Now that we're millionaires, we can afford the studio.
Yeah, this is really cool.
But of course we wouldn't be able to do any of this without any of the people who have listened to us.
We should give a particular thank you to our subscribers on our premium podcast.
IELTS Speaking for Success Premium.
They're the reason this was all possible.
In addition to the people who did our Speaking for Success course to help prepare them for the exam.
So thank you guys.
Thank you so much.
We really appreciate all your support.
Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this podcast because we want you to use high-level words and gorgeous grammar in your IELTS speaking and in your English life.
Maria, I'm thinking about traveling a lot recently.
Traveling?
Traveling where?
To your balcony?
It's a good place to start, isn't it?
But yeah, traveling in general.
Shall we talk about traveling?
Let's talk about traveling.
Rory, do you like travelling?
I love it.
I think I've been to about 30 different countries actually.
And I've loved every single one for different reasons.
Each time I met really cool people and I've had a blast.
So yes, I absolutely adore travelling.
Have you done much travelling?
Well, like I said, I think so.
I know there are about 200 countries in the world and I've only seen about 30 of them, but I think that's more than most people, so I would say so.
How long was the longest trip you took?
Well, I suppose Russia, technically speaking, because this was only supposed to be going.
I was only supposed to be here for a year.
But here we are, five years later, and I'm still going strong.
Probably after that.
The second longest one was Sweden for Erasmus, which is like a scholarship exchange program in Europe.
And then I spent seven months away in the mid 2000s traveling around Africa and East Timor, which is a small island off of Indonesia.
So I suppose you could say I'm used to these sort of long haul adventures.
What kind of places have you visited?
Oh God, all kinds.
I visited developed and developing countries, active war zones savannas rainforests islands mountains, coral reefs.
It would be easier to talk about the kinds of places I've not visited yet.
I think my favorite places are usually by the sea.
But I took a short trip to Kurdistan in northern Iraq, and that's a completely landlocked part of the world.
That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'll treasure forever, even if it did get me put on a watch list.
Do you think it's better to travel alone or with other people?
Well, I almost always travel alone.
It gives you a bit more autonomy and freedom of action.
I quite prize that.
So that's good for me.
I can still see the advantages of traveling with someone.
Hopefully one day I'll find that person who's an ideal traveling companion.
What do you do while you're travelling?
Well, all kinds of things.
I've been freediving and I wrote a few books while I was away and I read a lot of books.
I read a lot more than I've... I've read a lot more than I've written, sorry.
I go out and I talk to strangers and have adventures.
Of course, I do traditional things like tasting the local cuisine and sightseeing, but I try to balance this with some more unique experiences as well.
And meeting new people is definitely more unique than just seeing the sights.
Would you like to have a job that requires traveling to other countries?
Well, I kind of do, or I did at least.
I've been around the block for work for a few times, though I wouldn't really want to do it regularly, since it's quite hard on you.
What places would you like to visit in the future?
Oh, I've got a little list, actually.
I'd like to see Belarus and Armenia and Georgia and more of Russia, of course.
It's the biggest country in the world.
And the Balkans as well, particularly Serbia and Croatia.
My friend and I have a plan to go there.
And of course, I'll visit my friends in the Americas when I get a chance as well.
There's still a lot to see and do out there.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
We've been on quite the travel in terms of vocabulary and grammar, haven't we?
Sorry, that was a terrible, terrible joke.
I tried.
Yes, let's talk about super vocabulary and traveling grammar.
First of all, when we talk about traveling, we use the super present perfect.
Do we?
Yes, absolutely.
And Roy, you've told us that I've been to about 30 countries and we usually say well, we always say I've been to.
I've been to, I've been to, I've been to.
So that's like pronunciation as well.
Try to avoid saying like, I have been, like stress on every word.
I've been to.
It's much, well, it's more natural.
Extra points for pronunciation.
Have you been to Peru?
I've not been to Peru, but I've spoken to someone from Peru.
And actually, she was in the free lessons that I did a few weeks ago.
So it was super cool talking to her.
I've been to Peru.
You have?
Yes.
That's why I asked you this question.
So that you could talk about yourself.
Exactly.
I've been talking about myself for the last 10 minutes.
