0:00 So, how was your trip?
0:01 How did it go?
0:02 If I asked you this, would your heart start to pound?
0:06 Would your palms get sweaty?
0:07 What do I say, Vanessa?
0:09 Well, never fear.
0:10 Today, I am going to help you learn how to speak about your trips
0:15 and travel in English,
0:17 and you're going to have the chance to practice speaking with me in today's
0:21 lesson.
0:22 That's right.
0:22 So, stick around.
0:24 If you're new here, hi.
0:25 I'm Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com
0:29 and I just got back from a beautiful trip to Portugal.
0:33 And today's lesson is inspired by the beautiful trip
0:37 that I had with some problems along the way.
0:40 So, I want you to learn how to speak about your trip
0:44 and your travels as well.
0:46 And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet
0:50 that includes all of today's important vocabulary,
0:53 sample conversations, and an option for you to be able to fill in your
0:59 own conversation answers so
1:01 that when you're talking about your trips
1:03 and travels,
1:04 you will have an answer with no problem at all.
1:07 I've even added a little bonus quiz to this worksheet
1:10 so that you can test yourself
1:12 and see if you really know how to use today's vocabulary.
1:16 So, how can you get the free PDF worksheet and bonus quiz?
1:21 Just click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address,
1:25 and voila, just like that, it will land in your email inbox.
1:30 And do you want to know the coolest thing?
1:33 You never need to sign up for my free PDF worksheets ever again.
1:37 I will continue to automatically send them to you every single Friday.
1:42 It's my gift to you.
1:44 So, click on the link in the description to get this free PDF worksheet
1:48 and bonus quiz today.
1:50 But before we talk about our important travel phrases, you need to know something.
1:55 You could listen to me teaching you about vocabulary all day
1:59 and night and never remember the phrases.
2:03 The only way to remember new vocabulary is to use it yourself.
2:08 The good news is at the end of today's lesson,
2:12 you will get an opportunity to use today's new vocabulary
2:16 and speak out loud with me.
2:17 So, as I'm teaching you new vocabulary at the beginning of this lesson,
2:22 pay attention because you're going to use it at the end.
2:25 Are you ready?
2:26 Let's do it.
2:26 The first important travel phrases are for talking about when things go well.
2:32 After my trip to Portugal, everyone asked me, "Vanessa, how was your trip?
2:37 How was Portugal?
2:38 How did it go?"
2:39 And many things went well.
2:41 So, how can you describe when things go well on your trip?
2:45 Let's see.
2:45 It was amazing.
2:47 It was breathtaking.
2:50 It was exciting.
2:51 So, when my friends asked me about my trip to Portugal,
2:55 I said it was amazing to be walking on such historic streets
3:02 and enjoying such a breathtaking view of the sea.
3:06 It was really amazing.
3:07 If you have ever been to Lisbon,
3:08 then you know exactly what I'm talking about.
3:11 And when my friends asked me, "Vanessa, what did you do in Lisbon?"
3:15 I could say, well, for the first few days,
3:18 Dan and I just walked around the city and soaked in the atmosphere.
3:24 This means we didn't have a packed day of activities.
3:28 We just enjoyed breathing in the fresh air,
3:32 seeing what kind of atmosphere there was in the city,
3:36 taking a look at good views, sitting at cafes, and people watching.
3:40 This type of relaxing trip is exactly what I love.
3:44 Or you could say,
3:45 we decided to get off the beaten path and visit a small medieval village.
3:52 This is what we did.
3:53 And this phrase to get off the beaten path means
3:57 that you're going somewhere
3:58 that not everybody visits.
4:00 It's kind of an unusual destination.
4:04 Maybe it's a small unknown village that really is breathtaking.
4:09 And why don't more people go there?
4:11 I don't know.
4:12 But you found a special place off the beaten path.
4:16 Before my trip, I heard
4:17 that some people in the Lisbon airport were on strike,
4:22 and a lot of people recommended to travel light
4:26 and only pack a carry-on.
4:28 So, this is what I did.
