My last holiday

Exercises: 1 2 3

Exercise 1

Check the vocabulary in the ‘Explanation’ tab and fill in the gaps with the words in the box.

a boat trip / booked / bought / by / ~~journey~~ / nightlife / on / rented / sightseeing / stayed / swimming / tried

EXAMPLE: The journey to San Francisco was very long.

Exercises: 1 2 3

Vocabulary about holidays

When people go on holiday, they usually travel by plane, by car, by train or by bus. The time they spend travelling from one place to another is called the journey. And when they arrive at their destination, they usually stay in a hotel, in a guesthouse (=a private house that rents rooms), or rent an apartment.

People go on holiday because they want to have a good time (or a great time). They try to do activities that they enjoy doing. For example, people who enjoy the nightlife go out in the evenings, and people who love food book (=reserve) tables in restaurants and try the local cuisine. People spend time doing the activities that they love; for example, people who love the sun spend time sunbathing on the beach.

When we do an activity, we can use the verb go + –ing verb; for example, go sightseeing, go sunbathing, go swimming, go diving, go shopping, go fishing, etc. You can also use the expression do (some / a lot of / a little) sightseeing. Sightseeing is the activity of visiting the most interesting places. If you do sightseeing in a big city, you usually visit museums, and historical buildings and monuments. You also take pictures and buy souvenirs.

We can use the expression go + on a(n) before nouns related to trips; for example, we can go on a trip, go on a tour, go on an excursion, go on a safari, etc.

Plan your writing

Before writing your essay, you should think about the information you want to include and also how to organise it. In an essay about your last holiday you should talk about:

where, when and how you travelled
who you went with
where and how long you stayed
what you visited/saw
what activities you did

Sample essay about “Your Last Holiday”

Look at this essay and check how the information in organised in paragraphs:

Last summer I went on holiday to New York with my girlfriend. We travelled by plane, and the journey was very tiring. We were really excited about visiting The Big Apple for the first time, so 14 hours seemed a long time.

We stayed in a hotel in Manhattan. We booked a room that wasn’t very big or bright, but it wasn’t expensive, and the best part is that the hotel was very close to Central Park. It was fantastic to get up in the morning and go running in the park before breakfast.

We did a lot of sightseeing; we visited all the most important buildings and museums in the city. And we also went on a helicopter tour. It was amazing! But the best thing for us was to walk around and watch the people, the cars, and the buildings. It was like being in a film!

Organisation

Paragraph 1: Where, when and how you travelled. Who you went with.
Paragraph 2: Where you stayed.
Paragraph 3: What you visited/saw, what activities you did.

Use connectors

Use and, but, because, so, and other linking words to connect the sentences.

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