Travel experience

1. Complete the following sentences with information which is true for you

(be ready to give some more details about each point). Use the verbs and adjectives in the boxes below. You will need to change their grammatical form.

be

have

do

go

see

hear

meet

stay

buy

fabulous stupid marvellous ridiculous exciting wonderful silly beautiful

great boring violent amazing hard disgusting strange nice

attractive delicious brilliant fascinating frightening dull luxurious wild

pathetic funny interesting terrible nasty relaxing stressful entertaining

1. I’ve ____ in some ____ hotels, but the one I ____ in in _____ (where?) must be the ____ I’ve ever ____ in.

2. The _____ city I’ve ever _____ to must be _____ . I _____ there ____ (when?).

3. I’ve ____ some ____ people, but the guy/woman I ____ in ____ (where?) must be the ____ I’ve ever ____ .

4. The ___ job I’ve ever ____ must be when I was a ____ (what?) for ____ (who?). I ­­___ that job for ____ (how long?).

5. I’ve ____ to some ____ parties, but the one I ____ to in ____ (where?) must be the ___ I’ve ever ____ to.

6. The ____ holiday I’ve ever ____ was when I ____ to ____ (where?). I ____ there for _____ (how long?).

7. I’ve ____ some ____ meals, but the ____ (what?) I ____ in ____ (where?) must be the ____ I’ve ever ____ .

2. Read these extracts from interviews with people about their business trips. Then look at the words in bold in each extract and find six pairs of opposite phrases.

SPEAKING

1. You are going to talk about a business trip. Think of a recent trip you have made and write notes to answer each question below.

• Where and when did you go?

• Why did you go?

• How did you go? Did anything interesting happen during the journey?

• Who did you meet?

• What happened during the trip?

• What happened later, as a result of your trip?

• Have you learned anything from the experience?

When you have prepared your notes, work with a partner and interview each other.

2. Complete the following by putting one word in each box.

Y ou be waiting for me. You be tired after your long flight. You be Alan Hayes.	… if that’s with you. I hope that’s
me take those for you. me help you with your bags.	He his apologies. Susan her love. Martin his regards.
S o, are things? So, is married life? So, is business? So, was your flight?	L uckily, I managed to some sleep in the plane. I thought we could some lunch. Now, let’s see if we can a taxi
W e you into the Savoy. We a table for 1.30. I upgraded. I’ve a taxi waiting outside.	I was expecting to Mr. Hill. Thanks for coming to me. I’d like you to Graham Banks. Pleased to you.

3. ROLE PLAY

Work with a partner to practice meeting a colleague at the airport.

Speaker A

It is 9.30pm. You are in the crowded arrivals area at Newark airport in New York. There has been a terrible thunderstorm and it is still pouring with rain.

You are picking up a senior colleague who works in your Cologne office. Because of the weather, the flight is two hours late, but your boss told you to ‘look after the guest well’ – take him to a top-class restaurant, maybe a nightclub. You have never met him before, so you are holding up a large piece of card with his name written on it.

Your car is just five minutes away in the car park. You have booked a table at Guastavino’s, a fabulous restaurant in Manhattan and are looking forward to an enjoyable evening. According to your boss, ‘money is no object’. If he can, he’s going to join you both later for drinks.

You’ve been working very hard recently. Tonight you are going to relax and have fun.

Speaker B

It is 9.30pm. You are in the crowded arrivals area at Newark airport in New York. There has been a terrible thunderstorm and it is still pouring with rain.

You have just arrived two hours late after a nightmare flight from Cologne. Normally you are a good flier, but there was so much turbulence you were almost sick on the plane. You don’t know who is meeting you, so you are looking for a sign with your name on it.

To be honest, you don’t feel like talking much and would like to go straight to your hotel, have a shower and go to bed. But maybe you should eat something light first – it’s a long day of meetings tomorrow and you want to be on good form.

It’s your first time in New York. It’s a pity you feel so ill.