For many of us, summertime is closely related to holidays, and holidays to foreign travel. If we have the chance to visit English-speaking countries, or countries where Spanish is not spoken, it will be important for us to improve our vocabulary concerning different areas related to tourism and leisure activities. Today we would like to introduce the first post of a series of useful vocabulary in this respect.
You have just arrived at the airport, ready to get to the accommodation you recently booked as quickly as possible. In order to do so, you will need to get the appropriate means of transport, be it a taxi, train, or bus. First, let’s take a look at the means of transport you are likely to find at the airport:
- Train: depending on where you are travelling to, trains services can be local, regional or long-distance. Here you can find some useful sentences:
- Excuse me, could you tell me where the train station is, please?
- What trains go to the city centre? When is the next one departing?
- Do you have a train schedule please?
- Is this the platform to catch the 18.00 train?
- How much is a one way/return ticket, please?
- Bus: many bus services are called “shuttle”, when they travel regularly between two places. Here the questions are similar to the ones previously seen under “train” (Remember; in bus stations, we find “bays”, not platforms):
- Excuse me, could you tell me where the bus station/bus stop is, please?
- Is this the bus/shuttle to the city centre, please?
- How much is the bus fare? (one way/return)
- Underground: also called “metro” or “subway”. Useful questions:
- Do you know where the metro station is, please?
- Is this the line to the city centre?
- How much is a one way/return ticket, please?
- Do you have a London underground map?
- Excuse me, is this the right platform to the city centre?
- Taxi (also known as cab): taxis can be found in a taxi rank outside the airport. In English speaking countries, particularly in North America, it is customary to leave tips, usually round 10-15 % of the total fare. Here are some questions:
- Excuse me, do you know where the taxi rank is, please?
- Hello, what is que quickest way to the city centre?
- (once you get on the taxi) Hello, we would like to go to the city centre, please
- Could you please take me to the city centre?
- Car rental. Nowadays it is increasingly common to resort to private means of transport to avoid dependence on public transport. Typical questions would be:
- Good morning, what cars are available now?
- What is the daily fare, please?
- Does the car have satnav/GPS, please?
- Do you have a road map?
- Where does it have to be returned?
- Has it been filled up with petrol? (in other English speaking countries the term “gas” is used instead of “petrol”)
We hope you find this useful. Next week we will see useful vocabulary concerning pubs and restaurants, places we always pay a visit to when on holiday.