Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to advanced English classes with Harry.
So what are we going to look at today?
Well, today we're going to look at advanced collocations related to travel.
And before we start that I should mention to you that if you do like this particular
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Okay, so as I said, we're going to talk to you about advanced collocations all related
to travel.
I've got 10 of them, okay, I'll take you through them.
Some of them are positive, some of them are negative connotations.
I'll tell you which is which, and then hopefully you'll be able to understand them and then
you'll be able to practise that.
Okay, so let's start.
Number one, desolate area.
Desolate area.
Number two, tedious journey.
Tedious journey.
Three.
Panoramic view, panoramic view.
Number four.
Luxurious accommodation, luxurious accommodation.
Number five.
Poor service, poor service.
Six.
Far-flung location.
A far-flung location.
Seventh quaint village.
Eight.
Raw deal.
A raw deal.
Number nine.
Impeccable service.
And finally ten.
Unwary traveller.
An unwary traveller.
Okay, so let's go through them one by one.
So the first is a desolate area.
And as the word desolate would suggest, this has a negative connotation.
A desolate area is an area that you really wouldn't like to go to.
It's usually barren, or empty, or of no great interest.
Could be part of a desert, or a wasteland, or ghost town, or some place that is really
got low economic value, and may not be the most attractive place for a traveller to go
to.
Okay, so if you're travelling or you're going on a holiday, the last place you'd want to
be is in a desolate area.
You might find yourself there accidentally, of course.
It often happens when we get lost when we're walking around the city, but just be very,
very careful.
So a desolate area is an area that has not a lot going for it.
It could be empty, or wasteland, abandoned buildings, get old style approach.
So be really, really careful.
And as I said, a negative connotation.
Number two, a tedious journey.
Well, tedious means something difficult, tiring, something that wears you out.
And again, this has a negative meaning, okay.
So a very tedious journey could be one with lots of stops.
So you're trying to get from your city, perhaps that may be in London or Paris, and you want
to go to Vietnam or some town outside that the main cities has takes you three or four
stops.
And when you get to one airport, you've got to wait for two hours and then you get to
the next airport, you got another wait for a couple of hours.
And then finally you get there with almost 24 hour nonstop travelling and waiting.
So you could describe that type of journey or that type of travelling as tedious.
Tedious journeys.
Tedious travelling where plenty of stops, plenty of problems, not a lot of sleep, still
in the same clothes as you started off 24 hours ago.
And you're really really waiting and looking forward to find that hotel, or that beach
or wherever it is you're you're heading to.
And hopefully, at the end of that tedious journey, at the end of the end of that particular
travel, you are feeling a little bit more refreshed.
Okay, that tedious journey.
Next, a panoramic view.
Well, we all love to have beautiful views when we go on our holidays.
And a panoramic view is something where you stand on top of a hill or a clear for a mountain
and you look around you at this beautiful beautiful scenery and panoramic means it spreads
almost 360 degrees left to right, and you can span right across it.
So if you're standing on some little watch tower, looking out over the Grand Canyon or
you're standing on top of some elevated site where you're looking over the mountains or
the river, the valley.
That gives you a panoramic view of the city or a panoramic view of the countryside.
So, as it suggests very beautiful, and therefore very, very positive.
My hotel was situated in a lonely spot with a panoramic view of the countryside surrounding
it.
Okay.
So you can get up onto the roof of the hotel perhaps.
Or you might even be at the the top floor of the hotel and you've got a wonderful unspoiled
unblocked view from your balcony panoramic view.
Next, luxurious accommodation.
Well, this is what you get in five star or even some four star hotels, luxurious accommodation.
It's not just an ordinary room, perhaps it's a suite of rooms, where there's two connected
or could be family rooms, you have a mini bar, you have a beautiful bathroom, larger
than most.
You've got a bath, and a shower, all the modern conveniences.
You've got a beautiful long balcony, looking over the pool or looking out to the sea.
So this is what you would call luxurious accommodation.
And indeed, not only in your particular room but right throughout the hotel.
The accommodation is something special.
There might be a spa for the guests.
There might be the gym, the indoor swimming pool, the outdoor swimming pool, the verandas,
the balconies that patio areas, lovely gardens.
This is what you would consider to have luxurious accommodation.
Now, you usually have to pay for that.
