Travel and Holidays
Answer aloud before reading the samples — fluency over perfection.
Do you enjoy travelling?
I really do — it's probably my favourite thing to spend money on. I find that even a short trip somewhere unfamiliar resets my mind, and I always come back with a fresh perspective on everyday life.
What kind of places do you like to visit?
I'm drawn to cities with a lot of history. I love wandering through old quarters, ducking into museums, and just sitting in a square watching local life unfold. Beaches are nice for a day or two, but I get restless without something to explore.
Do you prefer travelling alone or with others?
It depends on my mood. Travelling with close friends is great for sharing the experience, but I've come to appreciate solo trips too — you can follow your own pace entirely and you tend to talk to far more strangers.
How do you usually plan your trips?
I'm a bit of a planner. I'll research the main sights and book accommodation in advance, but I deliberately leave the days themselves loose so there's room to stumble across things and change my mind.
Describe a memorable journey or trip you have taken.
You should say
- where you went
- who you went with
- what you did there
- and explain why it was so memorable
Sample answer
The trip that stands out most was a week I spent travelling through the south of Portugal with two university friends, the summer after we graduated. We hired a small, rather temperamental car and drove along the coast with no fixed itinerary, just a rough idea of which towns we wanted to reach. During the day we'd explore little fishing villages, swim in coves we found by accident, and eat grilled fish at family-run places where nobody spoke much English and we ordered by pointing. In the evenings we'd sit on a balcony watching the sun go down and talk for hours. What made it so memorable wasn't any single sight, though some of the scenery was breathtaking; it was the timing. We were all about to start our first jobs and move to different cities, so there was this bittersweet sense that we were closing a chapter. That freedom — no responsibilities, no schedule, just good friends and an open road — is something I've chased on every trip since, and I'm not sure I'll ever quite recapture it.
Why do you think international travel has become so popular?
Mainly because it's become far more affordable and accessible. Budget airlines opened up destinations that used to be out of reach, and the internet makes planning effortless. On top of that, social media constantly exposes people to other places, which fuels the desire to go and see them.
What are the downsides of mass tourism?
There are real costs. Popular destinations can become overcrowded and lose the character that attracted visitors in the first place, while local people get priced out of their own neighbourhoods. There's also the environmental toll of all that flying, which is hard to ignore.
Do you think people learn anything from travelling?
Absolutely, provided they engage with where they are. Encountering different ways of living first-hand tends to make people more open-minded and less quick to assume their own way is the only way. That said, you can travel superficially too — ticking off landmarks without really taking anything in.
itinerary
a planned route or schedule for a journey
"We kept the itinerary flexible so we could change our plans."
off the beaten track
away from the places most tourists visit
"The best meals we had were in villages off the beaten track."
breathtaking
extremely beautiful or impressive
"The view from the cliffs was absolutely breathtaking."
to broaden your horizons
to widen your knowledge and experience
"Living abroad really broadened my horizons."
mass tourism
travel by very large numbers of people to the same places
"Mass tourism has put the old town under enormous strain."
wanderlust
a strong desire to travel and explore the world
"A gap year only deepened her wanderlust."