4:30 It's not easy for me to pack light or travel light,
4:34 but I didn't want to have to wait in the airport for long lines
4:38 while I waited for my baggage to be sent in from the airplane.
4:42 What about you?
4:42 Is it natural for you to travel light
4:46 or do you usually pack everything in your house?
4:50 Often times going on a trip means
4:52 that you're going to need to prepare in advance.
4:55 And for me, I have three kids
4:57 and I have some wonderful in-laws who were able to watch them for an
5:02 entire week while Dan
5:04 and I went to Portugal.
5:06 But I prepared a lot of information for my in-laws before I left.
5:13 I prepared a fourpage document with all of the phone numbers, the routines,
5:19 the information, all of the things that they might need while we were gone.
5:24 It was a lot of work,
5:25 but it was worth it because Dan and I had a wonderful trip together.
5:30 So, we use this phrase, it was worth it.
5:33 When we do something difficult, but the end result is important.
5:39 It is something that is absolutely worth the pain that you went through.
5:45 Now, it wasn't much pain to write out those documents,
5:47 but it did take some organization.
5:49 So, I would say it was absolutely worth it to put in all
5:53 that effort so that we could have a special trip together.
5:57 Now, we can use this phrase in the negative sense.
6:00 When we were in Lisbon, we wanted to visit a famous cathedral,
6:04 but when we got there,
6:05 the line was so long
6:08 that we decided not to go in
6:10 because when we saw
6:11 that long line,
6:12 we realized it was not worth it to wait.
6:16 Instead, we enjoyed walking along the river and just soaking in the atmosphere.
6:21 Oh, what a great expression.
6:23 So, here, it was not worth it for us to wait in
6:26 that line for hours
6:28 and hours.
6:29 Instead, we did other things that we enjoyed instead.
6:32 So, you can use this phrase in the positive sense.
6:34 It was worth it or it was not worth it.
6:38 The next two phrases are when you've had busy travel days.
6:42 Maybe you've booked some tours, some museum visits,
6:46 and your body is just ready to take it easy.
6:50 You want to just sit in a cafe and people watch.
6:54 You want to just sit on the beach and enjoy the waves crashing in.
6:59 You want to take it easy.
7:01 This is something that I enjoy every few days
7:03 if I'm on a busy trip.
7:05 I want to have a day where I just take it easy.
7:09 Or we could say,
7:10 I want to have a day where I just go with the flow.
7:14 I don't have any tours booked.
7:16 There's nothing specific that I need to do.
7:18 I have no restaurant reservations.
7:20 I just want to go with the flow.
7:22 And sometimes on those days, you see the most amazing things.
7:26 For example, on my trip to Portugal,
7:28 Dan and I decided to go a different way back to our hotel.
7:33 And as we were wandering in the streets, just going with the flow,
7:37 taking it easy, we heard some music.
7:40 And right there there was the ruins of an old Roman theater.
7:45 And two musicians were playing in the theater
7:49 and lots of people started to gather
7:51 and watch them.
7:52 It was amazing.
7:54 So sometimes when you go with the flow, you see the best things.
7:57 If you visit a popular destination for the first time,
8:00 you might want to do some more touristy things, right?
8:04 So, Dan and I decided to book a sailboat tour in the river.
8:10 This is absolutely a touristy thing to do,
8:13 but it lived up to the hype.
8:16 It was beautiful.
8:17 It was fun.
8:18 We drank wine while we were on the river
8:21 and we got to see Lisbon from the water
8:24 which is a very historical way to be able to see the city
8:28 as they had a very big maritime history
8:32 and past.
8:33 So this was something that absolutely lived up to the hype.
8:38 This is a similar phrase to it was worth it.
8:42 This was something that I'm very glad we did.
8:45 Even though it was touristy, it lived up to the hype.
8:48 We have two more positive phrases to talk about before we get to some
8:53 negative expressions to talk about
8:55 when things didn't go well on your trip.
8:58 The next positive phrase is to be blown away.
9:02 In Lisbon, there are beautiful tiles that cover the outside of so many buildings.
9:08 I was blown away that there were tiles on just normal buildings, too.
