🌎Top MOST Important Travel Phrases in English✈

Vanessa: I have a little confession  

to make. Back in January, my family went on  a wonderful vacation for a few weeks to the  

country of Costa Rica, but guess what? The first  time that I walked into a shop in Costa Rica,  

I was hit in the face with the realization that  I did not practice enough Spanish for this trip.  

I'm a language teacher. I should know this, right?  Well, I want to help you not make the same mistake  

as me when you visit an English-speaking  country. I want to help you remember and  

practice the most common travel phrases for  common situations so that you don't get smacked  

in the face with English and realize uh-oh I  forgot to study. So this lesson is for you.  

If you are planning or you would like to visit an  English-speaking country and you want to brush up  

your English-speaking skills before you go. Hi,  I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishwithVanessa.com. 

Today I'll help you with three common travel  categories, eating out, shopping and hotels,  

plus a bonus category, that's especially for if  you're traveling in the US, which is renting a  

car. Let's talk about all of these four categories  so that you don't feel embarrassed and smacked in  

the face with language like I was. And of course,  like always, I have created a free PDF worksheet  

to help you and never forget what you are about  to learn in this important lesson. I've included  

all of the essential expressions, the meanings,  some sample sentences. You can print this out  

and you can study it on the airplane, on  the train, while you're sleeping so that  

when you visit an English-speaking country,  you're prepared. That's the goal, right? You  

can click on the link in the description  to download this travel essential phrases  

worksheet and you will use it when you travel. All right, let's get started with our first  

category, which is eating out at a restaurant.  When you walk into a restaurant in the US,  

the server might ask you, "How many?" Well,  they're wanting to know how many people are  

with you. Sometimes we say, "How many people are  in your party," even if it's not a birthday party,  

it's just your group. And you can answer with,  "Well, I'd like a table for four." "I'd like  

a table for four, please." Or, "Can I get  a table for four?" Wonderful expressions. 

When you sit down at your table, the server will  ask you, "What would you like to order?" And maybe  

you're not familiar with a lot of the food on  that menu or you want to make sure you get the  

best thing. So you can ask this question, "Do  you have any recommendations?" "Do you have any  

recommendations?" Of course, make sure that their  recommendation is not the most expensive thing on  

the menu. Most servers are pretty honest and will  tell you something that they think is really good,  

but it's a good way to be able to get the  specialty of the restaurant or just something  

that maybe you hadn't thought about before. A lot of restaurants in the US are aware  

that people have different eating diets or  restrictions. So if this is you, you're welcome  

to say, "Are there any vegetarian options?"  "Are there any vegan options?" "Are there any  

gluten-free options?" You could say, "I'm allergic  to gluten. Are there any gluten-free options?" And  

sometimes even on the menu, you'll see little  symbols like a G with a line through it,  

and that means this has no gluten, and those will  be special items that you would be able to order. 

Something that's very American, is ordering  something and then customizing it to what  

you want. So you could say, "Can I get the  cheeseburger and hold the lettuce and tomato?" Or,  

"Can I get the cheeseburger without the lettuce  and tomato?" You're not ordering it as is. On  

the menu it says cheeseburger, lettuce, and  tomato. It comes together. But in the US, it's  

perfectly normal and really common to customize  it to what you want. So you could say, "Can I  

get the cheeseburger and hold," that means don't  give it to me. "Hold the lettuce and tomato," or,  

"Can I get the cheeseburger without the lettuce  and tomato?" And they'll say, "Sure, no problem." 

Something else that the US is known for, is  gigantic portion size, and it's true. You get huge  

portions here in the US. So what happens if you  don't finish all your food? And don't feel like  

you need to finish all your food. You can just  ask the server, "Can I get a to-go box please?"  

"Can I get a to-go box please" It's perfectly  normal. Sometimes they will take your plate  

away and they'll fill up the to-go box for you,  or more likely they'll just bring you the box and  

you can put what you would like in that box and  take it home, and you've got lunch the next day. 

