Travelling

Travelling is very popular in the 21st century and that is why it is so common. Nowadays we are able to travel even to distant countries, where we can get acquainted with new cultures, interesting people and their customs, and compare the differences between the way of living in our country and the land we are visiting. Travelling has some advantages (fun, adventure, the excitement of seeing new places, learning about new cultures, etc.) and disadvantages. Travelling may be dangerous and for some people it´s very expensive. We can meet bad people, get lost, be murdered or our money can be stolen. The worst is the fact, that travelling spoils a nature.

Before travelling you should find out some information about a place you´re going to and take some vaccinations and insurance. Why do people travel?

In the past, people searched for food, or ran away from danger. But the time has changed. Every day millions of people travel from one place to another. People travel for different reasons. Travelling is a part of life of each of us. You commute to school or to work every day. Some people travel abroad to learn new language or to earn some extra money (au-pairs). Travelling could be also a hobby. Some people travel far away from their home because of starting new life in a place where nobody knows them and where they can be on their own. We can find out a plenty of beautiful places and meet many people or friends and we obtain experience for our life. Some people travel on business, for political or cultural reasons. Others travel for scientific purposes. Even smuggling isn´t unusual. Tourism

Probably the most common reason is tourism. Tourism is the most important source of money for every country. But on the other hand, tourism affects countryside and environment. Number of tourists all over the world is growing because more and more people like travelling.

Travel companies publish many pamphletes and brochures. Of course, tourism doesn´t mean only the activity of travelling, but also services for those who travel. It touches nearly all sectors of national life. Travelling for tourism isn´t limited to any age group. Even small children can travel with their parents to see another city, another region, or even another country.

Means of transport

You can travel:

on foot - the cheapest kind of travelling, healthy, keeps you fit, improves your condition, you can get everywhere, slow, for short distances, dangerous when you are alone, getting tired

by bike - cheap, healthy, good for environment, you´re spending your own energy, you can get everywhere, stop where you want, slow, very dangerous, problems with luggage

by car - fast, comfortable, you can get everywhere, enough space for luggage, quite expensive, you need a driving licence, dangerous, air pollution, bad roads, getting into a traffic jam

by bus - quite fast, reliable, you can watch TV or video, listen to radio, possibility of buying refreshment, you can get to every village,
buses are crowded, careless drivers, dangerous in some places, uncomfortable – lack of space, usually there isn´t a toilet in a bus, no privacy

by train - quite fast, cheap, less polluting, safe, more comfortable - more space, more privacy, sleeping and dining cars, toilets (but they´re dirty), dirty, can’t get everywhere

by plane – for long distances, fast, comfortable, refreshment, less dangerous, expensive

on ship - slow, only at the places where is the water, cheap, not so dangerous, seasickness

hitchhiking - very cheap and dangerous

commuting - by bus/tram (only 8 towns in our country have tram links)/underground (only in Prague, the oldest underground - in London since 1863)/trolleybus (12 towns have trolleybus links)/double-decker/taxi


Travelling abroad

Necessary documents and things you need - valid passport, visa, international health card, we must change money, take an insurance, phone number of an embassy, veterinary certificate for our pet, vaccination certificate

You have two possibilities - you can go with travel agency or you can go alone - arrange your own holiday. With travel agency - package holiday – everything is done for you, you need only money, because the travel agency cares about everything - accommodation, guide, visa (they contact an embassy in Prague), transport, health insurance, accident insurance. But it could be sometimes very dangerous because the travel agency may bankrupt, you can stay in a foreign country without help. In this case you have to go to our embassy and ask for help. Or it could happen, that you pay for comfortable holiday and you get terrible accommodation without bath, air-conditioning, …

But it has a lot of advantages - you have special program, you can do a lot of trips with a tour guide and get more information about the town, habits, ...

Own holiday - you have to care about everything – an insurance, a map, book the accommodation, full or half board, tickets or you can travel with your own car. But on the other hand you can do everything what you want and you are independent of other people.


Holidays

For us, holidays mean time when we don´t go to work or school. We look forward to this time in anticipation. This is the right time to fulfil our dreams and ideas. We can travel round the world or our holidays may be cultural, educational, working, romantic, or exotic.

People have different expectations of their holidays. Some want only to lie by the water and sunbathe. Others practically don´t leave their house, sitting by the television, go out to have dinner, read newspapers and again sit down in front of TV. Some people spend their holiday doing sports, hiking or travelling. That way they improve their minds as well as their bodies. A lot of people like hiking. They walk throughout the forest, sleep outside and enjoy the beauties of nature.


Transport problems

Buses or cars aren’t very friendly to the environment because of gasses in the atmosphere, which cause green house effect. And we can’t forget the catastrophes in the oceans. Time to time we hear about oil tankers, which wrecked. Plane has one big disadvantage. It uses up so much air as a normal person for all life. There are many accidents in the streets especially in bad weather. In our country the streets and highways aren’t very good, but we don´t have money to repair them. The floods did a lot of damages too. My travelling

I like travelling. It´s interesting to see new countries, new places, new people, .. I also like travelling round our country.

There are many places I haven´t seen yet and I want to see. I´d rather spend my holidays in the Czech Republic than abroad. In my life I´ve been to Greece, Croatia and Slovakia. I like these countries. I´ve had wonderful time there. To Greece we´ve travelled with a travel agency and to Croatia and to Slovakia we´ve been on our own. I´m captivated by beauty of other countries. My favourite ones are Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and Great Britain (especially Scotland).

Last year we bought a cottage and we spend all our holidays there. We go by car there because it´s the fastest way how to reach our destination.