9:14 It wasn't just the most important buildings in the city.
9:17 There were beautiful historical tiles on so many buildings all over the city.
9:23 I loved the vibrancy and the color.
9:26 It was such a unique thing to see.
9:28 Now, this trip to Lisbon wasn't just a pleasure trip.
9:32 It was also a work trip.
9:33 I met some wonderful people who also teach languages here on YouTube.
9:39 Some of those you might have seen last week in my video where I
9:44 asked all of these teachers to give you a speaking tip.
9:47 How can you improve your speaking skills?
9:50 If you would like to hear all of their wonderful tips,
9:53 you can check out that video here.
9:55 So, because I was getting together with these other wonderful language teachers,
10:00 we made some unforgettable memories together.
10:04 I learned a lot about business.
10:06 I learned a lot about being a teacher,
10:08 but also I got to connect with these wonderful people
10:12 and spending long days together late into the night just talking about our lives
10:18 and our work and our passion.
10:20 This really made it so that we had some unforgettable memories together.
10:25 All right.
10:25 What can you say when something bad happens on your trip?
10:29 How can you talk about what happened?
10:31 I want to give you some phrases for that.
10:34 If you want to be very polite about it,
10:36 you might say it didn't go as planned.
10:40 You're not saying it was terrible.
10:42 Instead, you're saying it didn't go as planned.
10:45 So, for example, Dan
10:47 and I had reservations to see a special type of traditional Portuguese music called
10:53 fo.
10:54 And we had reservations to go to a fo restaurant on our first night
10:59 in Portugal.
11:01 But when we arrived in Portugal,
11:03 we were so tired and the reservations were for 7:30 that night.
11:09 We knew there was no way we would be awake at 7:30 at night
11:13 and be able to enjoy this special experience.
11:17 So, we decided to reschedu those reservations and book it for another night.
11:23 It just didn't go as planned.
11:25 It wasn't a big deal.
11:26 We decided to do it another night.
11:28 But what if something is truly terrible?
11:31 You might say it was a nightmare.
11:35 One time when my family was about to travel to Costa Rica,
11:39 I realized that I had bought us tickets to San Jose,
11:44 California instead of San Jose, Costa Rica,
11:48 and our flight was about to leave in 12 hours.
11:52 This was a nightmare.
11:54 Absolutely, it was a nightmare.
11:56 Thankfully, the lovely person on the phone helped us to find other tickets.
12:02 She was very kind to me,
12:04 but there were a few hours there that were truly a nightmare.
12:08 Another polite phrase for negative situations is to run into problems.
12:14 There were several people on my trip who ran into problems at the airport.
12:18 Thankfully for us, our airport experience was very smooth.
12:22 Maybe we arrived at just the right time,
12:25 but it's very possible to run into problems at the airport.
12:28 This might mean a long line.
12:31 This might mean that your baggage had to be checked several times.
12:35 It's just a simple problem.
12:37 What should you say if you feel disappointed?
12:41 You might say something like I said.
12:43 There was one seafood restaurant we went to
12:46 that was a bit of a letdown.
12:49 Here, I'm using two important phrases.
12:51 The first is a let down which means a disappointment.
12:56 But the other is this qualifier a bit.
12:59 It was a bit of a letdown.
13:01 I don't want to be extremely negative
13:04 and say h it was such a let down.
13:06 It was terrible.
13:07 It was a nightmare.
13:09 No, the food was still okay,
13:11 but it didn't live up to the hype as we just learned.
13:15 So, I might say the restaurant was okay,
13:17 but it was a bit of a letdown.
13:19 I thought it would be amazing and it was just okay.
13:23 Have you ever traveled
13:24 and paid too much for something
13:27 because you were a naive tourist?
13:30 You got ripped off.
13:33 All over Portugal and especially in Lisbon on the coast,
13:38 there are these flashy sardine stores
13:42 because fresh seafood is a big thing near the coast
13:46 and a lot of tourists want to buy sardines to take home.
13:51 But should you go to those flashy sardine stores?
13:55 Absolutely not.
