Speak With Me：English Conversation Practice

So how was your trip? How did it go? If I asked you this, would your heart start to pound? Would your palms get sweaty? What do I say, Vanessa? Well, never fear. Today, I'm going to help you learn how to speak about your trips and travel in English. And you're going to have the chance to practice speaking with me in today's lesson. That's right. So stick around. If you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. And I just got back from a beautiful trip to Portugal. And today's lesson is inspired by the beautiful trip that I had with some problems along the way. So I want you to learn how to speak about your trip and your travels as well. And like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet that includes all of today's important vocabulary, sample conversations, and an option for you to be able to fill in your own conversation answers so that when you're talking about your trips and travels, you will have an answer with no problem at all. I've even added a little bonus quiz to this worksheet so that you can test yourself and see if you really know how to use today's vocabulary. So how can you get the free PDF worksheets and bonus quiz? Just click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address and voila, just like that, it will land in your email inbox. And do you want to know the coolest thing? You never need to sign up for my free PDF worksheets ever again. I will continue to automatically send them to you every single Friday. It's my gift to you. So click on the link in the description to get this free PDF worksheet and bonus quiz today. But before we talk about our important travel phrases, you need to know something. You could listen to me teaching you about vocabulary all day and night and never remember the phrases. The only way to remember new vocabulary is to use it yourself. The good news is at the end of today's lesson, you will get an opportunity to use today's new vocabulary and speak out loud with me. So as I'm teaching you new vocabulary at the beginning of this lesson, pay attention because you're going to use it at the end. Are you ready? Let's do it. The first important travel phrases are for talking about when things go well. After my trip to Portugal, everyone asked me, Vanessa, how was your trip? How was Portugal? How did it go? And many things went well. So how can you describe when things go well on your trip? Let's see. It was amazing. It was breathtaking. It was exciting. So when my friends asked me about my trip to Portugal, I said, it was amazing to be walking on such historic streets and enjoying such a breathtaking view of the sea. It was really amazing. If you have ever been to Lisbon, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. And when my friends asked me, Vanessa, what did you do in Lisbon? I could say, well, for the first few days, Dan and I just walked around the city and soaked in the atmosphere. This means we didn't have a packed day of activities. We just enjoyed breathing in the fresh air, seeing what kind of atmosphere there was in the city, taking a look at good views, sitting at cafes and people watching. This type of relaxing trip is exactly what I love. Or you could say, we decided to get off the beaten path and visit a small medieval village. This is what we did. And this phrase, to get off the beaten path, means that you're going somewhere that not everybody visits. It's kind of an unusual destination. Maybe it's a small unknown village that really is breathtaking. And why don't more people go there? I don't know. But you found a special place off the beaten path. Before my trip, I heard that some people in the Lisbon airport were on strike and a lot of people recommended to travel light and only pack a carry-on. So this is what I did. It's not easy for me to pack light or travel light, but I didn't want to have to wait in the airport for long lines while I waited for my baggage to be sent in from the airplane. What about you? Is it natural for you to travel light or do you usually pack everything in your house? Oftentimes going on a trip means that you're going to need to prepare in advance. And for me, I have three kids and I have some wonderful in-laws who were able to watch them for an entire week while Dan and I went to Portugal. But I prepared a lot of information for my in-laws before I left. I prepared a four-page document with all of the phone numbers, the routines, the information, all of the things that they might need while we were gone. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it because Dan and I had a wonderful trip together. So we use this phrase, it was worth it when we do something difficult, but the end result is important. It is something that is absolutely worth the pain that you went through. Now, it wasn't much pain to write out those documents, but it did take some organization. So I would say it was absolutely worth it to put in all that effort so that we could have a special trip together. Now we can use this phrase in the negative sense. When we were in Lisbon, we wanted to visit a famous cathedral, but when we got there, the line was so long that we decided not to go in because when we saw that long line, we realized it was not worth it to wait. Instead, we enjoyed walking along the river and just soaking in the atmosphere. Oh, what a great expression. So here, it was not worth it for us to wait in that line for hours and hours. Instead, we did other things that we enjoyed instead. So you can use this phrase in the positive sense, it was worth it or it was not worth it. The next two phrases are when you've had busy travel days, maybe you've booked some tours, some museum visits, and your body is just ready to take it easy. You want to just sit in a cafe and people watch. You want to just sit on the beach and enjoy the waves crashing in. You want to take it easy. This is something that I enjoy every few days. If I'm on a busy trip, I want to have a day where I just take it easy. Or we could say, I want to have a day where I just go with the flow. I don't have any tours booked. There's nothing specific that I need to do. I have no restaurant reservations. I just want to go with the flow. And sometimes on those days, you see the most amazing things. For example, on my trip to Portugal, Dan and I decided to go a different way back to our hotel. And as we were wandering in the streets, just going with the flow, taking it easy, we heard some music. And right there, there was the ruins of an old Roman theater, and two musicians were playing in the theater. And lots of people started to gather and watch them. It was amazing. So sometimes when you go with the flow, you see the best things. If you visit a popular destination for the first time, you might want to do some more touristy things, right? So Dan and I decided to book a sailboat tour in the river. This is absolutely a touristy thing to do, but it lived up to the hype. It was beautiful. It was fun. We drank wine while we were on the river, and we got to see Lisbon from the water, which is a very historical way to be able to see the city, as they had a very big maritime history and past. So this was something that absolutely lived up to the hype. This is a similar phrase to, it was worth it. This was something that I'm very glad we did, even though it was touristy, it lived up to the hype. We have two more positive phrases to talk about before we get to some negative expressions to talk about when things didn't go well on your