Tourist Season (novel)

Transcription

Hi. James, from EngVid. I was just about to plan my vacation. I'm going to take a long flight to Europe. I'm trying to remember luggage and baggage things, you know? It's kind of hard to do. But this is a lesson for you if you've been working a lot, you need some time off. Now, there's a video I would like you to go check out. That's on time off. It goes with this one. You might want to go away somewhere and not just stay home, right? So this video is for you. This is basic vocabulary on vacation. When you leave and maybe you go to an English speaking country and you want to practice your English, this stuff will be good for you to enjoy your time there, also to make it easy for you when you arrive. Are you ready? Let's go to the board. Mr. E, Mr. E! It's a mystery where he is. It's no mystery. And you thought I forgot. Mr. E has been on vacation with me, and he's enjoying this particular attraction. So let's go to the board. Now, if you're going to go on vacation, one of the first things you will have to do if you're leaving your country is you're going to need some travel documents. What are those? Documents. A "document" is a paper or something with information that tells you something is okay or outlines it for you. For example, your passport is a document given by the government with your picture on it that says you are a citizen of this country, and you are legal. You are a good person. Okay? Now, when you're leaving for a flight, or you want to go to another country, you're going to need travel documents first. Trust me; show up at the airport and go, "I leave now. I go to Canada." They will go, "And the car is that way. Go home, crazy man. Okay?" So we need travel documents. So what are "travel documents"? Well, "travel documents" would be your passport, government identification, usually needed at most places the travel. Inside of a country, not necessary for most places. But leaving the country, you have to have it. Okay? So if you're in the European Union, no problem. If you're in Canada and the United States, you don't need one. But as soon as you leave these countries, you need a passport. What's another thing you need? Well, you need what's called a "boarding pass". If you play soccer, you kick the ball; the other guy, he catches it; you "pass" right? The ball goes from one player to another. A "boarding pass" is what allows you to go from one country to another country. You show the person on the airplane this piece of paper with your passport, and they say, "You know what? You can come on the plane and fly, like the pass." Kick, catch, other country. Cool? All right. So these are your travel documents. You need those. Now, I should have started with you need to make a plan because you want to go visit some place. You want to go on vacation, right? And if you want to go on vacation, well, going to have to -- I said "vacation". A "vacation" is a holiday, another word for saying "time off from work". All right? So you want to go on vacation. Sometimes, we say, "We're going to vacation in Italy." Or "on my vacation, I want to visit Italy." Or "I'm taking a holiday in Italy." Okay? So all these words, when people say, "Well, what are you doing on your time off?" You might go, "I'm going on vacation." Then they know you're leaving. If you just say, "I'm taking time off from work", you could be home cleaning. But no. You're saying, "I'm going on vacation." They're going to go, "Where are you going to visit? Italy, perhaps? Sicily? Is it going to be a good holiday?" And you go, "Yes. I earned my time." "Earned" means to work for something. "I earned my time off. I'm going on vacation." You need a boarding pass, and you need a passport. You know where you're going. What else is important for a vacation? Usually, you need money. But when you ask for the money in a different country, we don't say, "Money. Do you have money?" They will say, "Yes." And they will say, "Do you have money?" And you will say, "Yes." But it means nothing. What you need to say is, "What currency do you use?" "Currency" is a very fancy word for "money". But it means money in a certain country. In Canada, we use dollars. That's the currency. In America, they use dollars. But it's different currency because American and Canadian money are not the same. It's true. They used to use pesos in Spain. And they also use pesos in Mexico. But the currency was different, meaning the money was different. So you don't want to say, "What money do I use?" You say, "What currency do I need?" If you go to Europe, you need the euro. If you go to America -- United States of America for those people who are very, very special -- you use the American dollar, which is not to be confused with the Australian dollar. Careful, right? Not every country has it. I mean, I went to one place -- I went to Florence. I was thinking, "Florence. Do I go to a florist and buy a flower and exchange it?" No that was their currency. All right? Now, when you want to take your money and