13:57 You are going to get ripped off.
13:59 Or we could say those stores are a ripoff.
14:04 Instead, Dan and I decided just to go to a regular grocery store
14:08 and buy some regular brands of sardines
14:12 that said made in Portugal.
14:15 And we brought those home to try.
14:17 I hope that we didn't get ripped off.
14:20 All right, we have just learned 15 phrases to talk about your trip.
14:26 But the next thing is the most important part.
14:29 You are going to watch a sample conversation between Dan
14:32 and I using these phrases
14:34 and then it will be your turn.
14:37 You are going to speak with me out loud and use these phrases yourself.
14:41 So pay attention during this sample conversation
14:44 because it's going to be your turn soon.
14:46 Let's watch.
14:47 Hey Dan, you're back from Portugal.
14:49 How was your trip?
14:51 >> Oh, it was amazing.
14:52 The colors and views of Lisbon completely blew me away.
14:56 >> Ah, that sounds incredible.
14:57 Did everything go smoothly?
14:59 >> Not exactly.
15:01 My flight got delayed, so the first day didn't go as planned,
15:04 and I got ripped off by a taxi driver.
15:07 >> Oh, no.
15:07 That's rough.
15:08 But you still found time to soak in the atmosphere.
15:12 >> Definitely.
15:12 I got off the beaten path and explored a medieval town.
15:16 It was totally worth it.
15:18 >> That sounds great.
15:19 Well, thanks for telling me about your trip.
15:21 >> No problem.
15:22 Okay, are you ready?
15:24 This is the most important part of today's lesson.
15:27 So, if you need to pause this video,
15:29 if you need to review this part again and again, go for it.
15:33 It's one of the benefits of learning English online.
15:36 So, I'm going to ask you some questions.
15:38 We're going to have a little chitchat together and I will pause.
15:42 I want you to speak out loud during the pause.
15:46 I have magical teacher ears
15:48 and I can hear you wherever you are around the world.
15:52 I will hear you.
15:53 So, make sure you speak out loud.
15:55 Listen to your own voice because I'll be listening to it, too.
15:58 Are you ready?
15:59 Let's do it.
16:00 Hi, I heard you took a trip recently.
16:03 Where did you go?
16:13 Nice.
16:14 Did everything go as planned or did you run into problems?
16:28 Oh, I see.
16:29 Well, tell me, what was the best part of your trip?
16:31 Was there anything that just blew you away?
16:47 H this sounds wonderful.
16:49 Did you have any chance to get off the beaten path
16:51 and just soak in the atmosphere?
17:06 Oh, that's awesome.
17:08 It sounds like you really made some unforgettable memories on your trip.
17:12 Thanks so much for sharing it with me.
17:14 Well, congratulations.
17:16 You just practiced speaking in English about your trip.
17:19 That is a wonderful step
17:21 so that the next time you have a real English conversation,
17:25 you'll be ready.
17:26 Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet
17:29 that includes all of today's travel phrases,
17:32 plus the bonus quiz
17:34 so that you can test yourself
17:36 and see if you can really use these phrases yourself.
17:40 Just click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address,
17:44 and voila, just like that,
17:46 the PDF worksheet and bonus quiz will land in your email inbox.
17:51 And just to let you know,
17:53 every week I will automatically send you my free PDF worksheets.
17:58 You never need to sign up for them again.
18:00 How great is that?
18:01 It is my gift to you.
18:03 And now I have a question for you.
18:05 Let me know in the comments.
18:07 Where was the last place that you traveled to?
18:10 Whether it was in your country or outside of your country,
18:13 I would love to know.
18:15 I can't wait to learn about wonderful places around the world.
18:18 Well, thank you so much for learning English with me
18:21 and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my
18:24 YouTube channel.
18:25 Bye.
18:26 But wait, do you want more?
18:28 I recommend watching this video next where you will learn how to speak better
18:33 English from some of the best language teachers from around YouTube.
18:38 Plus, you will see a little sneak peek into the place where we were
18:42 staying near Lisbon in Portugal.
18:44 I'll see you there.