The next phrase is one that you need to be a  little bit careful about because it's different  

in movies and real life. When you're done eating,  you don't really need to ask for the check. The  

server will eventually bring you the check.  They'll probably bring you the check and say,  

"Take your time. There's no rush." Of course,  they don't want you to sit there for five hours,  

but let's say that you are in a rush, you need to  leave quickly. So when you finish your food, you  

want to ask them to bring the check immediately.  You should not say, "Check please." This is really  

common in movies and TV shows where you'll see  someone say, "Check please." This is pretty rude  

actually in real life. And it's much better to  say, "Can I get the check please?" "Can I get the  

check please? Thanks." This is much more polite  and it's really the phrase that everyone uses. 

So I recommend not saying, "Check please." It  might be a little bit weird. The next category  

of phrases are for when you're shopping. This is  where I really got stuck in Costa Rica because I  

felt like I understood the questions that  the people working in the shop asked me,  

but I just didn't know how to formulate a response  and I don't want you to be in that same situation.  

So let's go over some common shopping situations  and those easy expressions you can use. Usually  

when you walk into a small-ish shop in the US,  the person working there will just say, "Hi,  

welcome." But they might also say, "Hi, are you  looking for anything?" "Hi, can I help you?" "Hi,  

are you looking for anything special or anything  in particular?" And with these questions,  

you need to know how to respond. The easiest  response is to just say, "Just looking,  

thanks," or, "I'm just looking, thanks." Very simple, clear and straightforward.  

If they ask you, "Are you looking for anything  special," you can take that same word and say,  

"No, I'm not looking for anything special."  Or if they use the word, particular, "Are you  

looking for anything in particular?" You can use  that same word and say, "No, I'm not looking for  

anything in particular. I'm just looking." And  this will get them off your back and you can just  

browse around the shop however you want. But what  if you are looking for something in particular or  

something special and you need a little help?  What can you say? You can use the phrase,  

"I'm looking for." "I'm looking for some special  chocolate to buy as a gift." That's what I was  

often doing in Costa Rica. I wanted to buy some  special chocolate to bring back home to my friends  

and family. So you can say, "I'm looking for  some special chocolate to buy as a gift." 

Or you could use it as a question instead.  You can use the simple phrase, "Do you have  

any special chocolate that I could buy as a gift?"  "Do you have," or, "Do you have any chocolate with  

strawberries in it?" I think that's something I'd  really love. "Do you have?" And then they might  

say, "Oh yes, it's right over here." Whew, you  did it. If you're buying clothes, in the US, it's  

really common to be allowed to try them on. And I  know in some countries this is not the case, and  

for me, this is really frustrating because I want  to try it on and make sure that it fits before I  

buy it. But in the US, this is really common and  usually they will direct you to a fitting room or  

a dressing room. But let's say it's locked. This  is often the case, and you need to ask someone  

for permission to go into the dressing room. What can you say? You've got two questions  

you can ask, "Can I try this on?" "Can I try this  shirt on?" Or you can hold up the shirt and say,  

"Can I try this on?" Or you can say, "Can  I have a dressing room?" "Can I have a  

dressing room?" And maybe they'll say,  "Oh, yes, right this way," and they'll  

unlock it and let you in. That's great to use. Fortunately, in the US it's really common to be  

able to use a credit card or a debit card like  a Visa card, even at a small shop. Sometimes we  

call these mom and pop shops, and sometimes those  smaller shops just have a minimum purchase of $5  

because there's a fee involved. But you can ask if  you want to be certain, you can ask, "Do you take  

credit cards?" And sometimes on the shop window  there will be little icons for Visa, MasterCard,  

and that will let you know that as well. But in the US, as long as you're buying  

something at a regular store, then you can use  a credit card for a $1 purchase, $2 purchase,  

they don't really care. If you go to that  small mom and pop store, usually you have  

to buy a minimum of $5 to use a credit card. But  let's imagine that you find a shop that does not  

accept credit cards. This is pretty unusual, but  I'm sure they're out there. So I want to help arm  

you with that knowledge. If they say, "No, sorry,  we don't take credit cards." In fact, I can only  

think of one store in my whole town that does  not take credit cards and everyone knows that  

