Advantages of travelling
- Travelling is a unique opportunity to see the world. When we visit different countries, we broaden our mind. We can see famous places of interest with our own eyes and visit well-known places. We can talk to local people and learn something which is not written in books.
- Travelling is an opportunity to learn new culture. It doesn’t only imply seeing architectural monuments but also meeting people, learning their traditions and trying national cuisine.
- Travelling is an opportunity to get some rest. Even a short trip can help us regain strength. Change of scene makes us feel happier and diverts from everyday routine.
- Travelling is an opportunity to learn something new. While travelling we have a great chance to acquire new experience and knowledge. Someone practises a foreign language, someone learns how to surf, someone attends cooking master classes.
Disadvantages of travelling
- Tourists do not orient themselves well to a foreign country and may become fraud victims. Thieves and pickpockets may steal money and valuable things. One should always be careful and alert.
- Food poisoning or a sickness can mar one’s travel. It is very inconvenient to be treated while far away from home. First of all, one should eat only in reliable places. Second, one should always have the necessary medicines at hand. And never disregard medical insurance which will compensate for all the expenses in case of an accident.
Преимущества путешествий
- Путешествия – это уникальная возможность посмотреть мир. Когда мы посещаем разные страны, мы расширяем свой кругозор. Мы можем воочию увидеть знаменитые достопримечательности и посетить известные места. Мы можем пообщаться с местными людьми и узнать что-то, о чем не написано в книгах.
- Путешествия – это возможность познакомиться с новой культурой. Это подразумевает не только осмотр памятников архитектуры, но также знакомство с людьми, их традициями и национальной кухней.
- Путешествия – это возможность отдохнуть. Даже короткая поездка может помочь нам восстановить силы. Смена обстановки помогает нам почувствовать себя счастливее и отвлекает от повседневной рутины.
- Путешествия – это возможность научиться новому. В путешествии у нас есть шанс получить новый опыт и знания. Кто-то практикует изучаемый язык, кто-то учится серфингу, кто-то посещает кулинарные мастер-классы.
Недостатки путешествий
- Туристы плохо ориентируются в чужой стране и могут стать жертвами мошенничества. Воры и карманники могут украсть деньги и ценные вещи. Нужно быть осторожным и внимательным.
- Пищевое отравление или болезнь могут испортить поездку. Лечиться вдали от дома очень неудобно. Во-первых, кушать нужно только в надежных местах. Во-вторых, нужно всегда иметь необходимые медикаменты под рукой. И никогда не пренебрегайте медицинской страховкой, которая компенсирует все расходы, если несчастный случай все же произойдет.
Traveling
#1
There are advantages and disadvantages of traveling by plane.
One obvious advantage is the speed.
I’ve been from Hungary to London by coach, and it took 30 hours,
whereas by plane it takes two and a half — quite a difference.
Also, I think it’s very exciting to go over the sea,
and good fun when flying to look down on little towns.
All the cars look like ants.
Some people are frightened to fly.
I’ve flown about 50 times,
or something like that.
I was frightened at first of course,
but I have become accustomed to it,
so it’s not frightening at all.
One thing I don’t like is when your ears pop,
and I always have a slight feeling of nausea,
feeling all blocked up from the air pressure changes,
but it’s only a minor irritation.
I think landing is worse than taking off.
Taking off’s really exciting,
when you feel the plane accelerate and you feel the power, the seats tip back, and then you take off.
I enjoy that bit,
but on landing, you seem to hover for ages,
and there’s a point when you can’t hear anything, and that’s a very unpleasant sensation.
#
В воздушных путешествиях есть достоинства и недостатки. Есть одно явное преимущество — это скорость. Я ехала в Лондон из Венгрии на автобусе, и это заняло 30 часов,
в то время как самолетом два с половиной часа — существенная разница.
Кроме того, я думаю, очень интересно лететь над морем
и смотреть с высоты на маленькие города — это удовольствие.
Все машины выглядят муравьями.
Некоторые люди бояться летать.
Я летала раз 50,
или что-то около того.
Сначала мне было, конечно, страшно,
но потом я привыкла,
поэтому сейчас это совсем нестрашно.
Одно мне не нравится, когда закладывает уши, и меня всегда слегка мутит,
как будто от меняющегося давления все закупоривается,
но это лишь небольшая неприятность.
Я думаю, приземление хуже взлета.
Взлет на самом деле интересен,
когда чувствуешь, как разгоняется самолет и чувствуешь его мощь, когда кресло отклоняется назад, и ты взлетаешь.
Эта часть полета мне нравится.
Но вот при посадке кажется, что паришь бесконечно долго,
и есть момент, когда уже ничего не слышишь, очень неприятное ощущение.
#2
I quite like aircraft food.
People always say that it’s awful,
but sometimes it’s quite interesting.
It‘s started getting a lot better now I think,
they have cold meat and nice salads.
#
Мне очень нравится еда в самолетах.
Люди говорят, что она ужасная,
но иногда бывает что-нибудь вкусное.
Сейчас, мне кажется, еда становится вкуснее, дают холодное мясо и хорошие салаты.
#3
The longest trip I’ve been on was to the States.
I can’t remember how long it took,
I think it was 7 hours,
and we flew on one of those huge jumbo jets,
and inside it was the size of a room.
They showed films on the journey, which was good.
I remember that for some reason on the way back,
we couldn’t go on the flight that we were booked on,
and we ended up flying Iran Air,
and there was no one on the plane except children from our school,
so the entire room was empty
and we could wander around.
