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  • 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!

Hi. James, from EngVid. I was just about to plan my vacation. I'm going to take a long

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