Hello everyone,

 

My name is Aida and I’ve put this podcast together for you, to help you listen to authentic material, spoken in colloquial Arabic. If you’re at the pre-intermediate level, then this is the right place for you to be to improve your Arabic listening and speaking skills.

 

In this series, you will be listening to a different topic each time. The purpose is to provide you with the necessary vocabulary on a wide range of topics, such as family, hobbies, studying, travelling and so on.

 

Today’s topic is about travelling, and I’m going to discuss the following points:

 

Why do people travel? When do they travel? What do they like to do during their travels? Who do they travel with?

 

Most people enjoy travelling. It’s a great way to get away from our daily routine. We can travel in our own homeland or to other countries. A lot of people travel in summer, especially families because normally that’s when schoolchildren have their summer holiday.

People from cold countries like to travel to warmer countries to enjoy the long, warm days. The most popular activity to do during these warm days is to swim and enjoy a few days at the beach. Some people surf, dive, or snorkel. In cold countries, popular activities are skating and skiing.

 

Other people prefer to visit archaeological sites and museums. They enjoy getting to know the country’s culture. Making a bike tour is a great way to get to know the local people in the country they’re visiting.

 

Travelling is considered by many people to be their number one hobby. They get to do things they might not do in their own countries.

 

We might travel with our families and friends, but we could also travel with a group of other people whom we don’t know. When travelling with a group of tourists, it’s always interesting to get to meet new people. One of the disadvantages in this case is that we can’t follow our own plans or decide how long we would like to stay at each different site.

 

In my homeland, Jordan, not everyone can afford to travel abroad for a vacation. Some people stay in Jordan and enjoy visiting the local sites. Jordan is rich in archaeological sites. Some of the well-known sites are Jerash, Um Qais, the Baptism Site and Petra.

 

Now let me give you an example of what people might say in reply to questions related to travelling.

 

I travel whenever I get the chance and whenever I’ve saved enough money for the trip. I like to travel to warm countries because I love the sun. I really enjoy seeing new things and getting to know new cities. Each trip is an adventure and a change to break free from my daily routine. I’ve visited several European cities and my favourite are Rome and Paris. They’re both very artistic capitals and you get a sense of how important art is by the number of museums and exhibitions that are available to visit.

 

But I also enjoy the countryside. There’s nothing like sitting in nature and admiring a beautiful landscape in front of you.

 

I enjoy travelling with family because with family you can be yourself and completely relax during your holiday. Sometimes there are brief squabbles but those only last a few minutes.

 

When I travel, I try to see as many different sites as I can manage to fit into the programme. I love to visit archaeological sites and palaces, but also enjoy going to the beach or visiting a lake.  I don’t like my vacation trips to be particularly long because if the trip lasts longer, I begin to miss the comfort of my own home.

 

I have never visited countries in the Far East, so I would really like to visit one or two countries in that area of the world. I think the only reason I haven’t travelled there so far is the long distance, which means I would have to sit on the plane for at least 10 hours. Travelling by plane for so many hours is stressful and normally causes jetlag.

 

So, that’s all for today’s episode on the topic of travelling. I hope you’ve learnt some useful vocabulary. Please don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to my podcast.

 

Thanks for listening… take care!