Travel

Travel
People travel in order to reach places that are close or far away, they travel for fun or from necessity. Travelling takes up more time in our lives than most of us imagine. An everyday form of travelling may be going shopping, commuting to school or work, visiting friends. There are two types of travelling: one is using our own means of transport and the other is to rely on the public tranposrtation services. People and goods can be tranpsorted by land, by air or by water.

The main fact that speaks for water transport are the relatively small costs. The advatage is that one can take almost as much luggage as one likes. In general not many people have the courage to board a ship because although the trip is inexpensive they can still become sea-sick. Unlike sea travel, going by air consumes huge sums of Money but is fastest way of travelling. An air ticket ensures us a comfortable seat on the plane, which can fly us to any place in the world within a few hours. The air transportation system strictly depends on the timetable. At the airport we go through the passport control and security check, have our luggage checked and then wait until the plane is ready for take-off. For private use helicopters are usually bought.

Land offers the greatest variety of means of transport. There are motor road vehicles and bicycles on teh one hand and rail on the other.  As personal vehicles, motorcycles and cars are the most popular. There are also other means of tranposrt on four wheels- buses and trolleybuses. Of rail vehicles, which are almost exclusively designed for public use, we could mention trains, trams and the underground. Cars and motorbikes are expensive to purchase and in addition one also has to pay for  petrol, which if the vehicle has a big consuption, costs a lot of Money as well. For short and middle distance a car is fast enough so as not to get too tired by travelling unless we get into a traffic jam. Also the space for luggage in the trunk of the car is quite large. The best thing about cars is that they will take you almost anywhere at any time. Modern cars with soft seats and a lot of space for the legs are sometimes even more comfortable than the interiour of a plane. To get a driver´s  licence one must know how to drive and know the traffic rules well. One of the rules says that cars are to be driven on the right side of the road. This isn´t  true in Great Britain. There people drive on the left. The most frequent public means of transport are buses and trains. The network of bus and train stops covers most inhabited places. Public transport is cheaper but also less comfortable. The bus and train stops in major cities are called stations. In big cities underground with several different tracks have been built in order to relieve the trams and buses. They are the fastest means of urban transportation and the underground trains usually go every five minutes on average.
 
When travelling on vacation we should look for accommodation appropriate to our demands. In the first place there are hotels and motels which differ in price and comfort. Before our arrival we should make a reservation, book a room in such a hotel. We can get bed and breakfast or full board at a daily or weekly rate. All this can be taken care of at the reception desk where the desk clerk arranges everything necessary. Then we can enjoy our stay with the help of some of the hotel´s services- a restaurant, a bar, a coffee shop, a theatre ticket Office. A special kind of accommodation for young people are youth hostels where it is possible to stay overnight a t a low rate but only for a limited number of times. Some tourits prefer to stay at a farm or they rent a room on their own.