Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. I’m Conner from polyglossa.com, and you’re listening to Episode 33 of the Listening Time podcast.

I hope you’re all doing well today. I’m happy today because it’s actually a very nice and sunny day here in my city. And if you remember back from my episode about seasons and weather, I told you that in my current city, the summer is the rainy season. So, it rains a lot here. There are a lot of storms during this time of year. But now, the rainy season is maybe coming to an end. I hope so, but I’m sure there will still be some more rainy days during the rest of this month. But we’re approaching fall, because at the time of this recording, it’s still September. It’s the first half of September. You’ll probably be listening to this episode in, maybe, October… maybe the first week of October. I don’t know. I haven’t calculated it yet, but I’m recording this episode in advance, so it’ll be at least a few weeks before you listen to it.

But today, here in my city, it’s a very nice day. So, I’m going to go with my family to a lake outside the city, and just enjoy the outdoors and enjoy the good weather that we’re having now. I hope you’re doing something fun today too. Maybe you can take this podcast with you outside on a run, or a hike, or a nice walk, or something like that. I know that many of you probably listen to this podcast while you’re doing something else. And I think that’s really cool that we can all multitask, and do a little language-learning while we do other things as well. I think that’s a great way to maximize the time that we have during our day.

So, in today’s episode, I’m going to talk about airplanes and flying. So, this is an important topic because I think a lot of us like to travel, and therefore, it’s good for you to know how to talk about this subject in English, right. So, I’m sure you’ll learn some new vocabulary words in this episode, so it’ll be extra useful for you. Before we start, remember that the transcript is available in the Episode Notes. So, if you want to access that, just go to the Episode Notes and you’ll find the link there. And remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com if you want to practice your listening even more. Alright, let’s get started.

Okay, so the very first airplane was invented in 1903 by the Wright Brothers. You might have learned about this in school or somewhere else. This is a pretty famous story: the Wright brothers have gone down in history as the inventors of the airplane. In English we use the phrase, “go down in history” to talk about someone or something that gets remembered for some important reason. So, the Wright brothers went down in history in 1903 when they made the first successful flights. So since then, of course, the technology of airplanes has advanced immensely. The word “immense” just means very big. So, if I say that it “advanced immensely”, I’m just saying that it has advanced a lot. Right. Airplanes look very different nowadays, and they operate differently from how they operated a century ago.

So, since that day in 1903, the airplane has changed a lot, and it has revolutionized the way people travel. So, in the past, people had to travel by boat or by train or by some other vehicle if they wanted to go long distances. But nowadays, people fly if they need to go long distances. So now, our world is much better connected because you can take a flight over the ocean and be on a completely different continent in just a matter of hours. So, in English we say “in a matter of” when we’re talking about time duration. So, I can say, “we finished in just a matter of minutes”. I’m saying that we finished in only a few minutes or some minutes. So, you can be on another continent in just a matter of hours.

And so, of course, there is a completely different industry around tourism and travel today than there was a century ago. So, let’s talk a little bit about booking flights. In English, we use the verb “to book” to mean to schedule or to buy a ticket or something like that. So, for example, you can book a class with a teacher, right. For example, I teach online, and students book classes with me. Or you can book a flight or book a ticket. So, that just means that you buy your ticket. So, when you book a ticket or a flight, you have to decide whether you want to buy a round trip ticket or a one way ticket. A round trip ticket is a ticket that includes the flight to your destination and the return flight back home. That’s a round trip ticket. And if you buy a one way ticket, this means that you just buy the flight to your destination. It doesn’t include the return flight. So, that’s one decision you have to make.

And another decision that you might have to make is whether you buy a direct flight, or a flight with layovers. A “layover” just refers to a stop in a city between your original place and your destination. So, for example, if I buy a flight from San Diego to London, but I have to stop in New York first, this would be considered a layover. I would say that I have a layover in New York before I reached my final destination in London. So, I don’t like layovers. I’m sure most of you would agree. I prefer direct flights, but sometimes there aren’t any direct flights between two specific destinations. So, sometimes layovers are necessary. So, that’s another decision that you might need to make, or maybe you have no choice. Maybe you have to have a layover in a certain city.

