Talk about a trip in English!

Hi. In this Learn Hot English lesson, you’ll learn 6 great expressions to talk about a trip in English.

First, you’re going to watch a conversation with Nate and Casey. Then, we’re going to look at the 6 expressions they use. Finally, you can try a little quiz on our blog.

OK, so first, you’re going to watch a conversation. To improve your listening skills, there are 2 great things you can do.

Firstly, try to understand the video (or audio) once completely without stopping. This first time you should watch the video and try to get the gist of it – a general understanding of it. Then, later, you should listen with the script. This will help you see the relationship between the spoken word and written word.

OK, so, for this first listening, I want you to listen to it from start to finish without stopping, and just try to get a general understanding of it. Casey is asking Nate about a recent trip he went on. In order to help you listen once without stopping, I want you to answer these two simple questions: Where did Nate go? And what did he think of it?

Did you listen from start to end without stopping?

So, where did Nate go? He went to the French Riviera. And what did he think of it? Well, he had a great time.

Expressions

OK, so now we´re going to look at six verbs and expressions from that conversation that you can use to talk about a trip, or to ask someone about a trip.

1 Spend time –

Nate said that he “spent time” in the French Riviera. So, if you spend time somewhere, you stay there. For example, I spent time in the French Riviera. And remember to use the preposition “in” with “spend time”.

2 Get to see or do something –

Casey asked, “Did you get to see other cities within the area?” If you get to see something, you find the time to do it, or you have the opportunity to do it.

3 Stay in –

“To stay in”. We stayed in a hotel, for example. The place where you stay is the place where you live while you’re on holiday; for example in a hotel. Remember to use the preposition “in” in this case.

4 Famous for –

Nate said, “The city’s famous for the film festival.” Now, if a city’s famous for something, it means that everyone knows it for this reason. In this case, everyone knows about Cannes and the film festival.

5 Travel to –

Nate talked about travelling to other villages or towns. If you travel to a place, you go there. Now important to remember here: travel is the verb, “I travelled to the village,” and the noun is “trip,” so you can say, “I went on a trip to the village.” Be careful, so now the verb is travel and the noun is trip.

6 Book a ticket –

Now, the last one, number six: “Book a ticket.” She says, “I´ll have to book a ticket soon.” So, if you book a ticket, you pay for it, often in advance, and you reserve. For example, you book a ticket on a train or on a bus.

Video script

Casey              So, how was your trip?
Nate                Oh, my god, it was actually absolutely amazing. We spent two marvellous weeks in the French Riviera in a little village next to Nice.

Casey              Oh, gosh, I love Nice. That’s amazing, where… did you get to see other er cities within the area?

Nate                Yes, actually, we stayed in Cannes, the city that’s famous for its film festival, but they’ve also got fantastic white sandy beaches, which are hard to find in the French Riviera, and we travelled to other little villages in the area as well.

Casey              Amazing, amazing, erm, what did you try, did you get to do anything, any water sports or anything like that?

Nate                Yes, we tried some new water sports. We tried scuba diving, a couple of days, we tried windsurfing which I was horrible at, and then, we also did a lot of snorkelling.

Casey              Ah, amazing! And what did you see under water? Did you see anything?

Nate                Yes, the water is crystal clear and very clean, so we saw a lot of fish, and the experience was amazing.

Casey              I can imagine, I imagine, well, now you’re making me want to get back there. I’ll have to book a ticket soon.

Nate                Definitely, and if you need a partner, let me know, we can go together.

Casey              Let’s do it!

Nate                Very good!
Casey              All right!

Language quiz!

Try our little language quiz to see how much you can remember. [answers below]

What’s the missing word?

1. What’s this city famous _______?
2. We _______ three weeks by the beach. It was amazing!
3. How long did you _______ there?
4. We _______ in a lovely hotel in the mountains.
5. This town is _______ for a battle that was fought here 500 years ago.
6. We went on a _______ to the mountains.
7. Did you _______ to do any water sports?
8. Did you _______ to the north of the country?
9. We didn’t _______ much time to look around the city.
10. Did they travel _______ the east of the island?

Answers

1 What’s the missing word?

1. What’s this city famous for?
2. We spent three weeks by the beach. It was amazing!
3. How long did you spend / stay there?
4. We stayed in a lovely hotel in the mountains.
5. This town is famous for a battle that was fought here 500 years ago.
6. We went on a trip to the mountains.
7. Did you get to do any water sports?
8. Did you travel to the north of the country?
9. We didn’t get much time to look around the city.
10. Did they travel to the east of the island?

How many did you get right?

A good knowledge of Travel English will help you a lot when you travel outside of your country, check out our fantastic Travel English book + audio here