#
Мое самое длинное путешествие было в Штаты. Не помню, сколько это длилось,
по-моему, часов 7. Мы летели на огромном аэробусе, внутри которого салон как большая комната.
Там показывали фильмы, это было замечательно.
Помню, что по какой-то причине на обратном пути
мы не могли полететь на том рейсе, на который у нас были билеты, и в конце концов, мы полетели на «Иран Эйр».
На самолете не было никого, кроме детей из нашей школы,
так что весь салон был пустым,
и мы могли бродить везде.
#4
Usually I fly on those planes that have just 3 seats on one side and 3 seats on the other,
737’s I think they are called.
Jumbo jets are quite enormous in comparison.
Обычно я летаю на самолетах с тремя сиденьями на одной стороне и тремя на другой, эти самолеты, кажется, называются «Боинг-737».
Аэробусы по сравнению с ними просто огромны.
#5
Airports are usually quite far away from the nearest town,
so it takes another long journey after arriving to get into town.
For example the London airports, Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport,
are both a long way away from the center,
and if you want to take the tube to the airport, it takes an hour and a half or something,
and it’s a really boring trip.
In Moscow it’s the same —
to go to my friend’s house from the airport, it can take another 2 hours,
as it’s on the other side of town.
#
Аэропорты, обычно, очень далеко от города, поэтому приходится совершать еще одно долгое путешествие, чтобы добраться до города.
Например, лондонские аэропорты «Хитроу» и «Гэтуик»
оба находятся очень далеко от центра.
Если вы хотите доехать до аэропорта на метро, это займет примерно часа полтора,
и эта поездка очень скучная.
В Москве то же самое —
чтобы доехать до дома подруги, может понадобиться еще часа два,
потому что это на другой стороне города.
#6
One of the advantages of trains over buses is that you can get up and walk about,
whereas on a coach you’re stuck in your seat and you can’t move,
and you get cramp and your feet go to sleep,
and you can be sitting next to a really obnoxious antisocial person
who’s smoking or drinking or something and you can’t escape.
On the train you can always move.
For some reason I always seem to end up in a smoking compartment,
which I can’t say I’m over enthusiastic about.
I went on the train to Kaposvar last weekend
and I ended up coughing my lungs out
after sharing a compartment with 3 smokers,
even though it was a nonsmoking compartment,
but at least I could walk to the buffet car.
They have some amazing buffet cars now in Hungary.
We went to Debrecen in the summer and they had this kind of 60’s buffet
with really wacky stalls and seats and an old-style restaurant.
It was really good and you could sit down and eat sausages and drink beer.
Also, it’s an advantage that you can just turn up at the railway station and buy a ticket,
whereas with coaches you have to go along before hand and order your ticket
because you don’t know if the coach will be full,
so it takes a bit more planning.
#
Преимущество поездов перед автобусами в том, что можно встать и походить,
в то время, как в автобусе вы прикованы к креслу и не можете двигаться,
у вас все немеет, и отнимаются ноги,
вы можете оказаться рядом с каким-нибудь противным асоциальным типом,
который курит или пьет, или еще что-то, а вы не можете от него уйти.
В поезде можно всегда отойти.
Я почему-то всегда, в конце концов, оказываюсь в курящем купе,
что, надо сказать, не вызывает у меня воодушевления. В прошлый уикенд я ездила в Капошвар и прокашляла все легкие, так как оказалась в купе с тремя курильщиками,
хотя это было купе для некурящих,
но я могла пойти в вагон-ресторан.
Сейчас в Венгрии есть удивительные вагоны-рестораны.
Летом мы ездили в Дебрецен, и у них там были такие рестораны в стиле 60-х годов,
с кабинами и сиденьями, такие старомодные.
Было очень хорошо сидеть, есть сосиски и пить пиво.
Кроме того, преимущество в том, что можно явиться на вокзал и купить билет,
в то время, как за билетом на автобус нужно прийти заранее и заказать его,
потому что не известно, будет ли автобус заполнен,
поэтому необходимо заранее планировать.
#7
Coaches are subject to traffic jams and motorway pile-ups.
They often have accidents in England,
as coaches often go too fast ’cause they have to keep up with their timetable.
#
Автобусы попадают в пробки и заторы.
С ними в Англии часто бывают аварии,
потому что автобусы часто едут слишком быстро, ведь им необходимо соблюдать расписание.
#8
I like going on ships.
I’ve been on the cross-channel ferry from England to France, and I’ve also been quite a lot of times on the Isle of Man ferry,
which is interesting because it goes across the Irish Sea —
one of the roughest seas in the world, they say.
It has about 5 different currents that all meet,
and the Isle of Man ferry has no stabilizers on it,
so a lot of people get really seasick, really ill,
but if you go there as a child it’s not so bad.
I don’t think children suffer nearly as much from seasickness.
The channel ferry from Dover to Calais is good,
as they have lots of bars and restaurants,
and you can just enjoy yourself for an hour and a half.
It’s quite entertaining to go up on deck.
I went once with a friend who felt seasick
even though it was a totally flat calm sea,
but we went up on deck and she felt a bit better.
It’s good that you can go outside.
I once came back on a hovercraft from France to England.
The weather was really rough and the sea was rough, and everybody was sick except me, I think.
The awful thing was that we were trapped inside and couldn’t go out on deck,
and we were stuck in our seats and the smell was terrible.
I felt really ill.
#
Мне нравится плавать на пароходах.
Я плавала на пароме из Англии во Францию
и много раз на остров Мэн.