give it to somebody else and say, "I want your money. What do I need to do?" They will say, "Okay. To get this -- oh, sorry. To get this money -- Canadian money. See? It's red and white like our flag -- you need two of your poor dollars!" So when you do an exchange rate, it tells you how much of your money do you need to get someone else's money, or how much of your currency do you need to get someone else's currency. I know it seems a little confusing, but trust me. Once you leave your country, these things are going to be things you're going to go, "I wish somebody told me." And I'll say, "I did tell you. You just weren't listening." Okay? You need currency to go to different countries. So a good thing to do before you get your flight is to say, "What currency do they use in that country?" Believe me, you don't want to find out by accident you don't have the right currency. It happened to me. Okay. So we've got currency; we've got our documents; we have to, what we call, "book our flight" or "book our trip" or "our travel arrangements". Okay? Because you've got -- you know where you want to go. You've got this stuff all going. You need to get your flight. So the flight -- they'll give you the time, the airport -- the place where the airplane will be and will land, okay? -- and your return. You might have a return ticket or a one-way. Didn't talk about that? You should ask this. "Return" means you can come home, all right? You can come home. If you get one-way -- [singing] "I'm on a highway to hell!" You ain't coming back, son! And people ask questions when you buy a one-way ticket. They go, "And when do you plan on coming back, hmm?" Okay? So when you make your travel arrangements or you flight or your trip, okay, this is when you'll get your boarding pass, right? You'll do that; they will print up your travel document. It's called your "itinerary". An "itinerary" tells me what time the plane will arrive, what time I must be at the airport -- not the same. Three hours for international; two hours for domestic. "Domestic" means in the country, okay? All of this will be in your itinerary. Itinerary. I'm going to do that later -- no. I'll do it now. "Itinerary." I-tin -- like a can -- er-ary. Okay? Itinerary. It's one word. And what this means is your arrangements or organization of your travel. And airports will give you an itinerary when you book a flight. See we have the word here? You book a flight or book your trip, which means you call them and say, "I want to go here at this time." When you're ready and you pay your money, they will give you an itinerary which will tell you when you're flying, when you're leaving, what airport, how much. And it also, when you're finished, says you have paid, so you can get your boarding pass and get on the plane. So you've got your itinerary. We're ready to go. What's next? Well, you're going to go to the airport. And when you go there, I want you to be aware of something. It's called your "luggage" or "baggage". Depending on what was on your itinerary, it might say how many bags you can take. That's another thing on your itinerary. There are two types. There are "baggage" and "carry-on". It's not exactly the same, and you have to be very careful when you go on vacation. "Carry-on" means you, on your body, can walk on the airplane, and then sit down, put it on the overhead, okay? "Carry-on" is on you. You keep it with you, with your passport. Go on the plane. And then you can put it above. This is not the same as your "luggage" or "baggage" that is -- you come with. This is what you're allowed to. Sometimes, you're allowed one. Sometimes, you're allowed two. You better check because it will really make your vacation very expensive. And I'll tell you why in a second. If you have luggage, usually, you take it to the airport. You give it to someone. It disappears. And you don't see it again until you get to the new country. They say, "Carry-on? Do you have anything for carry-on?" You say, "Yes. This bag." And you walk, and they go, "Okay." Then, the other one, they take away and say, "Bye-bye, bag! I'll see you in the new country." So you got on the carry-on. You've got your boarding pass. You walk up with passport. They let you in. Okay? You board. "Board" means you can go on the plane. When they say, "Geraldine Potter, boarding now. Flight 57 is boarding. Ready to leave, to depart." That's you. You get on the plane. Okay? So you board the plane, give them your documents. Finally, you're on the plane. You're relaxing. The plane comes. It arrives, and comes down. What's the first place you go to? Customs. Customs. You get off the plane. They announced you. You showed your passport one time. They're going to say do you, "Do you have a passport, please, sir? Can we see your passport?" And you have to show the passport again before you can come in the new country. So once you get to Italy, you can't just walk into Italy. You have to go to customs and show your passport. Then, you can enter, and we can finally begin our vacation. Well, what