Travelling
Travelling
People travel in order to reach places that are close or far away,they travel for fun or from necessity.Travelling takes up more time in our lives than most of us imagine.An everyday form of travelling may be going shopping,commuting to school,to work or visiting friends.There are two ways of travelling: one is using our own means of transport and the other is to rely on the public transportation services.People and goods can be transported by land,by air or by water.
The main fact that speaks for water transport are the relatively small costs.That is why rivers,seas,and oceans are continuously being filled with new cargo and passenger vessels.Ferries,ocean liners and other steamboats take quite a long period of time to carry you to the place of destination,though.The advantage is that one can take almost as much luggage as one likes.In general not many people have the courage to board a ship because although the trip is inypesive they can still become sea-sick.
Unlike sea travel, going by air consumes huge sums of money but is the fastest way of travelling. An air ticket ensures us a comfortable seat on the plane with can fly us to any place on the world within a few hours.The air transportation system is thus the one most strictly dependet on the timetable.At the airport we go trough the passport control and security check ,have our luggage (which has a limited weight,of course) checked and then wait until the plane is ready for take-off.When we are lucky and our flight is neither cancelled nor postponed we can look forward to a safe landing on the runway of another airport.For private use helicopters are usually bought.
Land offers the greatest variery of means of transport.There are motor road vehicles and bicycles on the one hand and rail on the other.As personal vehicles, motorcycles and cars are the most popular.There are also other means of transport on four wheels-buses and trolleybuses.Of rail vehicles, which are almost exclusively designed for public use,we could mention trains,trams,and the underground.
Cars and motorbikes are expensive to purchase and in addition one also has to pay for petrol, which if the vehicle has a big consumption ,coasts a lot of money as well.For short and middle distances a car is fast enough so as not to get too tired by travelling, unless we get into a traffic jam.Also the space for luggage in the trunk of the car is quite large.The best thing about cars is that they will také you almost any where at any time.Modern cars with soft seats and a lot of space for the legs are sometimes even more comfortable than rules says taht of a plane.To get a driver's licence one must know how to drive and know the traffic rules well. One of the rules says that cars are to be driven on the right side of the road.This isn't true in Great Britian and the USA,there people drive on the left.
The most frequent public means of transport are buses and train. The network of bus and train stops covers most inhabited places.Public transport is cheaper, but also less comfortable.The bus and train stops in major cities are called stations.An ordinary railway station looks like this: a big hall with a ticket office where one can buy a single or a retun ticket and seat reservation ,the departures and arrivals board, a left luggage office or lockers,telephones, waiting hall(s), a restaurant, a drink (soda or coffee) machine, a book-stall, a barder's shop, a lavatory and a few flowers around a little fountain. From this hall one goes trough the underpassage directly into the right platform.From the platform we get on the train and look for a free seat in the (non-)smoking compartment.If all the seats are occupied we must move onto another carriage and try again there.When we are seated and the train stars, we can spend the time talking with a fellow passenger, observe the landscape out of the window, eat some food,play cards with a friend of sleep.When the conductor comes we hand him the tickets and he checks them.There are no conductors on many train's in Britain,but you usually hand over your ticket to a ticket co lollector after the journey before leaving the platforms.After the train's arrival we get off.
In big cities underground (subways) with several different tracks have been built in order to relieve the trams and buses (the most interesting of them are the famous double-deckers in London). They are the fastest means of urban transportation and the underground trains usually go every five minutes on average.Many workes and pupils depend on the underground every morning.I can take them at a low rate from the suburbs to the city and back.The taxi (or cabs) in big cities can just be called by phone or hailed while they pass by in the street.
When travelling on vacation we should look for accommodation apporpriate to our demands.In the first place there are hotels and motels which differ in price and comfort(both are on a slightly lower level in motels).Before our arrival we should make a reservation,book a room in such a hotel.We can get clerk arranger everything necessary.Then we can enjoy our stay with the help of some of the hotel's services- a restaurant, a bar, a coffe shop, a travel desk, a theatre ticket office, a hairdresser's shop and beauty salon or sports facilities like a swimming pool or fitness centre.The motels are situated mostly by the roads.The guest can park his car at the dook of his own room. A special kind of accommodation for young people are youth hotels(mainly in Great Britian) where it is possible to stay overnight at a low rate but only for limited numer of times. Some tourists prefer to stay at a famr or they rent a room on their own.