LEARN ENGLISH PODCAST: ESSENTIAL AIRPORT AND TRAVEL VOCABULARY (STORY WITH SUBTITLES)

- Hello.

This is Jack from Tofluency.com

and welcome to this lesson

where you're going to learn vocabulary, words and phrases

and other expressions that you can use at the airport.

And this is going to be a really good lesson

if you want to learn that type of vocabulary

but also just to get some listening practice

and maybe jog your memory,

which means remember some of the words and phrases

that you've used in the past.

And we're going to use words like "get", for example.

So you're watching this on YouTube

and I'm also going to leave some of the words and phrases

in the description here on YouTube

and a link to my program

where I'm going to record these words and phrases,

use them as flashcards

and also give you some other stuff

to help you really internalize this lesson.

But before we go into it,

if you enjoy this lesson then please like, and share it.

Just send this lesson to a friend

or feel free to put it on your social media

or send it to a group on social media.

All right, let's get started.

So before you go to the airport,

what you need to do is look up flights, to look up flights.

And this is when you do your research.

So you think about where you want to go to,

when you want to fly, if you want to fly direct

or with stops, if that is okay to you.

If you are okay taking red eye flights

which means flights that go overnight.

And then you also want to look up

things like how many bags you can check,

if you get assigned seats

and also what cancellation policy they have.

Now, depending on where you go, you might also want to look

at the different airports because some cities like New York

have three or more international airports.

Now, when you buy your tickets, what you can say

to your friends is,

"We're traveling to California in August."

And this is using the present continuous.

"We're traveling to California in August."

And I'll leave a link to a lesson where I talk

about how to use the present continuous for the future.

But just know that when you have something arranged

like when you have tickets that you have bought,

you can use a present continuous

to talk about this in the future.

But if you don't have tickets yet,

you can say,

"We're planning on traveling to California in August,"

or, "We're going to travel to California in August."

Now, on the day of travel

or if you are organized the day before

or maybe two days before,

this is when you pack your bags and you think

about what type of things you want to take for your trip.

Now, I prefer to pack light, to pack light,

which means to only take what I need

and not to take anything else.

So to just take a few items of clothing

because I'm sure you have done this before

where you pack for a trip and you think,

"Okay, I'm going to take this, this and this and this."

And you get there and you don't wear

half of the things that you put in your bag.

And if I can get away with it, I'd just have a carry-on bag

which means the bag that you put on the plane with you.

You take it on the plane with you

and you put it in the overhead compartment,

which we'll talk about later.

Now, when you fly internally in the US

you just need a driver's license

or I think some other type of documentation

but if you're traveling internationally,

then you'll need your passport.

And obviously don't forget your passport.

It's always wise to get to the airport on time,

to get to the airport on time.

And get as a power word in English.

This means to arrive or to go to the airport on time.

And for international flights, most airports recommend

that you get there three hours before your flight.

And for domestic flights in the US,

they generally recommend an hour and a half

before your flight.

In the past, I have taken taxis to an airport

trains and buses, but most of the time these days,

we drive to the airport and park at the airport.

And at big airports, in most cases,

you need to get a shuttle bus.

So you'll go to a long-term parking lot,

in UK we call it a car park,

and then you get a shuttle bus to the terminal.

And this is when the fun starts.

This is when you might be feeling

a little stressed or rushed.

I like to get there in good time.

I like to arrive early so that I don't feel as stressed

when you have to do what you have to do next.

And the first thing you need to do is to check in.

Now, these days you can check in at the office area

where the people are with a person.

You can do it on a computer where at the airport

or a lot of the time you can check in early online.

But if you go to the person at the kiosk,

that was the word I was looking for, the kiosk,

then you show them your passport or your identification

and then they give you a boarding pass.

And the boarding pass has lots of information on it

which we'll talk about later.

And then if you have checked luggage,

which means the luggage that goes under the plane

not on the plane with you, then this is where you do it.

They'll weigh the bag,

they'll put on that little sticker thing

and then it will just get carried off and taken away

and hopefully, it goes on the right plane.

And then this is the tough bit,

the bit that people don't like

and it's going through security.

This used to be much easier, which means in the past,

it was much easier

but I've noticed over the past five years or so

the lines are getting longer

or the queues in British English are getting longer.

And this can be quite stressful,

especially if you have a lot of stuff with you

and if you have young children

because you have to empty your pockets,

you have to take out your electronics

from your carry-on bags,

take off your shoes and take off your belt

and just make sure you're not doing anything wrong

at this stage.

Then you go through a scanner

and then you have to repack everything,

put things back in your pocket,

make sure you've got your passport,

make sure your computer is in your bag,

your camera, your, whatever you take.

And if you're wearing a belt, put that on

and put your shoes back on.

And this is when most people start feeling

a little bit more relaxed, when you are airside,

when you are in that area where your boarding gate is

but also in big airports, especially,

there are lots of shops, restaurants, sometimes music,

bars, duty-free stores, which a lot of people like

and just other things to entertain you

and a place for you to relax before you board your flight.