It usually costs a lot of money.
And you might say to your friends, Well, look, it was worth it.
It was a honeymoon, we paid top dollar for this.
It's a really fine five star hotel.
And I would really suggest and recommend it to any of you to go in there.
But yeah, it's luxurious, but really, really worth it.
Once in a lifetime possibility.
Okay, luxurious accommodation.
And be careful with that word "luxurious" to get that sound luxurious, luxurious.
Now, the opposite end of the scale then is poor service.
And we've all been there.
We've all been in the hotel where the service perhaps was not up to scratch.
It wasn't what you expected.
So this again, has negative connotations, poor service.
You ring for room service.
You can't get through to anybody.
You put your shoes back on, you drag yourself down to the reception area.
And you ask is it possible to have room service?
Of course, sir.
Yeah, we'll send it right up.
20 minutes later, no sign of room service.
30 minutes later, no sign of room service.
Eventually, somebody comes with a half chewed menu for you to look at and you don't see
anything quite so appetising on it, but you eventually order a bowl of soup, and a coffee
or a coke or something.
And yes, you have to wait another 40 minutes for it to be delivered.
Okay, so real poor service.
Or the room isn't cleaned as often as you would hope.
You're there for three or four days and on business.
The city is really busy, you can't check out and go to another hotel.
So you're really stuck with the one you have.
But the service isn't really what you had expected.
So yeah, you can complain, but what can you do?
Yeah, you have to put up with occasionally the poor service.
It makes you appreciate the good service when you get it.
Okay, so poor service.
Next far-flung location.
Sounds nice, doesn't it?
A far-flung location.
To fling something F-L-I-N-G is to throw it as far as you can.
To fling it.
Okay.
So the... the... that third participle, far flung means some location really, really far
away.
Okay.
So this could have both positive and negative connotations.
If you really want that holiday away from everybody else, then, of course, this is going
to be a positive.
One of these eco-style holidays in a far flung location in Patagonia or some island off the
the most southerly tip of Argentina.
Yeah, this could be a far-flung location or far-flung destination.
But you might not have expected it to be that and when you get there and you get eventually
get from your airport, on the bus to the hotel, you're wondering how long it's going to take.
You've been sitting on the bus now for over two hours.
And when you eventually get to the hotel, there's absolutely nothing around it.
It's surrounded by forest.
Or perhaps as we said in the first one, it's surrounded by some desolate areas.
And what you was... you were expecting to be a really good location turns out not be
something that you would try again.
So this could be the negative side of a far flung destination or location.
For me, a far-flung location would be really top class.
I really love it and to... to explore it and enjoy, hopefully, that peace and tranquillity
that goes with that.
So far-flung locations.
A quaint village Well, we've all driven through or stopped off at a quaint village when we...
we've been driving on holidays from time to time.
And a quaint village is that little old-fashioned, that antiquated style that doesn't seem to
have changed.
The type of picture that you see of these little villages on the front of a box of biscuits
for example.
The old style Victorian biscuits, the real tea biscuits for the the people of England
that they like to have.
And on the front, you get this lovely painted view of a little village with little cottages
with roses growing on the outside.
So this will be regarded as a quaint village so quite antiquated.
A little bit old-fashioned.
Sometimes we say a little bit, twee.
Yeah, puts something nice, everything is clean, the streets are clean, the cottages are painted.
Well, the gardens are looked after.
So everything is really, really fine.
So a quaint village, a quaint village, in the Cotswolds of the UK, something nice to
visit for Easter weekend.
Next raw deal, a raw deal real raw means like raw meat.
It's uncooked.
Yeah.
Or it's not what you had expected.
Okay, so when you get a raw deal, it's very definitely negative.
Okay, so you might have booked the hotel a few months ago, and didn't pay much attention
than when you get onto the plane, and you're talking to somebody sitting beside you, and
that they're asking you where you're staying?
And do you tell them they go?
I haven't heard of that hotel before.
Are you sure it's in this resort?
Yeah, I booked it a couple of months ago.
So you get off the plane, you get onto the bus.
And you're the last stop when they take you from the... the airport to the different hotels.
And yeah, you've got a bit of a raw deal here.
Because when you look at the hotel, it looks have finished, it is really the last stop
because it's a... it's a long distance away from the city.
