Traveling and Transport

In every season of the year the airports, railway stations, seaports, and bus stops are full of people travelling for long or short distances. They travel to work, to school, or on business. Many people travel for pleasure and travelling has recently become one of the most popular hobbies.

People and goods can be transported by water, by air or by land.

Water transport is quite cheap. That is why rivers, seas, and oceans are continuously being filled with cargo and passenger vessels, ferries, ocean liners and other steamboats. The advantage is that one can take almost as much luggage as one likes. The disadvantage is that passengers can still become sea-sick.

Travelling by air consumes huge sums of money, but is the fastest way of travelling. The air transportation system is strictly dependent on the timetable. When people choose to travel by plane they go or telephone to the airlines to get information about flights and reservations and cost of air tickets. At the airport the passengers hove to show their flight tickets and passports. The passengers must go through the customs. Both people and luggage have to be checked and metal objects have to be detected. Then the passengers can go to the waiting room. When the aircraft is prepared to flight the announcer calls passengers to get ready and board the plane.

Land offers the greatest variety of means of transport. Most popular are personal vehicles, motorcycles, cars then busses, trolleybusses, of rail vehicles we could mention trains, trams and the underground.

Travelling by train is the most common form of travelling. Trains are used daily by many people. They are cheap, less polluting, safe but not very clean and comfortable. This refers especially to slow trains which stop at every station. Fast trains are more comfortable for longer distances. There are also a sleeping car and the dining car in fast trains which make the travelling by train more pleasant. Our railway system is one of the most neglected and old-fashioned ones in all Europe.
An railways station looks like this: a big hall with a ticket office where one can buy a single or a return ticket and a seat reservation, the departures and arrivals board, a left luggage office of telephones, waiting hall, a restaurant, a drink machine etc.
The underground trains usually go every five minutes on average. Many workers and pupils depend on the underground every Morning. In the past the train travel vas a very popular way of travelling but in the last decades it has been replaced by other forms such as travelling by planes, coaches and cars.

Coaches are buses for long distance travelling. they are fast, comfortable and the prices of tickets are quite reasonable. There are regular coach lines connecting the capital of our country with most of European capitals.
Many people consider car the most comfortable means of travelling and seeing places. For others it is just a neccessity because it is quicker than public transport. The cars have an advantages for example they are comfortable and quick, but they have also disadvantages such as they are not safe, they are rather expensive and there is a danger of a traffic jam. The number of cars on our roads and highways grows higher an higher every year. The growing number of cars is a danger not only for people but also for environment of the country. Therefore almost every country has a strict pollution regulations for cars.

Many young people like travelling by bike. Some go to school by bike, others prefer cycling as a sport of a hobby. This type of travelling depends much on weather and therefore summer is the best season for cycling tours.