Это интересно тем, что паром плывет через Ирландское море —
одно из самых неспокойных морей в мире, как говорят. В море встречаются примерно пять различных течений, а на пароме к острову Мэн стабилизаторов нет,
поэтому многие сильно страдают морской болезнью, но в детстве это не так тяжело.
Мне кажется, дети страдают морской болезнью меньше.
Паром из Дувра в Кале очень хороший,
потому что там много баров и ресторанов,
и можно просто наслаждаться все полтора часа.
Очень интересно подняться на палубу.
Я однажды поднялась туда с подругой, которой было плохо,
хотя море было совершенно спокойным,
но мы поднялись на палубу, и ей стало лучше.
Хорошо, когда можно выйти на улицу.
Однажды я возвращалась в Англию из Франции на судне на воздушной подушке.
Погода была плохой, и море штормило, и, мне кажется, всех тошнило, кроме меня.
Ужасно было то, что мы были заперты внутри и не могли выйти на палубу,
мы были прикованы к креслам, и запах стоял ужасный.
Мне было очень плохо.
#9
The new channel tunnel is apparently very popular now,
but I don’t think I would go on it,
as I get quite bad claustrophobia.
Tunnels are bad enough on land.
I hate the Tube in London.
It’s much worse than in Budapest
because it’s much deeper and the carriages are much smaller.
In Budapest they have big Soviet-built square carriages,
but in London there’s no space
and I feel like it sucks out all of your energy.
You end up feeling really tired.
Also, in England they’re really dirty and smelly
and there’ve been a few accidents so it’s quite frightening to go on it.
It often stops in the middle of the tunnel
and you just don’t know how long you’re going to stay there,
and you can see everybody getting more and more nervous
and more and more claustrophobic.
It’s quite frightening.
#
Новый Евротоннель под Ла-Маншем сейчас очень популярен,
но я бы не поехала по нему,
потому что у меня клаустрофобия.
Тоннели и без того плохи даже на суше.
Я ненавижу метро в Лондоне.
Оно намного хуже, чем в Будапеште,
потому что гораздо глубже и вагоны меньше.
В Будапеште советские квадратные вагоны,
а в Лондоне в них совсем нет места,
и, мне кажется, в них из меня высасывается вся энергия.
В конце концов, чувствуешь себя совершенно усталой.
К тому же в Англии вагоны грязные и вонючие,
там происходят разные несчастные случаи, поэтому в метро ездить страшно.
Часто поезд останавливается в середине тоннеля, ты не знаешь, сколько он так простоит, все вокруг нервничают сильней и сильней, и всем становится тесно.
Это все очень страшно.
#10
I often walk.
In towns I think you can often get around much quicker if you walk,
especially at rush hour when there are big traffic jams,
although you get affected by pollution.
#
Я часто хожу пешком.
В городах, мне кажется, часто оказывается, что ходить пешком быстрее,
особенно когда час «пик» и кругом большие пробки,
хотя ты дышишь грязным воздухом.
11
Perhaps it’d be better to wear a mask
similar to those people wear when they go cycling.
I used to cycle all around London,
but then I gave my bike away to a friend when I came to Hungary.
I’d quite like to have a bike here,
but I’m not sure if I trust Hungarian drivers.
They’re always quite reckless,
and also with the fumes from old cars,
it wouldn’t be very healthy if you didn’t have a mask.
#
Наверное, лучше бы было носить маску,
которую носят велосипедисты.
Раньше я ездила на велосипеде по Лондону,
но потом отдала его подруге, когда перехала в Венгрию.
Мне бы хотелось иметь велосипед здесь,
но я не уверена, можно ли доверять венгерским водителям.
Они всегда так безрассудно гоняют,
и еще эти выхлопные газы от старых машин, без маски было бы плохо для здоровья.
#12
When I was little, we use to go to Devon every summer, which is on the coast.
I’d stay with my cousins and just go to the seaside and swim every day.
Twice in the winter we went to Switzerland.
I was so young, I hardly remember it.
I remember going to a skiing-school
and being thrown out for not behaving, ’cause it seemed that the ski exercises were too easy,
and me and a friend that I’d just met went off and did our own thing,
and so we got thrown out.
I remember having really bad earache from the plane,
and my mum put hot oil in my ears.
#
Когда я была маленькой, мы каждое лето ездили в Девон, это на побережье.
Я была там с кузинами и каждый день ходила на море плавать.
Дважды мы ездили зимой в Швейцарию.
Я была такой маленькой, что почти ничего не помню. Помню, что ходила в лыжную школу, и что меня оттуда исключили за плохое поведение, потому что лыжные упражнения показались мне слишком легкими, и я с подругой, с которой только что познакомилась, стали заниматься своими делами, вот нас и выгнали.
Помню, что у меня от самолета страшно разболелись уши,
и мама капала мне в уши подогретое масло
#13
We also went to Norway when I was very tiny.
I hardly remember that at all.
I remember the hotel we stayed in, because they had nice games to play.
I’ve been to France a lot of times.
I went to stay with a French girl, in the south.
I think my mum hoped that I would learn a bit more French,
but I was really shy at the time and I hardly said anything.
One of my cousins lives in France with her husband
and I’ve been to stay with them.
I went with a friend of mine.
We went on little tours around the countryside on mopeds and really enjoyed ourselves.
Quite often I’ve just been over the channel to Calais to go shopping,
because from London it’s really quick and you can get very cheap tickets —
it costs about 6 pounds for a return ticket.
There used to be special offers in the newspapers to encourage people to go to these big supermarkets they have in Calais.