are you going to do on vacation? You didn't just go there to go to a hotel. And a "hotel" is a place you pay to sleep at night. And you can buy some food, but you just sleep there. Okay? Or maybe, you have family there. I didn't draw a hotel because, well, you probably are going with family, and hotel -- you probably know that before you go because you can't just show up and kind of go, "Okay. I sleep where, now?" You get a hotel. So a hotel or motel are places that you go to. Motels are a little bit cheaper. And hotels are more expensive but can be nicer with bathtubs and everything. Magnifique. Okay? But they're places you pay to stay to sleep at night. Okay? There's also something called "hostel". Not "hostage", okay? Not "hostage". Let's not go there. "Hostel". A "hostel" is usually used by students or people who have backpacks that they carry, and they're very, very cheap, but many people share rooms or showers. So you can spend more money and go to a hotel. Middle money -- think "motel" is "middle money". Not so nice, but you have your own bathroom and your own bed. And "hostel", well, everybody sleeps together. Well, no. They don't. I'm just saying everybody sleeps in a similar room and has the same shower, okay? Those are your three things you can do. So after you get up from your hotel, motel, hostel, you might want to, well, go sightseeing. See the glasses? "Sightseeing" is when you go to places of interest in a country, usually places that are called "tourist attractions" -- "attraction", like a magnet, brings tourists. In Canada, we have the CN Tower. Or in Seattle, the Seattle Space Needle. Or in Paris, the Arc De Triomphe. Okay? These are places where people go, "Did you go to see MoNA, the Museum of Natural --?" They ask you because you should go to these places in these countries, all right? So if you say to someone, "Hey. I want to go sightseeing. Do you know of any tourist attractions?" They'll go, "Yes. My house at twelve o'clock. The freaks come out at night." Joking. What they'll say is, "Yeah. You should go to this place, Yonge Street. Or this place. And here are some things you'll like when you get there." Okay? Now, be careful. Although there are tourist attractions, there are also what we call "tourist traps". These are places where you spend lots of money for nothing. You will notice people in the country never go there because they go, "Oh, it's too much money, and all the tourists are there." Which means, it's just made for tourists. It doesn't mean it's fantastic or great. It just means there are people there who know tourists are coming, who probably speak foreign languages, and they want to take most of your money. So make sure you make a difference or you ask a local in the country, "Hey. Is this a tourist attraction or a tourist trap?" And you'll know that because especially if you want to practice your English, there will be more people speaking your language at tourist traps than at tourist attractions. Sometimes, there will be people to help you. But you know, be careful. Now, you've gone to attractions, you've gone sightseeing. You've missed the tourist traps. I'm sorry; your vacation is over. Almost like this lesson. That means you've got to go back home. So you're going to have to board the plane again, take your luggage, get your carry-on, make sure you have your travel documents -- your boarding pass and your passport, okay? "Bye, Italy! It was a nice vacation. I'll visit you again." My holiday is over, so Mr. E and I, well, we're going to take our flight back to our country. It's going to be a long -- see, a long flight is usually, like, hours. A short flight could be an hour. But we really enjoyed the trip. And we love traveling, okay? I'm going to tell my friends about this airline I use because they have a great itinerary. When I come back to my country, oh, damn it! I have to go through customs again. When you come back, you have to go through with your stuff and show them. Go to customs. But finally, maybe I have some money left. I have their currency, not their money. So I'll have to go and find out what the exchange rate is, change my money back to my real money, and my trip is over. I hope you enjoyed this little trip. Mr. E, of course, you did. I've got some pictures of you and me away, huh? Drinking some beer, yes? In some good countries! Anyway. It's been a pleasure. And I need you to go somewhere -- take a little trip. It's not much of a flight. But it's sort of like a vacation because you're going to learn a different language -- English. You don't need any documents, and you don't have to go to customs. I want you to go to www.engvid.com. That's right. I said it, people. "Eng" as in "English", "vid" as in video". That's EngVid, where you can find myself and other teachers who will take you on a fabulous journey -- that's a word we didn't use here, a "journey" to English. Don't forget to watch out for tourist traps, okay? Don't be a tourist. Come stay with us. We'll educate you. Have a good one. E! Out!