Describe a time when you travelled with an old person.
You should say:
- when it was
- who the person was
- where you were going/travelling
and explain how you felt about travelling with this old person.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Model Answer:
To me, travelling is always fun whether I am travelling with young people or “not-so” young people. All we need to do is to plan properly and execute them to perfection. However, if you are travelling with an elderly person who is a little sick, things can become a bit tricky. Let me describe a time when I travelled with one of my paternal grandfathers to treat his age-related illness about a few years ago.
We were travelling on a non-stop train. The destination was one of the best hospitals in the capital city of my country which was about 300 kilometres away from my home town. So far, so good!
How I felt about travelling with my old grandfather? Well, let’s just say, it was not easy. In fact, it wasn’t exactly supposed to be easy when an old man in his late 70’s behaved like a 7-year old more often than not. In fact, it was a challenge for me to prevent him from falling at times when my old grandfather, very much young at heart, would decide to walk inside a moving train, simply because he was getting “bored” of sitting on his chair after every thirty minutes or so.
On top of that, the concern on whether he was getting medicines on time was always ready to ‘alert’ me in case if I was becoming a bit too “relaxed” with my duties to keep my grandfather “alive and well”. However, one of the most remarkable feelings which I went through while travelling with my grandfather, was that I felt like I was “limited” in my power as if I could do things, whatever they may be, only if they were “not harming” my elderly and ill grandfather.
But, the moments of laugh were there as well when my “funny” grandfather chose to make jokes about his good old days at schools. In fact, it was quite refreshing and amusing for me to learn the “secrets” on how my “naughty” grandfather would “skip” his schools to watch football matches by riding on his semi-broken bicycle, only to find it completely broken in the middle of nowhere. However, the best moment of our travel arrived when my grandfather called me his best grandson, reminding me once again about probably the most natural, durable and loving bond between a grandfather and grandson.