that's the only store that doesn't. So it's pretty  uncommon. But if they say, "No, sorry, we don't,"  

you need to ask, "Oh, is there an ATM nearby?" This is the term that we use in the US for a cash  

machine kind of magic money, you put your credit  card in, push some buttons, and money magically  

appears from the wall. We call that an ATM. It  stands for automated teller machine. "Is there  

an ATM nearby?" And they might say, "Oh yeah, just  right around the corner." And usually places that  

only accept cash will know where all the ATMs  are because they often get that question. Well,  

let's imagine the worst case scenario. You  have fallen in love with something and they  

don't take credit cards, there's no ATM nearby.  What do you do? Well, you can ask them these two  

questions. Do you have a website and do you  offer international shipping? And who knows,  

they might even ship it to your hotel if you're  going to be there for another couple days. So  

you could say, "Do you have a website, and  do you offer international shipping?" They  

might say no, but it's always worth a try. All right, let's go on to our third category  

for helping you to travel easily and with  success. And that is talking about your hotel,  

your reservation. You can even use a lot of these  expressions for an Airbnb, but this is the type of  

travel that my family likes to do where we stay  in someone's home or in a home that someone is  

renting out. You can cook easily. It feels more  comfortable and relaxed because it's someone's  

home. There's a yard, especially with children,  this is great. They can easily play, but you can  

use these phrases for either a hotel or an Airbnb  type situation. If you've booked at a hotel,  

you'll walk up to the front desk and say, "Hi, I  have a reservation under," my last name, Prothe." 

You'll say your last name. "Hi, I have a  reservation under Prothe." And you'll give  

them your driver's license or some kind of ID  and probably your credit card that you used to  

make the reservation or that you'd like to use  to purchase your hotel package. So you can say,  

"Hi, I have a reservation under Prothe." Great. If  you haven't booked a hotel in advance and you're  

pretty courageous, just walk into a hotel, go up  to the front desk and want to make a reservation,  

you might say, "I would like a," or, "I'd like a,"  "I'd like a room with two queen beds please." Or,  

"I'd like a room with one queen bed." Maybe  you have some kind of special needs or special  

situation that you need. You might say, "I'd  like a room with elevator access," or I'd like  

a room on the first floor or the ground floor." And this way it might be easier for you to access  

if you have trouble getting around. So this  is just a nice polite phrase that you can use,  

"I'd like a..." "I'd like a room with this."  Beautiful phrase. Whether you're staying at  

a hotel or an Airbnb, you can ask, "Do you have  a map?" Or, "Do you have any recommendations for  

food and attractions nearby?" These are great  questions to ask of the hotel staff because  

usually they have a list of all the interesting  things or maybe some interesting festivals or  

things that are happening that week. And also your  Airbnb host, most of the times you can text them,  

they might even come and talk with you. This is  a great person to ask because they're a local,  

they know what's going on. So don't be afraid to  use this question, "Do you have a map?" Do you  

have any recommendations for food or attractions  nearby?"And you will go to the best places. 

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I  travel abroad, especially my phone has difficulty  

connecting to maps or it doesn't always find the  best way to get to places. So when you're asking,  

"Do you have a map," or "What are some attractions  nearby you recommend," you might also want to ask  

this. "What's the best way to get there?" Or,  "How do I get there?" Because maybe on your  

phone it says you should drive on these roads,  but really there's a direct train that's pretty  

cheap and it's got great views. Well, you don't  want to miss out on that. So you can ask these  

lovely questions of your hotel staff or your  Airbnb host, and they will gladly help you. 

