Thomas Brock, our resident travelling English teacher shares his thoughts on one of the drawbacks of travelling.
Read on to hear what Thomas has to say about the downsides of long and tiring journeys.
Vocabulary List
- Privilege
- an opportunity to do something special or enjoyable or an advantage that only one person or group of people has, usually because of their position
- Luxury
- great comfort, especially as provided by expensive and beautiful things
- Shoestring budget
- a budget where money is tight and will limit your spending to the lowest possible amountĀ
- Exhaustion
- the state of being extremely tired
- Reasonable
- based on or using good judgment and therefore fair and practical
- Whatsoever
- at all / whatever (used for emphasis)
- Easter
- a Christian religious holiday to celebrate Jesus Christ’s return to life
- Opt
- to make a choice, especially of one thing or possibility instead of others
- Destination
- the place where someone is going or where something is being sent or taken
- Unlikelihood
- the state of being unlikely, not probable, or likely
- Knackered
- very tired
- Precursor
- something that comes before another and may lead to it or influence its development
- Layover
- a short stay in a place that you make while you are on a longer journey to somewhere else
- Excessive
- too much
- Indulgence
- an occasion when you allow yourself to have something enjoyable, especially something that is not good for you, or something enjoyable that you allow yourself like this
- Categorically
- in a way that is without any doubt or possibility of being changed
On the Drawbacks of Travelling
Hello again everyone,
This week I wanted to point out one of the serious downsides to travelling.
As I mentioned previously, I have been to a few places in recent weeks. I visited Serbia with my partner and her daughter; I visited the UK, to see my family, and I visited Portugal with my friends for a stag do.
Three trips all in the space of two weeks, what privilege and luxury.
Well, I am very privileged, I have admitted that before, but luxury is not necessarily a word I would use to describe my travels. I wouldnāt claim that I was on a shoestring budget or that I had any bad experiences, but one thing I wanted to point out for my blog was the exhaustion of travelling.
Let me explain.
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When booking our trip to Belgrade, we decided to fly on what became the shortest flight Iāve ever been on, just 45 minutes. The flight was at a reasonable time, and we had no travel upsets whatsoever. Great.
In contrast, for the return journey, we decided to use the overnight train which would be an interesting experience. We would have our own room with beds for the fourteen-hour journey through the night. However, when we arrived at the station to book the ticket, we found the train sold out, due to the Easter holiday.
This meant that we opted for the bus, which was actually a little quicker, and direct to our destination, but it also meant an unlikelihood of much sleep. After three days of walking over twenty thousand steps each day, we were already knackered.
This tiring journey was just a precursor to the most exhausting leg of my whole trip.
Six Hours in an Airport
When returning from Portugal, I couldnāt find a direct flight and the best I could do was a six-hour layover in Budapest, which doesnāt sound so bad, until you learn that I landed at midnight and took off again at six in the morning.
Now, I am not one to complain about hanging around and killing time, but after a weekend of excessive indulgence, the layover was unpleasant and extremely sleep-free. To top it all off, I caught a cold while in Lisbon and felt a little extra worse for it.
Having said all of this, I am absolutely and categorically convinced of the fact that it is always worth it, to go through an unpleasant journey in order to have fun on your travels. Whatās more, when I eventually got home, my girlfriend surprised me at the airport, made me food, and tea, and put me to bed. What an angel she is.
Thatās it for this week.
Thomas
What are some other downsides of travelling?
What experiences do you have of exhausting journeys?
What is the longest journey you have made?