I normally have a little walk around, find my gates

go to a few shops.

I don't normally have anything to eat or dinner here

because I usually eat before going to the airport

but sometimes I'll have a drink, I'll use the restroom

and in some of these new modern airports

I'll play some games on an iPad or something like that.

Now, your boarding pass is important here

because on that ticket,

there's information with your gate number,

your flight time, seat number, boarding time

and also your zone number.

Now, your zone number indicates when it's your turn

to board the plane, because what they normally do

is allow business class and first class to go first

and then they'll work their way back

through the economy class.

Now, although things seem great here

and it's just a waiting game before you get on the flight

there are a few things that can happen.

Firstly, a flight might be delayed or even canceled

due to a number of reasons, for example, bad weather

or the plane isn't ready yet,

or the pilot hasn't turned up to the airport.

There are many reasons why a flight might be delayed.

And no one likes this,

especially for those who have a connecting flight

which is another flight from the airport you're going to.

Another issue could be overbooking.

And this is where the airline has issued more tickets

than there are seats available.

And this is common practice because a lot of the time

people don't show up for their booked flight.

So the airline will book or sell more tickets

than there are seats in the plane

so that they can obviously make more money.

And at first, they'll ask people to volunteer

to take a flight the day after, or maybe two days later

and this person will receive compensation

and a place to stay.

But if they don't get enough volunteers

passengers are bumped, which means they're chosen

to fly at a later date.

But with all things going well,

let's say it's time to board.

What you do here is you wait

for your zone number to be called.

And then this is when a lot of people

rush to get to the front of the line

to get on the plane as soon as possible.

And then you show your passport or your identification

and your boarding ticket to go through.

And you go through the tunnel

and in most cases, board the plane at the end of the tunnel.

But sometimes, and I hate when this happens,

it's only a small thing, but I don't like it,

you have to take a shuttle bus to the plane.

Now boarding tends to close about 15 to 20 minutes

sometimes half an hour before departure.

And if anyone hasn't boarded

and the gates are going to close soon,

they'll announce your name over the speaker system.

That has happened to me once.

Now, after going through the tunnel

and arriving at the plane door or getting on the shuttle bus

and arriving at the plane door,

you show your boarding pass again

so that the cabin crew can help you find your seats.

So then you go to your seats,

put any carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment.

And then you start to get comfy.

Now on long flights, you'll often receive a blanket

and a pillow, maybe some headphones

and you'll also have a mini TV so that you can watch movies

and listen to music or watch TV shows.

Now in economy class, there isn't much leg room

which means it's very cramped in there

and you can't really stretch your legs out in front of you.

And also your seat doesn't recline that much.

When taking off, you put on your seatbelt

and you listen to the safety announcement.

Now, once you actually get into the air

people tend to do different things.

They'll read a book, they'll watch a TV show, watch a movie,

they'll look at their phone.

A lot of planes have wifi now

so that you can connect to the internet.

And also, if you're on a longer flight

then you'll receive some type of meal.

And to be honest, I normally don't eat any of it.

It's never that appealing to me

and I don't tend to drink alcohol either.

But I know a lot of look forward to that meal

and you can also sometimes take food

on the plane with you too.

Now I used to be able to nap on planes during the day.

I used to be able to sleep anywhere at any time,

for example, on buses, in airport terminals,

anywhere really when traveling, on trains.

But recently I haven't been able to do that

except for overnight flights.

On an overnight flight, I like to get at least an hour,

maybe two hours of sleep just to take the edge off.

Before London, you'll need to put on your seatbelt again

and put up your food tray in your seat.

That happens that they ask you to do that

and they walk around the plane

to make sure you have done that.

And then when the plane arrives at the gate

people are very quick to take off their seatbelt.

It's like a race to take off your seatbelt first

and get your bags from the overhead compartment.

Because a lot of people just want to get off the plane

at this point.

They want to be one of the first to get off

or they don't want to have to wait

for someone else to get off before them.

Then you walk through the airport to the baggage area

or baggage claim area and wait for any checks bags

that you've put on the plane.

This sometimes can take 30 minutes

after you get to that area.

Then, if you have traveled internationally

you go through customs.

And depending on the airport and country,

this can be quick or it can sometimes take hours.

It once took me about three hours to go through customs.

And it was not a good experience after flying eight hours

and doing all you have to do before the flight.

And then once you've done that,

you are free to leave the airport.

Make sure you've got your passport and everything else

and go to wherever it is you're going.

Okay. I hope you have enjoyed this lesson

on airports and flying vocabulary.

Again, if you have, then please like this lesson.

Just click that light button if you're on YouTube

and share it with a friend.

Just send it to one of your friends

or a group of friends who you know will benefit from it.

And like I said, check out the description

for some of the phrases that we've used here

so you can read them.

But if you want to learn more and internalize

and really learn this lesson and the grammar,

then check out the To Fluency program

because I'll have premium resources based on this lesson.

Therefore, there was a link to that in the description.

Okay. Thank you so much for watching

or listening to this lesson and I will speak to you soon.

Bye, bye.