. To experience new cultures

Following in the footsteps of the Beatles, many people travel to different countries to find themselves in another cultures. Do you laugh when travelers dress like a local? I do. But there is a certain charm in adopting other peoples’ cultures: wearing their national clothes, adhering to the traditions, and eating local cuisine.

5. To party or just to have fun

Travel is fun and lots of people travel with the sole purpose of enjoyment, wild partying or just because the funniest things happen when you’re traveling.

6. To see new things

I’ve seen the Taj Mahal, climbed the Eiffel Tower and the Twin Towers, and spied sloths, tapirs, lions and elephants in the wild, but I can never travel within a 50km radius of a waterfall without checking it out. I love the noise, the spray, the constant rush of sparkling water. I was raised in a watermill and we had two waterfalls in our garden, so maybe that’s where my love of them comes from. I recommend New Zealand and Costa Rica for waterfall lovers.

7. To eat new food

I like to try new stuff, but I draw the line at some things like the crispy fried giant centipedes offered as bar snacks in Zimbabwe. My husband is a more adventurous travel eater and enjoyed a breakfast of roasted squirrel with a side order of toasted maggots for breakfast during a trek in Thailand. I went hungry that day. I have eaten kangaroo though, but don’t love it. It’s quite popular in Australia, but even more widely eaten in Belgium of all places.

http://travelsofadam.com/2012/09/why-do-people-travel/

5

Find all geographical names in the text above, check their pronunciation in the dictionary. Say if you have been to these countries/ seen these places.

6

Check the translation of the words in bold. Give synonyms to all verbs in bold, explain the meaning of nouns. Provide your sentences to exemplify the use of new words.

7

Discuss the difference between the meanings of the following words. The information bellow can help you.

Travel, travelling, travels, journey, trip, voyage, cruise, crossing, flight.

Travel (Uncountable noun) and travelling are used to mean the general activity of moving from place to place. Air travel is becoming cheaper. Her work involves a lot of travelling.

Travels [pl.] time spent travelling, especially in foreign countries and for pleasure:The novel is based on his travels in India. When are you off on your travels (= going travelling)?

Journey is used to talk about travelling a long distance or travelling regularly, when the emphasis is on the travelling itself; it contains no reference to an end point: a long and difficult journey (NOT travel) through the mountains; Did you have a good journey? =Were you comfortable, was the train on time etc?

Trip is a journey to a place and back again, especially a short one for pleasure or a particular purpose. Trip is used when the emphasis is on where you are going or why you are going there. Was it a good trip? = Did you achieve what you wanted to, or have a good time there? Go on a trip suggests an organized short excursion whereas take a trip/ have a trip could be something you do yourselves in your own car. Our group went on a day trip to France. We are taking a weekend trip to Warsaw.

Voyage is a long journey, especially by sea or in space: an around-the-world voyage; The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage (= first journey).

Cruise is a journey by sea, visiting different places, especially as a holiday / vacation: a luxury cruise ship; I’d love to go on a round-the-world cruise.

Crossing is a short journey across the sea, a lake or a river: a rough crossing from Dover to Calais; the first Atlantic crossing; A three-hour ferry crossing was very tiring.

Flight is a journey by air: a domestic / an international flight.

8

Use the previous exercise and choose the best word travel, travelling, travels, journey, trip, voyage, cruise, crossing, flight. Use each word only once.

1. I would love to ___________ round the world in a balloon.

2. How long does the international ____________ from New York to Rio take?

3. She says her hobbies are reading, golf and ____________.

4. When they were in Cairo they took a _________ to see the Pyramids.

5. Getting from London to the North of Scotland involves an overnight train ___________.

6. It was a great relief to be back on dry land after such a rough __________.

7. My parents went on a wonderful _________ up the river Nile this summer.

8. Captain Cook made his first __________ to the South Pacific in 1768.

9. 9

   I suppose you will be writing about your __________ when you return home.

Translate the sentences below into English using new vocabulary.

1. Незабаром відбудеться подорожчання квитків на всі внутрішні рейси.

2. Влітку ми здійснили круїз Середземним морем на розкішному лайнері.

3. Капітану Девісу потрібно було аж три місяці, щоб перетнути Атлантичний океан.

4. Подорожі допомагають людям стати більш освіченими і культурними особистостями.

5. Подорож в Бельгії була жахливою: був сильний снігопад, та ще й машина зламалася.

6. Колись я багато подорожував у справах до Австралії, а зараз пишу мемуари про свої мандрівки.

7. Поїздка до Південного узбережжя зайняла більше часу, ніж ми очікували.

8. ‘Санта-Марія’ здійснила свою першу подорож у 1815 році.

9. Залізничні подорожі здаються британцям найбільш безпечним способом пересування.

10

a) Many people associate traveling with having holidays. Match the definitions with the following types of holiday. Have you ever been on any of them?

a special holiday where you pay for your travel, hotel and some or all of your meals before you leave a holiday on a large ship a holiday in Africa, looking at wild animals a walking holiday that involves carrying your equipment and clothes in a backpack (rucksack) spending a holiday in a tent traveling by getting free rides in other people’s cars, lorries, etc a holiday that you spend doing sports or other outdoor activities a holiday that you spend walking or cycling a holiday that you spend traveling round a place, for example in a car or a bus a holiday when you do some work visiting the places of interest in a city, etc as a tourist riding on horseback in the countryside for pleasure or on holiday a holiday on a sailing boat or yacht for sport or pleasure a holiday in the mountains where you can ski

a cruise adventure/activity holiday sailing package tour (BrE also ‘package holiday) backpacking holiday working holiday touring holiday hitch-hiking safari pony-trekking sightseeing skiing walking/cycling holiday camping

b) What type of holiday in the box above appeals to you most? Answer the question using the active vocabulary and the following phrases: expressing likes and dislikes.

• I don’t mind … but I much prefer…

• I don’t usually go for …. Instead, I’d rather go …

• I can’t stand … . I find it really uninteresting/ tedious/ tiring/ time-consuming.

• I just love a good ….

11

You are going to listen to a conversation ‘In a Camp’. a) Think of the problems one can experience going on a vacation. b) Answer the questions.

• To a remote village;

• To the mountains;

• With tents in a camp.

1. What are they planning on doing in the morning?

A. fishing B. mountain biking C. hiking

2. According to the weather report, when would it start raining?

A. in the afternoon B. at night C. in the morning

3. What did Paul forget to bring?

A. raincoats B. umbrellas C. rainboots

4. Where did Sara leave the playing cards?

A. next to the picnic table B. on the picnic table C. under the picnic table

5. What do they finally decide to do?

A. stay at a hotel B. return home C. sleep at the campground

12

Think of as many words as possible related to the topic “Sightseeing”.

13

If you are planning to visit England what would you be looking for – a place offering entertainment, or a place of historical interest? Give reasons for your choice.

14

Translate the list of the words/word combinations into Ukrainian.

testify	a bird’s eye panorama	on foot - guided walking tours
pilgrims	cosmopolitan atmosphere	open-top bus tour
host	pavement cafés	a timeless beauty
cliffs	street entertainers	day trip
coloured glass	stretches back	displays
magnificent	medieval	embark
pride	remained	wharf
fascinating	winding	white water rapids

15

You are going to read an article about places to visit. For questions 1-14, choose from the places (A-E). Some of the places may be chosen more than once. When more than one answer is required, these may be given in any order. There is an example at the beginning (0).