Travel Vocabulary & Roleplays

Travel Vocabulary and Roleplays

Choose situations from below and roleplay the whole conversation from beginning to end.

Phoning a hotel – book one double room, one single room and one twin room

Phoning a hotel – change your booking

Phoning a hotel – ask about meeting rooms

In a hotel – ask the doorman if you should take a bus or taxi to the city centre (=
downtown)

In a hotel – you need internet access, so ask the receptionist for the password for the Wi-
Fi

In a hotel – ask the receptionist to recommend where to do some shopping

In a hotel – check out, paying for what you have used in the minibar

In a hotel – phone reception from your room and ask for an alarm call

In a hotel – you arrive before check-in time

In a hotel – you have booked a room, but want to change it a bit when you arrive

In a hotel – you need a room, but haven’t booked one before you arrive

In a hotel – you think you have reserved a room, but the hotel doesn’t have a booking for
you

In a hotel – ask about the details of using the hotel indoor pool

In a hotel – when you try to use your credit card to check out it has already passed its
expiry date

At a railway station – ask another passenger if you are on the right platform for London –
you aren’t

At a railway station – buy a single ticket (= one way ticket) for one person and a return
ticket (= round trip ticket) for the second person

At a railway station – the next train is in ten minutes but that is too soon for you, so buy a
ticket for the one after that

Phoning a travel agent – ask about travelling to Phuket – there aren’t any direct flights

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015

At an airport – buy some duty free goods, showing your boarding pass

At an airport – check in, asking for an aisle seat

At an airport – when you go through security they find scissors and hand cream in your
hand luggage

At an airport – you are queuing at the check-in desk but your flight leaves in 40 minutes

At an airport – you go to collect your luggage but isn’t on the baggage reclaim carousel

At an airport – you have three pieces of check-in luggage but are only allowed one

At an airport – you hear final call for your flight and rush to your gate

At an airport – you want to take your double bass on the plane as hand luggage when you
check in

At an airport – go through passport control

Before getting into a taxi – ask about using the taxi for a sightseeing tour

In a taxi – you want to go to the business district, but you are not sure exactly where

In a taxi – when you arrive at your destination check which direction to walk from the taxi
to the café in the park, and ask for a receipt

On a plane – the meal includes bacon and you can’t eat pork

On a plane – you can’t fasten your seatbelt

On a plane – you want to watch an in-flight movie but you can’t make the entertainment
system work

Look at the whole list of situations and ask about any vocabulary you aren’t sure of, e.g.
the things in italics above.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015

Put the words together to make common collocations related to travel

1. aisle

pass

2. alarm

destination

3. arrive at your

call

4. baggage

reclaim

5. boarding

seat

6. book

a room

7. business

district

8. check

desk

9. check-in

room

10. check-in

out

11. check-in

luggage

12. direct

man

13. do

some shopping

14. door

flight

15. double

goods

16. duty free

time

17. expiry

date

18. fasten

call

19. final

your seatbelt

20. go through

security

21. hand

luggage

22. in-flight

control

23. indoor

access

24. internet

pool

25. meeting

room

26. mini

room

27. passport

movie

28. return

tour

29. sightseeing

ticket

30. single

room

31. single

luggage

32. take

platform

33. the right

a bus

34. three pieces of

ticket

35. twin

bar

Set up similar situations using the vocabulary above and roleplay them.

Set up similar situations connected to hotels, railway stations, airports, and planes.

Brainstorm more vocabulary connected to those places.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015