So I guess you should do that too.
Yes.
So, dear listener, please do use present perfect.
So, I've been to many countries or I've been to London or I've visited.
Because Rory, for example, told us that I visited developed and developing countries.
So, Russia is a developing country.
Germany is a developed country.
That's right.
Well, Russia's kind of weird in that way, isn't it?
Because you come to places like Moscow and St.
Petersburg, which are fully developed.
To explain developed countries have fully formed infrastructure and they don't have serious problems with poverty, for example, and quality of life.
Whereas developing countries are still working on these problems or issues.
Yeah, Russia is somewhere in the middle.
Yeah, you're on your way, though.
I like living here.
Like, come to Russia, even though it's partially developed.
Yeah, it's like Rory came to Russia for a year and ended up being here for five years or even more. six years it's a phrasal verb to end up or wind up yeah whoa roy you've mentioned having a blast Yeah, it probably marks me out as being very old.
So yes, if you have a blast, you have a great time doing something.
Although it's a more idiomatic expression than just say, I had a great time.
It's very boring.
Have a blast.
Yeah, so you can say, I've visited many countries and I've had a blast.
Or I had a blast.
I had a blast.
When we talk about traveling, we talk about adventures.
And Rory, you said that I'm used to long haul trips.
Adventures.
So I'm mixing up different adjectives here, because usually you have a long haul flight which lasts for a really long time.
But you can have a long haul adventure, which lasts for a really long time.
It's an unusual collocation.
So I'm kind of having fun with that language there.
So if I'm flying to New Zealand from Moscow, it's a long-haul adventure.
Oh, it's a long-haul flight.
You might have an adventure on the plane.
Yeah, or you can say, like, I'm an adventurous traveler.
Yeah.
Rory, are you a traveler or a tourist?
Well, I like to think I'm a traveler because that's got more positive meaning to it, doesn't it?
Although no one's doing much traveling these days, are they?
Yeah.
So if you're a tourist, you just go there to see the sites and just be yourself.
But travelers go places to be changed.
And oh my God, am I a different person from where I first started?
Yeah, once in Rome, I think, or somewhere in Italy, I saw this note on a wall welcome travelers tourists, go home.
Tourists do go home, though.
Yes, they do.
Okay.
So when you talked about the places you visited, you've mentioned war zones.
Active war zones.
Active war zones.
And now Rory's on the watch list.
Oh my gosh.
So to explain, first of all, an active war zone is a place where there's conflict happening.
It doesn't have to be a war officially.
It could just be people are fighting.
So, for example, I went to Kurdistan, which is in northern Iraq.
Parts of that are an active war zone, or they were at the time we were fighting the Islamic State there, so obviously that counts as an active war zone if there's actually a conflict there.
And A watchlist is something that it's like a collection of names that people are put on because they're suspected of being terrorists.
So because I'd visited Iraq, which is classed as an enemy country by the United States, I was put on a watch list and it means I had to have an extended visa application process.
Wow.
Rory is super adventurous and a daredevil.
No, well, there's a fine line between adventurous and crazy, isn't there?
I think when I told my mom, she nearly had a heart attack.
Hi, mom.
Right, dear listeners.
Now Rory's mom knows the whole truth.
So you can mention, like active war zones rainforests islands, mountains that you've visited right.
Yeah, specific geographical features.
Maybe mountain range is better mountain ranges even if you haven't visited these places, just you know.
Use these nice words.
You can say that it was once in a lifetime experience, which is a very good phrase.
So if it's a once in a lifetime experience, it's something that you well plan only to do once, or could only do once.
Like, well, bungee jumping.
For most people, that's a once in a lifetime experience.
Afterwards, you don't really feel the need to do it again.
Unless you're me and then you've done it three times, which I don't recommend.
And then you can say, I'll treasure.
I'll treasure this experience forever.
Yeah.
So if you treasure something, it's a verb.
It just means that you value it a lot.
So I treasure my memories.
I treasure my time with you, Maria.
Oh, thank you so much.
And our producer who is lurking in the background.
Hello, Vanya.
When we talk about some activities that you can do while traveling.
So Rory has mentioned tasting local cuisine.
Yes.
