TRAVELLING AND ACCOMODATION

TRAVELLING

Travelling, it’s a thing many people like to do. There are many reasons for travelling. People are fascinated by the foreign countries and their cultures.
We might travel besauce of the job or moving.
If you travel abroad you must have all the necessary documents like a passport. If you travel for example to USA you need a visa. We will need to exchange some money into the local currency of the country where we are travelling.
An everyday form of travelling may be going shopping, commuting to school, to work or visiting friends.
For example this weekend I’m going to visit my friend who live in Fulnek. I’m travelling by train. It takes time about 3 hours. So I can say, I’m going to travel.
The most common is tourism. This type of travelling isn’t limited to any age group. Even small children can travel with their parents on a family holiday
People and also goods can be transported by land, by air or by water.
For short distances people usually go by foot. Somebody walks to school as me or to work. It’s good for health.
The most public ways of transport are buses and trains and in some towns trams. This public transport is cheaper, but also less comfortable.
Disadvantage of transporting mainly by bus is that these vehicle is usually crowded. Unfortunatelly when you hurry or you need be somewhere in time. That’s why I go to school by foot. In the morning when children go to school and in the afternoon when they go home it’s the worst. I somethimes had to wait for the second bus because the first was crowded.
But somethimes it’s useful mainly when it’s bad weather. For example when it’s raining, snowing, cold etc.
If you want to know when the bus is leaving you need timetable. You can find it in a bus stop or you can buy a booklet. You buy ticket in a bus driver. If you have a „ticket card“, the ticket costs 5,6 crowns. If you don’t have it, it costs seven crowns. But if you are under 15 years, the price of the ticket is half.
We can use buses and mainly trams for transport in the town – for shorter distances. But transport by bus is right also for long distance. It’s typical for travelling to foreign country. Travel agency offer either travel by bus or by plane.
In London the most interesting vehicles are the famous double-deckers.
Travelling by train it’s more comfortable than by bus. But the trains are often delayed. We differ Express train called usually non-stop train (it doesn’t stop an every station) and Slow train (it stops at every station). The train consists of locomotive and carriages. There are different forms of carriages. There is „restaurant“ carriage, carriage with compartments or with small rooms with beds, or a carriage only with seats. An railway station looks like a big hall with a ticket office where people can buy a ticket. They buy either single or a return ticket. There is also a seat reservation, the departures and arrivals board, a left luggage office or lockers, telephones and waiting halls. There can be a restaurant, a drink machine, a tobacconist’s, a lavatory etc.
From this hall we go through the underpass directly onto the right platform. From the platform we get on the train and look for a free seats either in the non-smoking or smoking compartment. If all the seats are occupied we must move into another carriage and try again there. When the conductor comes we hand him the tickets and he checks them. After the train arrives we can get off. Somethimes we have to change.
In big cities we can find underground (subway). It’s the fastes means of urban transportation. The underground trains usually go every five minutes on average.
The taxi can be called by phone or in big cities can be „hailed“ while it pass in the street.
The most usual transportion is by car. It’s expensive to purchase. We also have to pay for petrol which if the vehicle has a big consumption, costs a lot of money. Travelling by car is typical for short and middle distances. The best thing about cars is that we can get anywhere at any time. But we can also get into a traffic jam. The compulsory equipment of the car is First Aid Kid, a red triangle, a spare wheel and also a spare can of petrol and a road map if we don’t want to get lost. If we want to drive we have to get a driver’s licence. So we must know how to drive and know the traffic rules. One of the rules is that cars are driven on the right side of the road. This isn’t true for example in Great Britain. There people drive on the left.
The fastest way of travelling is going by plane, but it‘s expensive. I think this way is very comfortable. We can get to any place in the world in a few hours. First we must buy a ticket. We can phone and book it or go to the airport. We differ single (one way ticket), return, first class (business) and second class (tourist) ticket. Also we can choose a seat in a smoking or non-smoking area. We should go to the airport a little earlier. At the airport we go through the passport control and security check. We have our luggage weight checked. It has a limited weight. On board we can have only some hand bag with some personal things, camera, passport, money etc. We give in (hand in) the air ticket and get a boarding card. We go to a departure hall and wait until the plane is ready for taking-off. Steward or stewardess take care of passengers. On a board, we find our seat, get our hand bag into the small cupboard above the seat and put our belt on.
Travelling by plane is quite safe but there is a possibility that the plane crashes.
I can’t say what way of travelling is the most safe. We can walk and we can be „hurt“ by car. So there is always some dangerous.
The other ways of transportion is: hitch-hiking, cycling, taking a taxi, walking, hiking, climbing, rambling. We can go also by ship. But some people can become sea-sick.

ACCOMODATION

When we travel we should look for accommodation. In the first place there are hotels and motels which differ in price and comfort. Before our arrival we should make a reservation, book a room in a hotel. We can get single, double room or room with an extra bed. We can get full board or half board. First we go to a reception desk and check in. We get room’s key. Somewhere a lift boy help us with our luggages. We shouldn’t forget to leave some tip for him. In the room we unpack our luggage.
Then we can enjoy our stay with the help of some of the hotel’s services – a restaurant, a bar, sports facilities like swimming pool or a fitness centre.
At the end of our staying we also check out and give a key to a receptionist. We have to pay fro our room and for services if they aren’t included in price.
The motels are situated mostly by the roads.
The other kind of accommodiation is:
boarding house (penzion), you can stay in (with) a family but you have to arrange it before, camping – when you have a tant, camping site (place) – it’s usually somewhere in nature and you don’t pay for anything. The most common accommodation in Britain is B&B (Bed and Breakfast) – it includes breakfast in a price. Young people often stay in a hostel. Some tourists can stay at a farm or they rent a room on their own.