I have been to Paris as well.
That’s a really nice city,
but I remember the waiters being really abrupt.
#
Кроме того, когда я была совсем крошечной, мы ездили в Норвегию.
Эту поездку я совсем не помню.
Помню только отель, где мы останавливались, потому что там были интересные игры. Во Франции я была много раз. Я там жила на юге с девочкой-француженкой.
Мне кажется, мама надеялась, что я подучу там французский,
но в то время я была очень застенчивой и почти не разговаривала.
Одна из моих кузин живет с мужем во Франции,
я жила там у них.
Я ездила туда с подругой.
Мы катались там на мопедах по полям
и наслаждались.
Очень часто я ездила через канал в Кале в магазины,
потому что из Лондона туда можно доехать быстро, и можно купить дешевые билеты,
около 6 фунтов за билет туда и обратно.
В газетах было много рекламы дешевых билетов, чтобы люди побольше ездили в большие супермаркеты в Кале.
В Париже я тоже была.
Город очень хороший, но, помню, что официанты были очень резки.
#14
We went to the USA on a school trip for a month
and I stayed with an American girl,
but we were really badly matched up.
She was very much into sewing and shopping
and I was more into concerts and music and things like that,
so we were a strange mix.
#
Мы ездили со школой в США на месяц,
там я жила с американской девушкой,
но мы совсем не подходили друг другу.
Ей очень нравилось шить и ходить по магазинам,
а мне больше нравилась музыка, концерты и все такое,
так что мы были странной парочкой.
#15
I’ve been to Russia three times,
once when it was still the Soviet Union.
The first time was in 1980,
so it was quite different to when I went last year and about 3 years ago.
I noticed the difference. When I went 3 years ago, I went on the train to St. Petersburg.
That was really exciting.
Also, I went to Kaluga,
which is a provincial town outside Moscow.
If you go on the electric train, it takes about 3 or 4 hours to get there.
Electric trains are like little local trains and they go really slowly,
but it was a really interesting journey.
I went to stay with Natasha’s parents
and I saw what a provincial town was like,
quite different from the capital.
#
Три раза я была в России.
Один раз, когда это был еще Советский Союз. Впервые это было в 1980 году,
и там все было не так, как в прошлом году или 3 года тому назад.
Я заметила разницу. Три года назад, когда я была в России, я ездила в Петербург на поезде. Это было очень интересно.
Я еще ездила в Калугу, это провинциальный город недалеко от Москвы. Если ехать туда на электричке, то это часа 3-4.
Электрички, это вроде местных поездов, очень медленно ходят,
но поездка была очень интересной.
Я там гостила у Наташиных родителей
и увидела, как выглядит провинциальный город. Он очень отличается от столицы.
#16
I’ve been to the Czech Republic three times.
The first was with the University in 1982,
where you had to spend a certain amount of time abroad if you studied languages.
I went to Brno University.
That was really good.
It was quite different at that time.
I had a bit of a problem with food,
because there were no fresh vegetables
and I was vegetarian at the time,
so I lived on «knedliki» which are similar to dumplings.
I think I ended up eating sausages all the time because that was the only thing I could get.
We had some really horrible meals.
If you asked for a salad in a restaurant,
all you got was one sliced up gherkin.
Also, I went once on holiday with a friend
and went back to Brno and Prague,
which was good, and I went to a summer school in Brno,
which ended up being the first time I ever came to Hungary.
When my visa ran out,
I had to go somewhere outside of the Czech Republic, and then go back again to the airport.
#
Три раза я была в Чешской Республике.
Первый раз когда училась в университете в 1982 году.
Нужно было провести некоторое время за границей, если ты изучал языки.
Я ездила в университет города Брно.
Мне там очень понравилось.
В то время все было по-другому.
У меня были проблемы с едой,
потому что там не было свежих овощей,
а я тогда была вегетарианкой,
поэтому жила на «кнедликах», это что-то вроде клецок.
Все кончилось тем, что я стала все время есть сосиски, потому что это было единственное, что я могла там найти.
Несколько раз еда была просто ужасной.
Если вы заказывали салат в ресторане,
все, что вы получали, это был нарезанный огурец.
Ещё я ездила туда на отдых с подругой,
мы снова были в Брно и Праге,
было хорошо, я ходила в летнюю школу в Брно,
и, в конце концов, именно оттуда я первый раз поехала в Венгрию.
Когда моя виза закончилась,
мне надо было куда-то выехать из Чешской Республики и потом снова вернуться в аэропорт.
#17
I’ve also been to Slovakia.
We stayed in the High Tatras and the Low Tatras and we went all around.
The countryside was really beautiful.
We had a friend whose aunt was in a high position in the Communist Party at the time,
so we got to stay in a Communist Party hotel up in the Tatras,
which was really interesting.
The standard of the hotel was really high, as you can imagine.
#
Я еще бывала в Словакии.
Мы были в Высоких Татрах и Низких Татрах, ездили повсюду.
Местность там очень красивая.
У нас была подруга, чья тетя в то время занимала большой пост в компартии,
поэтому мы останавливались в партийном отеле в Татрах,
что было очень интересно.
Уровень, как вы можете себе представить, был очень высоким.
#18
I went on a cheap trip to Bulgaria with a friend from London.
We went on a spring tour around all these old ski-resorts
on the last week of the season before they shut down for the summer.
We also went to Plovdiv and Sofia,
but we spent most of the time in a ski-resort in the mountains.
We went to lots of monasteries, which were very beautiful,
and it was quite a good holiday overall.
