Interviews

High-intermediate

What are some popular tourist destinations in your country? What attracts people to these places? Which ones have you been to personally?

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the video:

be a pain (verb): be frustrating or annoying
– Traveling on crowded trains is a real pain.

fancy schmancy (adjective): extremely fancy
– My sister always wears fancy schmancy clothing.

nah uh (interjection): an expression to show disagreement, meaning, “not true” or “not at all”
– A: Hey. You ate the cookie I left on the table.
– B: Nah uh. It was Sarah.

Now, watch the interview and answer the comprehension questions. You can also turn on the automatically-generated captions for the video once you start it.

Randall: In this video. Aubrey, Emily, and I are going to be talking about ideal travel destinations. Who’d we take with us? How much money would we spend? Where would we stay? What we would . . .  What would we eat? And so forth. Emily, any thoughts on that? And I know that you’re going to ask, how much money do we have to spend? Is that right?

Aubrey: Yes, that’s, that’s important because am I on a super cheap budget, or is this an all expenses wherever I want?

Randall: Let’s just say, for example, that you came across an old sock in your dad’s, uh, dresser in his bedroom, and you saw it with some money, and you found some money in it, and your dad, not realizing how much money was in there, just said, keep whatever’s in there, and it turned out to be $20,000.

Randall: So first off, I do have to say that I’ll be making a trip down the hall in a few minutes to look for said sock.

Randall: To look for what?

Aubrey: Nothing.

Randall: Oh, okay. All right. But however, that money came about … . . . let’s say $20,000. Uh, how would you spend it? Where would you go? And so forth.

Emily: I think I would fly me and my best friend, first-class, to some remote beach on some tropical paradise where you have one of those like, I don’t know, little houses over the water, and you look down, and you see the fishes. And I would just lay on the beach for about two weeks, eating fish, and doing good old nothing. Maybe some snorkeling. Otherwise, nothing.

Randall: Now, Aubrey, you were kind of shaking your head there. Emily was talking.

Aubrey: She didn’t want to take me, but then I realized where she was going, so.

Randall: Well, what about you, Aubrey? Where would you go? What would you do?

Aubrey: Can I just keep the money?

Randall: Nah, nah, nah, nah.

Emily: This is a gift card. It’s a gift card. Travel gift card.

Randall: Or would you say, Aubrey? Hey, I’m going to, you know, spend the money on some local campsite for $10 and keep the rest of the money. Is that right?

Aubrey: I’d have to go camping? What about if I just take some time off work and do nothing and then pay down my car?

Emily: Staycations are a thing.

Aubrey: I love staycations.

Randall: You’re changing the topic.

Aubrey: Nah-uh.

Randall: Let’s just focus on the ideal vacation destination is my house.

Randall: All right, well, you don’t have that choice. Where would you go? What would you do?

Emily: Your house is burned down.

Aubrey: What?

Emily: Your house is burned down. You have to go somewhere.

Aubrey: My house burned down? I need a PS5 (game system)?

Randall: So okay.

Emily: Here’s.

Randall: Five, let’s say, and imagine your dog Finn, says, “Please take me somewhere.” So where would you go?

Emily: Well, first class, obviously. Okay. If not, primo luxury class.

Randall: And that’s what I was going to ask about, Emily. But. Okay, first class and then where would you go?

Emily: I don’t.

Randall: Know.

Emily: Traveling is not really my thing. Wherever we go, I’d like to go somewhere. English speaking. Just because I have food sensitivity issues and it’s hard enough to . . . uh . . to communicate that in English.

Randall: That would be.

Aubrey: Sometimes.

Randall: Okay. I mean, something. Some place in Europe, perhaps, or other.

Emily: I mean, I guess maybe, but if I’m traveling to Europe, that’s going to be a big, huge pain with my dog.

Aubrey: Well, didn’t you want to go to New York and see Broadway?

Emily: That’s true. I’m going to go to New York. And there’s a fancy schmancy pet hotel there where, uh, you know, it comes with like a bedroom, like a queen-sized bed and like a TV and . . .  Yeah, that’s that’ll be good.

Randall: All right. Well, Emily and Aubrey, thank you very much for sharing your plans on your ideal vacation. And if you do that . . . find that money. Just set aside a little bit for your good old dad.

Emily: You can have a dollar.

Intermediate: 

1. If you found $20,000, what would you do with the money?
2. Where would you go on vacation if you had a lot of money to spend?
3. Have you ever been on a staycation? What are some advantages of staying home for your vacation instead of traveling?
4. If you could travel anywhere in the world, language barriers aside, where would you choose to go and why?

Advanced:

1. How do you think having a large sum of money for a vacation can impact people’s choices and experiences? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
2. In what ways do people’s preferences and priorities influence their ideal vacation destinations and activities?
3. How might traveling with pets affect people’s decisions about their vacation plans? What are some potential challenges and accommodations to consider?

The following activities deal with related topics to give you additional language practice.

• Airplane Travel
• Bus Travel
• Favorite Ways to Travel
• New York Travel
• Travel Accommodations
• Travel Arrangements
• Travel and Sightseeing
• Utah Travel Ad