Describe your journey to your school or office.
You should say:
- what type of transport you use
- how long it takes
- whether you use the same type of vehicle always
and explain if you enjoy it or not.
[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 1:
Travelling at least one hour, back and forth, from home to office and vice versa every day may seem to be an easy task on the surface, but when you are travelling at least five days per week, it suddenly doesn’t seem to be so easy unless your journey is reasonably comfortable.
Talking about my journey from my hometown (“Sintra”, which is one of the major tourist destinations of Portugal and a suburb of capital Lisbon) to my office in Lisbon, which fortunately never gave me any trouble for my last few years of journey mainly because I use the train to travel back and forth even though it costs me a little extra. I always try to travel by “urban” trains which only run between large cities like Lisbon to Porto and Lisbon to Sintra.
There are four different kinds of trains in Portugal, depending on the distance they travel. Anyway, it takes a good 30 minutes to reach my office from my home but it doesn’t feel that long due to the fact that the trains in my country are very comfortable with spacious seats and comfortable temperatures no matter what time of the year you are travelling. And that’s exactly why, I always try to travel by train unless, of course, there is a valid reason to choose other means of transportation.
I enjoy my train journey from my home to office and vice versa because most of the area between Lisbon and Sintra is really scenic and beautiful as Sintra itself is a beautiful tourist spot. In fact, Portugal is a very beautiful country with beautiful mountainsides, vineyards, olive trees and sparkling sea coast. Besides, the environment inside the train is remarkably peaceful with no unnecessary noise. Finally, I absolutely enjoy the train journey because it is never really dependent on weather and as such very reliable. By the way, I rather enjoy the “rhythmic” sound of a moving train as it helps me take a little nap during my journey.
Sample Answer 2:
Thank you very much for this nice cue card topic. I am a fourth-year medical student and I have to travel for an hour each day to reach my medical college. Now I would say how I travel to my college on a typical day and how I feel about the journey.
My father owns a car and I mostly use it to travel to and from my college. This is a Honda SUV and is quite comfortable. My college is around forty kilometres away from our home. Considering the road traffic, it takes me around an hour or so to reach there.
I would say, I enjoy this daily journey of mine. During my second year, I had to take public buses to commute to my college for about three to four months and the experience of commuting in public transportation was not pleasant. It killed more times per day than it does now. Comparing to this experience, I would say I am happy and content to have a private car to reach my college now.
I wake up at around 7.00 in the morning, eat my breakfast, and get ready for college. Afterwards, I call our driver to start the engine. The car leaves our house at around 7.40 am and reach our college at approximately 8.40 am. During this one hour, I mostly read a newspaper or an academic book. Sometimes, when I do not feel like reading, I enjoy the view on both sides of the road. The only time I dislike this journey when our car gets stuck due to the bad traffic. On some occasions, let’s say once or twice a month, the traffic is so bad that I have to wait for about two hours, double the usual time, to reach my college. Apart from the chocking traffic jam and delay, I mostly enjoy my journey to my medical college.
Sample Answer 3:
I am a doctor and work in a private hospital in the city I live in. The city dwellers often witness notorious traffic congestions and I am no exception. I really appreciate the opportunity to let me talk about my experience of commuting to and from my office.
I am lucky that the doctors in our city are privileged to have official transportation. The hospital, where I work, has a full spectrum of bus service that carries office staffs. Mercedes-Benz buses usually carry us and it can take around 20 people at a time. One of the designated buses picks me up from my home early in the morning, and sometimes in the afternoon based on my hospital duty schedule. I would say the bus is comfortable and I like to ride in it to commute to and from my office rather than taking my own car.
The hospital is around 60 miles from my residence and it takes me less than one and a half hour to reach there in the early morning. If I take the same journey in the evening – when the traffic is usually heavy, sometimes it takes me more than two hours.
As far as I know, the hospital authority has four buses that are exclusively dedicated to carrying the doctors and nurses of the hospital. So I take one of these four buses every day. They look so identical that it’s hard to tell the differences, you know what I mean. Since the drivers are also on shifting duty, I cannot be sure who will drive the bus the next morning!
I like the journey except for the time when the traffic is bad and we are stuck on the road. I usually carry a book or a magazine that I read on the bus. Sometimes, I listen to music and try to enjoy the side view. But often I have to be on the phone while I travel, though I do not like it very much, to discuss professional matters. On the way back home, I often take a nap to refresh myself and its funny that I can sleep for a while on the bus almost every day after a busy and tiresome working day.
Similar other cue card topics you should be able to talk about if you prepare for this cue card topic:
1. Describe something you do almost every day.
2. Describe one of your typical days.
3. Describe a journey that you recently made.