We drank a lot of Bulgarian wine,
and had a lot of parties.
It was a kind of coach tour,
so it was really interesting
because often the other people on the tour were as interesting as the country we were visiting.
#
По дешевой путевке я ездила в Болгарию с подругой из Лондона.
Мы ездили весной по всем старым лыжным курортам
в последнюю неделю сезона, перед закрытием на лето.
Кроме того, мы ездили в Пловдив и Софию,
но больше всего времени мы провели на лыжном курорте в горах.
Мы были во многих монастырях, они очень красивые,
и вообще, отдых оказался очень хорошим.
Мы пили много болгарского вина,
ходили по многочисленным вечеринкам.
Это был автобусный тур,
так что было очень интересно,
потому что иногда попутчики были не менее интересными, чем сама страна.
#19
I’ve been to Albania twice.
I’d always been fascinated with Albania,
so when the first opportunity came to go there after they opened the borders,
I decided to go there.
I enjoyed that very much as well.
#
Дважды я была в Албании.
Мне эта страна всегда нравилась,
поэтому, как только появилась первая возможность отправиться туда после открытия границы, я решила ехать.
Мне эта поездка тоже доставила много удовольствия.
Nowadays, it is easier and easier for people to travel abroad. Thank to the globalization, the amount of foreign tourist is continuously increasing in some developing as well developed countries. Along with many benefit and joyfulness that traveling abroad brings to them, there are many disadvantage of it that suffer to the foreign tourists, especially, when they do not get some knowledge about the journey, destinations… before traveling.
People desire to travel abroad because they can take the exciting adventure to discover the new lands, meet the native people, and enjoy the food and culture here. One of the most attractive features toward foreign tourists is architecture. In particular, the architectural design between The East and The West is quite different and each country has its own specific architecture, therefore, it brings enthusiasm and high satisfaction to12 traveler when they set foot in the strange nation.
Other excellent factors that the tourists want to experience when they travel overseas are food and customs. The food are over the world is so diversity and its process too. Trying once time and remembering all the rest of life is the common travelers’ state of mind. Even though the foreign food is taste or not, the feelings when they eat are the exciting, unforgettable memory. Besides, strange customs also bring the fresh experiences for traveler during the journey.
In the other hand, before and during the journey, the foreign tourists have to do many preparations in order to prevent some problems about the excess cost, travel documents and the security. Although a trip abroad nowadays is so far more convenient and easier than a few years ago, travelers must make sure about the information on passports, visas, international driving permits and a variety of other documents they will need when they travel outside the country. Besides, getting knowledge already about the destination is one of the useful manners that tourists can avoid the bad situations and enjoy the trip in the most positive way. For example, reading a destination’s publications is the good first step for a healthy and safety journey.
Besides, there are another barriers for a trip overseas e.g the cost, the time … It’s hardly for the low-income people or the citizen in developing countries to take a trip outside their our countries. Moreover, the increase of work hours, the fixed schedule for jobs and the short summer vacation in some countries have cut the demand of travel abroad. Normally, the pensioners or people who have flexible, independent jobs is the objects to the trip overseas.
To sum up, traveling abroad brings many fresh, exciting discoveries to tourists. It helps to promote the development of the tourism industry, prosperity of society and contribute to diversity the human culture. Along with these benefits, the preparations are deeply necessary for a tourist for a healthy and safety trip overseas.
“On the road and traveling – that’s when people are at their most creative.”
Nick Woodman, Businessman
Traveling can be a quite nice experience from which we learn a lot.
We can experience new cultures and expand our horizon.
However, apart from any other important advantages of travelling, there are also some issues related to it.
In this article, the pros and cons of traveling are examined in detail.
- You can experience new cultures
- You will expand your knowledge
- Traveling can broaden your horizon and expand your world view
- It will show you the relativity of life
- You can learn new languages
- You can make new friends
- Traveling can make you really grow in character
- Memories for a lifetime
- You will be better able to deal with stress
- You will be forced out of your comfort zone
- Traveling may make you more independent
- Boost in confidence
- Traveling can help your career
- You can try different foods
- Better knowledge about our environment
- Traveling can improve your fitness level
- You will learn about yourself
- Traveling may help you to figure out your goals in life
- Your strengths and weakness will become more apparent to you
- Traveling might enable you to escape your boring life
One key advantage of traveling is that you can experience many different new cultures.
In case you always stay at home and always do the same things, you will never experience how the world really looks like since you haven’t seen enough different things to make a proper judgement.
By traveling around, you will meet many new people and see how they live your life.
You will soon realize that what’s “normal” for you will not necessarily be normal for people living in remote parts of our planet.
Talking to those people and experiencing their way of life is extremely important since you will be able to see how different people live on our planet.
Moreover, you will also be much more thankful for your own life once you get back home since you under what conditions people have to live around the world.
Thus, this overall expansion of cultural knowledge will give you many advantages back in your own life since you realize how lucky you really are if you live in one of our rich Western countries and chances are that you will stop complaining about rather unimportant things.
Through travelling, you will also be able to improve your overall knowledge in several different areas.
For instance, you will learn how to find an accommodation, how to talk to people if they do not understand your language and how to get around in a safe and fun manner in general.
Hence, by travelling, you will get plenty of social intelligence since you will always be exposed to new and unknown situations and you will have to navigate in those situations in order to stay on track, which will result in plenty of knowledge regarding how to behave in unknown territories.
This is not only extremely helpful while you are traveling, it will also give you an important edge over other people when it comes to the workplace since you often have to think out of the box in order to solve problems in demanding jobs.