trip. The next positive phrase is to be blown away. In Lisbon, there are beautiful tiles that cover the outside of so many buildings. I was blown away that there were tiles on just normal buildings too. It wasn't just the most important buildings in the city. There were beautiful historical tiles on so many buildings all over the city. I loved the vibrancy and the color. It was such a unique thing to see. Now this trip to Lisbon wasn't just a pleasure trip. It was also a work trip. I met some wonderful people who also teach languages here on YouTube. Some of those you might have seen last week in my video where I asked all of these teachers to give you a speaking tip. How can you improve your speaking skills? If you would like to hear all of their wonderful tips, you can check out that video here. Because I was getting together with these other wonderful language teachers, we made some unforgettable memories together. I learned a lot about business. I learned a lot about being a teacher, but also I got to connect with these wonderful people and spending long days together late into the night just talking about our lives and our work and our passion. This really made it so that we had some unforgettable memories together. All right, what can you say when something bad happens on your trip? How can you talk about what happened? I want to give you some phrases for that. If you want to be very polite about it, you might say, it didn't go as planned. You're not saying it was terrible. Instead, you're saying it didn't go as planned. For example, Dan and I had reservations to see a special type of traditional Portuguese music called fado. We had reservations to go to a fado restaurant on our first night in Portugal. But when we arrived in Portugal, we were so tired and the reservations were for 7.30 that night. We knew there was no way we would be awake at 7.30 at night and be able to enjoy this special experience. So we decided to reschedule those reservations and book it for another night. It just didn't go as planned. It wasn't a big deal. We decided to do it another night. But what if something is truly terrible? You might say, it was a nightmare. One time when my family was about to travel to Costa Rica, I realized that I had bought us tickets to San Jose, California instead of San Jose, Costa Rica. And our flight was about to leave in 12 hours. This was a nightmare. Absolutely. It was a nightmare. Thankfully, the lovely person on the phone helped us to find other tickets. She was very kind to me, but there were a few hours there that were truly a nightmare. Another polite phrase for negative situations is to run into problems. There were several people on my trip who ran into problems at the airport. Thankfully for us, our airport experience was very smooth. Maybe we arrived at just the right time, but it's very possible to run into problems at the airport. This might mean a long line. This might mean that your baggage had to be checked several times. It's just a simple problem. What should you say if you feel disappointed? You might say something like I said. There was one seafood restaurant we went to that was a bit of a letdown. Here I'm using two important phrases. The first is a letdown, which means a disappointment. But the other is this qualifier, a bit. It was a bit of a letdown. I don't want to be extremely negative and say, oh, it was such a letdown. It was terrible. It was a nightmare. No, the food was still okay, but it didn't live up to the hype as we just learned. So I might say the restaurant was okay, but it was a bit of a letdown. I thought it would be amazing and it was just okay. Have you ever traveled and paid too much for something because you were a naive tourist? You got ripped off. All over Portugal and especially in Lisbon on the coast, there are because fresh seafood is a big thing near the coast and a lot of tourists want to buy sardines to take home. But should you go to those flashy sardine stores? Absolutely not. You are going to get ripped off. Or we could say those stores are a ripoff. Instead, Dan and I decided just to go to a regular grocery store and buy some regular brands of sardines that said made in Portugal, and we brought those home to try. I hope that we didn't get ripped off. All right. We have just learned 15 phrases to talk about your trip, but the next thing is the most important part. You are going to watch a sample conversation between Dan and I using these phrases, and then it will be your turn. You are going to speak with me out loud and use these phrases yourself. So pay attention during the sample conversation because it's going to be your turn soon. Let's watch. Hey, Dan, you're back from Portugal. How was your trip? Oh, it was amazing. The colors and views of Lisbon completely blew me away. Ah, that sounds incredible. Did everything go smoothly? Not exactly. My flight got delayed, so the first day didn't go as planned, and I got ripped off by a taxi driver. Oh no, that's rough. But you still found time to soak in the atmosphere? Definitely. I got off the beaten path and explored a medieval town. It was totally worth it. That sounds great. Well, thanks for telling me about your trip. No problem. Okay. Are you ready? This is the most important part of today's lesson. So if you need to pause this video, if you need to review this part again and again, go for it. It's one of the benefits of learning English online. So I'm going to ask you some questions. We're going to have a little chit chat together, and I will pause. I want you to speak out loud during the pause. I have magical teacher ears, and I can hear you. Wherever you are around the world, I will hear you. So make sure you speak out loud. Listen to your own voice because I'll be listening to it too. Are you ready? Let's do it. Hi. I heard you took a trip recently. Where did you go? Nice. Did everything go as planned or did you run into problems? Oh, I see. Well, tell me, what was the best part of your trip? Was there anything that just blew you away? Oh, that sounds wonderful. Did you have any chance to get off the beaten path and just soak in the atmosphere? Oh, that's awesome. It sounds like you really made some unforgettable memories on your trip. Thanks so much for sharing it with me. Well, congratulations. You just practiced speaking in English about your trip. That is a wonderful step so that the next time you have a real English conversation, you'll be ready. Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet that includes all of today's travel phrases plus the bonus quiz so that you can test yourself and see if you can really use these phrases yourself. Just click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and voila, just like that, the PDF worksheet and bonus quiz will land in your email inbox. And just to let you know, every week I will automatically send you my free PDF worksheets. You never need to sign up for them again. How great is that? It is my gift to you. And now I have a question for you. Let me know in the comments, where was the last place that you traveled to? Whether it was in your country or outside of your country, I would love to know. I can't wait to learn about wonderful places around the world. Well, thank you so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this video next where you will learn how to speak better English from some of the best language teachers from around YouTube. Plus you will see a little sneak peek into the place where we were staying near Lisbon in Portugal. I'll see you there.