Okay, so we covered three important categories,  food, shopping and sleeping. But what about  

renting a car? This is something that is  really common in the US but you also don't  

want to get gypped. Gypped means that you  kind of feel like you're spending too much  

money and the product is not very good. So you  want to make sure you have the right phrases,  

get the right car, and you don't pay too much.  So let me help you. If you have the chance to  

do a little bit of research ahead of time about  what kind of car you might need. For example,  

if you're going off-road on a bunch of gravel  mountain roads, okay, you're going to need a  

different kind of car than just for city driving.  But let's imagine that you generally know what  

you need, you can ask this question, "I'd like  a small sedan for five days," or, "I'm looking  

to rent an SUV for five days." Great sentence. And if they offer you something that you feel  

like is too much for your needs, maybe it's  too big or too fancy, you might instead say,  

"Do you have that in the compact size, in the  smaller size, or in a mini size?" Or maybe you  

need something bigger. You could say, "Do you  have that in the SUV size?" That's a bigger  

car. And this will help you to make sure you're  getting exactly what you want and you're not  

paying too much for something you don't need. Our final three words are expressions that you  

will often hear when renting a car, and you need  to know how they're being used so that you can  

answer correctly and not waste your money. This  is a common phrase that you will hear the agent,  

who's renting you a car use, "There is a $100  deposit required, but it will be returned to  

your card as long as the car is returned in good  condition." They'll probably say this very fast.  

So the keywords that you're looking for here  are, "deposit," and "returned to your card,"  

or they might say, "refundable deposit." "There's  a $100 refundable deposit," and that means that  

you need to pay $100 right now. And then when  you bring the car back and it's not destroyed,  

then you will get that $100 back on your card.  This deposit might be $100, it might be $3,000  

depending on how long you're renting a car, how  expensive the car is, a lot of different factors. 

So if you'd like to know this in advance, you're  welcome to ask how much is the refundable deposit  

or is there a refundable deposit? That way you've  got the money ready. Let's talk about the word  

cost. Oftentimes, the agent will tell you what  the daily cost is, or they might use the word,  

"the daily rate." "The daily rate for this car is  $35." Okay, well then there's also the refundable  

deposit. There might be insurance, there might  be other fees added on. So you want to ask,  

"What is the total cost?" And when they tell you  the total cost, if you feel like it's too much,  

you could say, "Is there any way to bring  that number down," or to bring the cost down?  

Because they might have added the special  insurance that covers every possibility,  

and maybe you want to not pay for that full  insurance package, or maybe your credit card has  

some kind of car insurance included in it. This is  often the case. Well, you want to bring down that  

cost. so make sure that you listened for the total  cost, not just the daily cost or the daily rate. 

The final expression or expressions that we  need to talk about are, return and drop off.  

You might hear the agent say, "When you come  back, you can return the car over there." Or  

"When you come back, you can just drop it  off over here." But if they don't say that,  

or if you missed it, maybe they just said  it quickly and there's a lot going on,  

you could ask these important questions. "Where  should I return the vehicle?" Or, "Where should  

I drop off the vehicle or the car?" "Where should  I return or drop off the car?" Or maybe you are  

going from the airport and you're driving to the  city of Chicago far away and you're not going to  

be going back to the airport. You might need  to ask, "Is there another location that I can  

return or drop off the car?" "Is there another  location that I can return or drop off the car?"  

These are both great words and you need to know  because sorry, you can't keep the car forever. 

Well, congratulations. Now you can go on  vacation to an English-speaking country  

with confidence. Don't forget to download the  free PDF worksheet with all of these essential  

expressions for daily life when you're traveling  so that you don't feel embarrassed and you can  

just smoothly have a vacation and not have to  think about how to communicate. I recommend  

downloading this free PDF worksheet, getting  all of these expressions, the definitions,  

the sample situations when you can use them, some  cultural context, and even print it out or keep it  

on your phone so that you can study it and have  a little refresher while you are going to your  

destination. I hope you have a wonderful vacation. You can click on the link in the description to  

download that free PDF worksheet today. And now I  have a question for you. Do you have any vacation  

plans for this year? Let me know in the comments  if you're going to go anywhere exciting. I can't  

wait to see what you say. Maybe I'll even get some  ideas for where I should go on my next vacation. 

Well, thanks so much for learning English  with me, and I'll see you again next Friday  

for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching  

this video next, which will help you to avoid  10 common taboo conversation topics in the US,  

so that when you visit the US you  don't say the wrong thing and be rude,  

including a question that's really common to  ask about family in other countries. But do not  

ask this in the US. It is extremely rude. Watch  that video to find out, and I'll see you there.