In general, travel is one of the things that has the ability to greatly broaden your horizon.
Since you will see many different cultures and lifestyles, you will soon realize that what was taught to you back home to be the right way to go is just one cultural footprint and cannot be generalized at all.
In fact, there is no “right” way to live since this right way only depends on the respective cultural values in a respective region.
You might be much happier to live an alternative life than the mainstream life that is proposed to you.
By traveling, you really have the chance to figure this out and to get a broader world view, which may help you make better decisions in your future life.
Traveling has also the potential to show you how relative life really is.
For instance, many people complain about their daily lives and how hard it is to succeed in their job, to manage their family life and so on.
However, if you live in one of our rich Western countries, you will soon realize that there is nothing you should complain about at all.
While traveling to exotic places all over the world, I learned how good we have it in our Western world and how hard it is for billions of people around our globe to manage their daily life.
Consequently, if you experienced and really integrated all of that, chances are that you will be much happier at home since you know that so many people have it much worse and you are just lucky to be borne in such a good environment back home.
Another upside of traveling is that you might learn new languages during your travels.
While it is quite hard to motivate yourself to learn new languages back home, it might become easier when you travel since you see for what you actually learn.
Trust me, if you are in a remote part of our planet and urgently try to communicate to people but nobody seems to understand what you want to tell him, you will be quite motivated to learn at least a few words of the native language in order to make your life much easier.
Moreover, locals will also appreciate it quite a lot if you try to learn their language and to get to know their cultures and it will also be much easier to make new friends if you speak a few words of the local language.
On my travels, I also made many friends and I am still connected to some of them over social media.
This is quite cool since you can stay in touch and see what happens in their daily life.
Moreover, once you want to go back to certain places, you already have connections there and can meet up to have a good time.
Therefore, traveling is also great to meet many new people and to make really good friends for a lifetime.
Traveling is definitely one of the things that can make you really grow in character.
Especially when you travel alone, you have to figure out all the things by yourself.
You have to figure out how to get to your hostel, how to get from A to B and many other things.
Moreover, if you go backpacking and sleep in many different places, you get to know so many different people and talking to all of them greatly expands your knowledge and also forms your character.
For instance, on my travels, I met some really exotic guys.
Even though they seemed to be kind of strange first, I realized that I could learn a lot from them.
Thus, traveling is really great when it comes to character development and you will profit your whole life from the experiences you made traveling abroad.
During your travels, you will also make many memories you will never forget over the course of your life.
When I look back on all the incredible things I was lucky enough to experience during my travels and the great people I got to know, I can just say that I will never forget some trips and will be forever thankful for them.
Those experiences will benefit you over the course of your whole life since you will know how to navigate in different times of your life.
Instead of just giving up, you will be much more likely to recover from those bad things since you know how beautiful life can really be and that it is worth fighting for.
If you work in a demanding job and work long hours on a regular basis, you might also suffer from serious stress from time to time.
However, if you traveled a lot, you will know that this stress is only temporary and you will also be able to put your life into perspective.
You will learn that it doesn’t matter how stressful your life really is right now, since there are billions of people on our planet that would do everything to change places with you.
Thus, by putting your life into perspective, you will be much better able to deal with stress in a healthier manner.
Another upside of traveling is that it will force you out of your comfort zone.
You will likely not see this as an advantage at first.
However, only if we get pushed out of our comfort zones, we will really learn about ourselves and the world.
New experiences often do not come for free and often involve a certain level of pain or exhaustion.
Yet, in the long run, we can greatly benefit from those experiences out of our comfort zone since we will be better able to deal with those unknown situations.
People in our nowadays society also have it quite hard to get really independent.
We as a society impose so many rules on our children so that they learn to behave in a certain way that is in line with our cultural values that they are often not able to develop their own character.
Many people, even once they turned into grownups, behave more like zoo animals than like independent humans who have developed their own character and thinking.
Therefore, at least in my opinion, it is crucial to hand back more responsibility to our children so that they have a greater level of independence regarding what they want to do with their lives.
By traveling, we can increase our level of independence since we can freely do what we want to do without any rules imposed on us by our parents or our friends.
This would lead to much greater happiness for many people all over the world.
Traveling can also significantly increase the level of confidence in people.
On my travels, I met numerous people who seemed to be rather shy and not confident at all.
However, after a few weeks of traveling, they have really grown in character and their confidence levels skyrocketed.
This is due to the fact that people are often afraid to try out new things since they are afraid to do something in the wrong manner.
Yet, after experiencing that mistakes are a part of life, we can become more confident and the best versions of ourselves since we learned to overcome those cultural struggles.
Apart from the numerous other personal benefits of traveling, it can also help you boost your career.
Many renowned firms require you to spend at least few months abroad if you want to have the chance to get a job in those companies.
Those companies also know how important traveling can be and therefore require some sort of different cultural experience from their potential future employees.
Hence, if you plan to work for one of those big companies, you might also go traveling or spend a semester abroad in order to improve your career opportunities.
Another upside of traveling is that you will be able to try many different foods.
Every country usually has a specific traditional dish and you should definitely try them.
Even if it will not always be your taste, you might still get to know many different dishes and you may even be able to cook some of them when you get back home.
Thus, by trying those different foods while traveling, you can also expand your knowledge regarding food and cooking and can bring some cooking knowledge back to your home.
Traveling will also make you much more aware of our environmental problems and how important it really is to protect our planet.
You can read all of this in textbooks or in my blog, however, it is quite different when you actually experience the real beauty of our nature.
