Imagine you are planning your holidays and you have been collecting information about several destinations. You have visited various travel agencies and picked up (coger) their glossy (brillantes) holiday brochures (folletos) filled with photographs that promise holidays of a lifetime(de tu vida). You have even visited the Tourism Offices of different countries and regions to learn more about ideal routes or alternative travel plans.
The information in the brochures is very detailed, but the vocabulary is so specific that sometimes it’s hard to understand everything. Don’t worry about it: here are some hints (pistas) to help you plan the perfect holiday!
Cultural Holidays
In big cities like London, Paris and New York, there are a number of organized city tours for the tourist to see the sights.(lugares de interest turístico) One way to discover these cities is on a double-decker bus,(autobus de dos pisos) where a guide talks about the city’s cathedrals, museums, parks, football stadiums and monuments. These bus tours usually sell a variety of passes valid for one or several days, so tourists can hop on (subir) and hop off (bajar) as often as they like. Other popular ways to travel around a city are by taking the underground, train or simply travelling on foot.
After the city tour, the tourist is able to enjoy various forms of entertainment the city has to offer. Some visits could include exploring the city’s museum or art galleries, or watching a play or a musical at the matinee (función a primera hora de la tarde) or evening show. Later on, the visitor can have dinner at one of the many international restaurants, drink in a pub or practise his or her moves on the dance floor at a nightclub.
For accommodation,(alojamiento) tourists can stay at expensive five star hotels, where rooms have either single or double beds, en suite bathrooms, (baño en la habitación) room service and a mini-bar full of alcoholic and soft drinks. Additional facilities (instalacíones) could include an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium or a crèche (guardería) to look after young children. However, for cheaper accommodation, youth hostels are especially popular with students who do not care about sharing a large dormitory with other travellers
Another popular tourist destination is the seaside. Here many families spend a two week summer holiday enjoying the sun, sand and sea. Many lie on towels or sit on deckchairs (tumbonas) wearing the latest fashionable sunglasses, bikinis or swimming trunks (bañadores) and applying suntan lotion (crema bronceadora) at regular intervals to avoid sunburn.(quemaduras del sol)
Various water sports can be practised in the sea, including water-skiing, sailing and wind surfing. You can normally rent the equipment for the day. There is rich marine life in the sea, such as coral reefs, (arrecifes de coral) multicoloured fish and dolphins. Some tourists see them from a glass-bottom boat, (barco con fondo de cristal) where they can enjoy the delights of marine life through the boat’s transparent bottom. The more energetic either go scuba diving (submarinismo) underwater with cylinders containing air, a wetsuit(traje de buzo) and a pair of fins (aletas) or just go snorkelling on the sea’s surface.
In some seaside towns, tourists like to spend their time fishing at the end of a pier (muelle) or from a boat for deep-sea fishing. They can either bring, buy or hire their fishing rods (caña de pescar) and nets. Other tourists prefer to spend their time on the water further inland from the sea, especially in Holland where they hire barges (barcazas) to travel slowly along its canals.
People often stay in self-catering accommodation on these types of holidays, where they have cooking facilities to prepare their own meals or in more basic hotels. In Britain, some people looking to escape for a long weekend may stay at a family-run bed and breakfast. As in city holidays, pubs and dancing at the local discos are popular.
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