So if you're going to go down to where the nightlife is, you're probably going to have
to get a taxi.
There's certain...
certainly not going to be walking back there in the middle of the night.
So you're going to have to pay money to get there, you're going to have to pay money to
get back.
So you've got a little bit of a raw deal.
Okay?
So raw deal means something that isn't going to... doesn't work out as well as you thought.
You're getting the worst part of the bargain, okay.
So, a raw deal in travelled terms means not the best deal, okay, a raw deal.
Next impeccable service.
So we had before poor service.
So, again, going to the other end of the scale for impeccable and impeccable is usually something
that just cannot be criticised, cannot be bettered.
You just get the best, you know.
So it might not be a four star or five star hotel, it doesn't have to be but if the service
is impeccable than its service that you're... you could look at just as good as or even
better than you might get in a much more expensive hotel.
So impeccable service.
You arrive at the hotel, you're greeted by the reception.
They know your name.
Yes, we've been expecting you, sir.
Leave your luggage there.
We'll bring it up to your room.
Good sign.
So everything is working just the way you want it.
So you put it to the test.
You press the button room servers.
Yeah, this is room 241.
I'd like to order a gin and tonic and toasted ham and cheese sandwich.
Yes, sir.
We'll have it there in 10 minutes.
10 minutes later, knock on the door, toasted ham and cheese sandwich.
Gin and Tonic and a small bowl of fruit just for something you didn't order but it's given
to you there as some extra, little treat.
So impeccable service.
Room cleaned the next morning, breakfast ready when you want it, fast checkout service if
you want it, the guests connection to the back to the hotel.
Impeccable service.
And then finally, number 10, the unwary traveller.
Well, when when we talk about unwary travellers, we often talk about innocent travellers, people
who haven't perhaps done a lot of travelling themselves in the past and therefore, from
time to time, they can be taken advantage of.
So for example, the unwary traveller who goes to the local market and he gets his pocket
picked because he wasn't aware that he should be careful when he's walking through those
markets.
Or when he goes to buy what he thought was that original leather bag or leather strap
turns out to be nothing more than useless rubber, and he's really wasted his money.
Okay, so you you have to be really, really careful and the unwary traveller needs to
be on his guard because things can happen and people can try to take advantage of him.
Okay, so, the unwary traveller walking along the beach needs to make sure he's got flip
flops on in case somebody's left some broken glass or something on the beach, he might
cut his foot.
So if you're experienced, and you've been there before, you know the sort of pitfalls
that can happen to you.
And yet we've all been there for the first time ever, and you can be the unwary traveller
not quite sure what you should do.
I was unwary traveller once my first journey to Hong Kong many, many, many, many, many
years ago.
Yeah, I got a connection flight from London.
I was there and plenty of time.
Unfortunately, my luggage didn't make the plane journey.
And when I arrived in Hong Kong, no luggage.
I was there for a week, my luggage arrived three days later.
I spent a fortune getting clothes for my business meetings from the Sunday to the Wednesday.
My luggage arrived.
But yeah, and those days I was the unwary traveller.
I had no coat with me.
I forgot that when I arrived, it was the rainy season.
So when I got to my first meeting, I looked like a wet dog.
And it was... it was wasn't a pleasant experience.
Yeah.
Okay, so I can look back on it now.
And I can laugh, but that's a good example of an unwary traveller.
Okay, so let's go through those again.
Ten advanced collocations related to travel.
One, desolate area, definitely negative.
Two, tedious journey.
Again, negative.
Panoramic view, positive.
Luxurious accommodation, definitely positive.
Poor service, of course, negative.
Far-flung locations, neutral.
Can be negative, it could be positive.
A quaint village, very definitely a positive something you want to get a photograph of.
A raw deal, negative.
Impeccable service, top of the list, very positive.
And finally, the unwary traveller.
Well, if you get caught out, then it's definitely a negative.
But if you're a little bit innocent, and people take you under their wing and show you around,
well, that in itself could be a positive.
Okay, hopefully, you've enjoyed those, you understand what they mean.
Try to put a few of them into practice.
And as always, if you want to come back to me for some more suggestions, or help or some
more ideas, well, I'm very happy to listen to them.
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Okay, well, as always, thanks for listening.
Join me again soon.