Therefore, by traveling and seeing all those beautiful places, it will become obvious to you how important protecting our environment really is and you are much more likely to also behave eco-friendly after your travels back home.
Depending on the kind of traveling you are engaging in, it can also significantly improve your overall fitness level.
For instance, when I had been backpacking for about half a year, my fitness level improved significantly since I always had to carry around my big and heavy backpack with me.
Thus, traveling can also help you improve your fitness level, which in turn will give you more energy for all other parts of your daily life.
Traveling will also give you the opportunity to really learn about yourself.
While you are traveling, you will have plenty of time to think about your life and if you are on the right track.
You may also think about what you should have done differently and learn from it for the future.
You will also get some inspirations from people you meet during your travels and you can adapt certain character traits if you regard them to be beneficial for yourself.
Since traveling provides us with a broad perspective on life, you might be much better able to decide what to do with your life after you finished your travels.
For instance, while you were studying or in school, you might have been quite sure about your future profession.
However, many people experience things during their travels that completely change the course of their lives since they are able to really figure out what they want to do in the future.
Hence, traveling may also protect you to make bad career choices which you might regret in your later years when you take a look back on your life.
Especially if you are traveling by yourself, you will soon become quite aware of your strengths and your weaknesses.
This is probably one of the most important things we as humans can learn.
Everyone of us has numerous weaknesses, yet only the minority of our population is really aware of it.
However, it is crucial to know what you are not good at so you can either improve or get help in this field.
Many people will also become quite bored in their daily life.
After a while, everything feels the same.
Our work will become less exciting and we are often just living for the weekend.
If you suffer from the same issues, you might consider traveling around for a while in order to bring some excitement back in your life.
Always remember: You don’t know how life after death looks like and you should definitely make the most out of your life right now!
- Traveling can be costly
- Can be exhausting
- You might get into trouble
- Communication problems
- You might get sick
- You might get stuck
- You might get lost
- Sleeping in many different beds may feel strange
- Feeling of loneliness
- Your current worldview may collapse
- Some companies may not be willing to employ you
- You might get the travel bug
- Homesickness
- Some people will have problems when coming back
- You might feel bored at home after you traveled a while
- You might miss some important occasions at home
- Environmental problems
Although traveling has many important advantages, there are also some problems with it.
One downside of traveling is that it can be quite costly.
Even if you stay in quite cheap hostels and try to save money on food, you will still need some money to get around, to pay for your flights and so on.
Over time, especially if you travel for an extended period of time, this can sum up to significant amounts of money.
Thus, before deciding for such a big trip, make sure you make a rough calculation in order to assure that you don’t run out of money during your travels.
Even though you will make many experiences you will never forget during your travels, traveling abroad can also be quite exhausting, especially if you are traveling for many months in backpacking style since you will always have to search for new accommodations again and you will not have too much time to rest.
Therefore, don’t expect your travels to be quite convenient if you go backpacking.
It might also be hard from time to time.
However, in my opinion, it is still worth it since you will make incredible experiences during your travels.
Depending on the county you are traveling to, you might also get yourself in serious trouble.
For instance, some countries may have customs you never heard of and if you violate those rules, you might even end up in jail.
Therefore, if you plan to travel to a remote exotic place, make sure to get familiar with the culture and the local rules in order to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
If you travel a lot to different places all over the world, you will also face serious communication barriers since you will not be able to communicate in the foreign language in a proper manner.
While you can learn some words, you will never be able to speak some exotic language fluently since you will simply most often not put enough time into it.
Hence, be prepared that while you are traveling, you might face some communication problems.
However, this is not too bad and many locals understand that it is hard for foreigners to learn their language and most of them will not be mad at you due to that.
Another issue with traveling is that you might get sick from time to time.
Especially if you travel to countries that have rather low hygiene standards, chances are that you might suffer from diseases sooner or later.
Thus, make sure to get proper travel insurance so that you are covered in case of emergency. You can also bring your own first-aid kit in order to treat minor issues yourself.
If you are quite unlucky, you might even get stuck during your travels.
For instance, in case you lose your passport, you will no longer be able to leave a country or to enter another one.
In such a case, you might have to attend an embassy or contact an institution back home in order to get out of your misery.
Even if this works, it could take an extensive period of time and you might be stuck in one place much longer than you wished.
In quite rare cases, people even get lost during their travels and never come back home.
The risk for such a horrible event increases if you travel to quite unsafe countries where there are conflicts among the local population.
Therefore, in order to avoid getting lost, you might want to avoid going to countries that are known to be not safe right now.
Depending on the person, it may also feel quite strange to you to sleep in a dorm with numerous other people.
However, when I traveled around, I frequently slept in dorms with up to 16 people in one room and I got used to it pretty soon.
Yet, I advise you to bring earplugs with you so that you can sleep better and are not disturbed by the sounds of your roommates.
You might also suffer from a strange feeling of loneliness during your travels.
Especially if you are traveling by yourself and are in remote parts of our planet, you might feel kind of lost and may want to go back home.
This may be especially true if you do not speak the local language and cannot make connections with locals at all.
Thus, be prepared that you might experience this feeling of loneliness, especially if you travel for extensive times by yourself.
Due to all the experiences you will make during your travels, there is a real chance that your current worldview may collapse.
As I have mentioned before, life is relative and many people are not able to let go of their old beliefs since it is simply too painful for them.
Therefore, be prepared that adapting new views on the world is not an easy process and it can take a while until you really accept and incorporate all this into your personal emotional world.