Cuisine like food it is, but food's got like food is just food.
But cuisine is like it's not just the food, it's everything like how it's prepared, um the environment, where you are, and it's a higher level word, so definitely use that instead of food.
Yeah careful, not cousin cuisine.
Cuisine.
So you can say, I enjoy tasting local cuisine.
I go sightseeing, sightseeing, like to see the local sights.
Yeah.
And then I balance this with more unique experiences.
Like talking to strangers.
I love talking to strangers, by the way.
So if you ever see me out in Moscow, then don't be afraid to say hi.
When we talked about other people or traveling alone, you mentioned a traveling companion.
Yes.
So a traveling companion is someone that, well, comes traveling with you.
You could say a friend that goes traveling with you, but that's not a great expression.
Traveling companion is a much more common collocation.
And about the future.
You can say, for example, in the future, I would really love to travel around the world or travel around the world.
I'd like to go to, I'd like to visit, or I'd like to go backpacking around the world.
You don't have to travel around the world, though.
You can travel around countries.
And people do.
And they have.
And they have a great time.
Yeah.
It's called travel therapy.
And I have another joke for you, Rory.
Are you ready?
No.
I need vitamin C. S-E-A.
Like the C. Vitamin C. I need vitamin S for please stop the jokes.
Okay, okay.
I think we've covered a lot though in terms of vocabulary.
Absolutely.
Thank you very much for listening.
Remember that if you can't buy happiness, you can buy a plane ticket.
Yes.
And you can travel there to find it.
To Moscow to say hi to Rory.
And Maria.
Bye.
Bye, guys.
Rory, do you like travelling?
I love it.
I think I've been to about 30 different countries, actually.
And I've loved every single one for different reasons.
Each time I met really cool people and I've had a blast.
So, yes, I absolutely adore travelling.
Have you done much travelling?
Well, like I said, I think so.
I know there are about 200 countries in the world and I've only seen about 30 of them, but I think that's more than most people, so I would say so.
How long was the longest trip you took?
Well, I suppose Russia, technically speaking, because this was only supposed to be going.
I was only supposed to be here for a year.
But here we are, five years later, and I'm still going strong.
Probably after that.
The second longest one was Sweden for Erasmus, which is like a scholarship exchange program in Europe.
And then I spent seven months away in the mid 2000s traveling around Africa and East Timor, which is a small island off of Indonesia.
So I suppose you could say I'm used to these sort of long haul adventures.
What kind of places have you visited?
Oh God, all kinds.
I visited developed and developing countries, active war zones savannas rainforests islands mountains, coral reefs.
It would be easier to talk about the kinds of places I've not visited yet.
I think my favorite places are usually by the sea.
But I took a short trip to Kurdistan in northern Iraq, and that's a completely landlocked part of the world.
That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'll treasure forever, even if it did get me put on a watch list.
Do you think it's better to travel alone or with other people?
Uh, well, I almost always travel alone.
Uh, it gives you a bit more autonomy and freedom of action.
Um, but I quite priced that.
Um, so, um, that's good for me.
I can still see the advantages of traveling with someone.
Hopefully one day I'll find that person who's an ideal traveling companion.
What do you do while you're traveling?
Well, all kinds of things.
I've been freediving and I wrote a few books while I was away and I read a lot of books.
I read a lot more than I've, uh, I've read a lot more than I've written.
Sorry.
Um, uh, I go out and I talk to strangers and have adventures.
Um, Of course, I do traditional things like tasting the local cuisine and sightseeing, but I try to balance this with some more unique experiences as well.
And meeting new people is definitely more unique than just seeing the sights.
Would you like to have a job that requires traveling to other countries?
Well, I kind of do, or I did at least.
I've been around the block for work for a few times, though I wouldn't really want to do it regularly, since it's quite hard on you.
What places would you like to visit in the future?
Oh, I've got a little list, actually.
I'd like to see Belarus and Armenia and Georgia and more of Russia, of course.
It's the biggest country in the world.
And the Balkans as well, particularly Serbia and Croatia.
My friend and I have a plan to go there.
And of course, I'll visit my friends in the Americas when I get a chance as well.
There's still a lot to see and do out there.