Even though some people think it is positive if you traveled around and made new experiences, others may rather be skeptical about it.
Thus, depending on the company, you might even have a harder time when you come back from your travels to find a job.
Another real danger related to traveling is the so-called travel bug.
I met many people who initially just wanted to travel for a few months, but had been on the road for many years.
This is due to the fact that it will be quite hard to adapt to your new life back home after your travels.
While traveling, you have a pretty high level of freedom and many people have problems giving up this freedom and working in a regular job afterward.
Homesickness is a problem that is especially present in young people.
If you have never traveled before, you might feel quite lost and miss your family and your friends a lot.
Therefore, you might develop a mental state that is referred to as being homesick.
However, many people quickly overcome this feeling after a while, especially when they find new cool people to hang out with.
Some people might also have problems with all the bureaucratic work when they come back.
During their travels, they had not to do too much paperwork and now, they have to get new health insurance and many other things that have to be done in order to function in our society.
Since you experience so many new and exciting things during your travels, you might also get pretty bored at home pretty soon.
This may make it quite hard for you to stay focused on your job since you know there is so much more out there that you will miss out on while you are wasting your time working in a job you actually do not like too much.
Another problem with traveling is that you will miss some important occasions like birthdays or weddings in your home town.
This may be quite sad since it might be important for you to be present for those important celebrations.
Traveling can also be problematic from an environmental standpoint.
Since you will have to travel some distances by plane, you will contribute to air pollution and global warming to a certain extent.
Thus, at least make sure that you travel as eco-friendly as possible in order to minimize the negative impact on our environment.
| Traveling Pros | Traveling Cons |
|---|---|
| Traveling expands your horizon | It can be costly |
| You get to know new cultures | You might get yourself into trouble |
| You can make new friends | You might get lost while traveling |
| Forces you out of your comfort zone | Travel bug |
| Memories for a lifetime | You may feel lonely |
| You realize the relativity of life | You may get homesick |
| Confidence boost | Difficult to reintegrate back home |
| You may learn new languages | Language problems |
| It can help your work career | You may get stuck |
| Traveling can improve your fitness level | You may get sick during your travels |
As we have seen before, there are many important pros and cons related to traveling.
You can definitely make unique experiences you will remember for the rest of your life.
Even though there are also some problems with traveling, the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion and you should at least give it a try.
Chances are that it will be worth it for you!
Also make sure that you get a good suitcase or a backpack for your first trip so that you are well-prepared for everything that might happen!
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel
https://www.britannica.com/topic/travel
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/
https://ordinarytraveler.com/best-travel-tips
About the author
My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.
As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.
After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.
Wanna make a contribution to save our environment? Share it!
for B1 Preliminary Cambridge Test/ IELTS
An essay is a written piece where you can present an idea, propose an argument, express your emotions or initiate a debate.
In an advantages and disadvantages essay your task is to describe the positive and the negative sides of a specific topic. You must include examples and reasons to support your ideas. Sometimes you will also be asked to give your opinion. You can include your personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion of the essay.
The typical structure for an advantages and disadvantages essay is the following:
Paragraph 1: Introduction
- Start your introduction with a sentence that paraphrases the question you were given
- Add a sentence where you include the main ideas that you will talk about
- Give your opinion (if required)
Paragraph 2: Advantages
- Write a sentence where you summarize the main idea of the paragraph. In this paragraph you must mention the advantages.
- Next write a sentence where you explain the advantages.
- Finally you explain the consequence or result of advantages by giving an example.
Paragraph 3: Disadvantages
(This paragraph is similar to paragraph 2, but here you will talk about the disadvantages)
- Write a sentence where you summarize the main idea of the paragraph. In this paragraph you must mention the disadvantages.
- Explain the disadvantages.
- Give examples of the disadvantages.
Paragraph 4: Conclusion
- Summarize your ideas
- Paraphrase your opinion (if required)
Example:
Advantages and disadvantages of traveling by plane
Nowadays, a lot of people prefer to travel by plane when they go to another country. However, air travel has both pros and drawbacks. Let’s examine some of these here.
One of the main advantages of traveling by plane is that it is much faster than any other form of transport. For example, you can fly from Toronto to New York in 2 hours, whereas by car, it would take more than 7 hours. Another advantage is that flying is more comfortable and less tiring because you can sleep on a long flight. You can also watch movies or read. Finally, it is safer. More people die in car accidents than in the air.
On the other hand, traveling by plane also has some disadvantages. To start with, it can be quite expensive, especially if you want to travel in the comfort of First Class or Business Class. What is more, flights are often delayed, and this means you may have to spend a long time waiting in the airport or miss connecting flights. In addition, you may arrive in New York while your suitcase has gone to Paris.
To sum up, the airplane is a great invention, but it does have some drawbacks. If it was cheaper, it would be better. Still, in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons. If we didn’t have planes, it would be very difficult to travel to distant places.
Below there is a template that can help you write your advantages and disadvantages essays.
Useful language: Linking phrases
To list advantages/ disadvantages
- the main advantage is…
- the main disadvantage is …
- another advantage is …
To add more point to the same topic
- In addition, …
- Furthermore, …
- What is more …
To introduce an example:
- For instance …
- For example …
To make contrasting points
- However, …
- In spite (of the fact) …
- Although …
- On the other hand …
To give a reason
- Because + clause …
- Because of + noun …
To introduce the conclusion
- In conclusion, …
- To sum up, …
Watch the following video to learn more vocabulary to talk about advantages and disadvantages
Watch the following video to learn more vocabulary to talk about advantages and disadvantages