So personally, I don’t like to have flights that have a very short layover, because I don’t trust that the first flight will arrive on time, and I’m always scared that I’m going to miss the connecting flight. The connecting flight just refers to the next flight. Right. The flight to the next, or the final, destination. So, I’m always worried that the layover won’t be long enough, and so what I sometimes do is, for example, if I’m going to fly to Europe, and I’m going to fly from California to Italy, for example, I’ll first book a flight from, like, Los Angeles to London, for example, a direct flight, and then I’ll book a separate flight from London to the city in Italy. And I’ll book this second flight, like, a day after the first flight. So, in this way, I know that I’ll have enough time between my two flights to not miss the second flight.

Of course, this means that I usually have to spend the night in the city where I have my layover, but I use this as an opportunity to explore that city a little bit. So, I did this in 2019. When my wife and I went to Italy, we stopped in London for a day. I booked two separate flights: one to London, and then from London to Bologna, Italy. And so, we spent, like, a day in London, and we enjoyed the city for those hours that we had, and we had the peace of mind that we weren’t going to miss our next flight. In English, we like to use the phrase “peace of mind”. We’re just saying that you feel at ease. You feel peaceful. You’re not worried. You have peace of mind.

So, that’s how I like to book flights when I’m traveling far, but other people don’t like doing this. A lot of people buy all of their flights together with one company. And of course, if your first flight is delayed, meaning it’s late… “delayed” means to be late. If your first flight is delayed, the company will put you on another flight to reach your final destination, and you don’t need to worry about losing your money, but you’ll have to wait for a later flight. I don’t like this. I like to just book each flight separately, but that’s just me.

So now, let’s talk about the flight itself. In English, when we use the word “itself” like this, we’re saying that we’re going to talk about this exact thing, not the things related to it or similar to it. We’re going to talk about this exact thing. We’re going to talk about the flight itself. So, in my opinion, flying is not very comfortable. So, when you’re inside the airplane, I find that this space is very cramped. In English we use the word “cramped” to say that you don’t have a lot of room to move. So, it’s a little bit cramped in airplanes. I’m a tall person, so it feels more cramped to me than it does to other people, maybe. So, I find that the experience of flying is not the most comfortable one, but it’s okay.

And in terms of entertainment… I prefer to read books when I’m flying, or I prefer to listen to podcasts. But of course, if it’s a very long flight, then the airplane usually has screens on the back of the seats, and you can watch movies and things like that. And I’ve only done that a few times because I’ve only flown to a few very far destinations. So normally, I don’t have the chance to do that. I normally don’t have a screen available on the airplane that I’m flying on, so I tend to read, or I listen to podcasts. So, that’s what I do for entertainment.

And in terms of food… in the US, we like to joke about how the food on airplanes is really bad. I don’t know if this is true, exactly, but this is a stereotype that we have about flying, right. If you fly, you have to endure the bad food. When we say “endure”, we just mean that you have to deal with this thing. So you have to endure the bad airplane food. I think the few times that I’ve eaten on airplanes, I haven’t found the food that bad, but it’s also not gourmet either. But I rarely eat on airplanes nowadays, because if I’m flying a short distance, I don’t order food. I just wait until I reach my destination.

And one other interesting thing about flying is that, in the US, it’s actually quite common to talk to the person who you’re sitting next to, even if they’re a stranger. So, I’ve done this a couple times before. When I’m sitting next to a stranger on an airplane, they might make some small talk with me, and then, if we’re both interested in continuing the conversation, we might actually start talking. I don’t do this a lot, but I’ve done it a few times, I think. But this is fairly common in the US. You can kind of feel out the situation and see if the person next to you seems like they want to talk or not. And if they do, it’s perfectly okay to talk to that person. But I know in other countries, this would probably seem very strange, so I think this is a cultural difference.

So now, let’s talk about the fear of flying. This is one of the biggest factors when it comes to flying. In my experience talking to people from all around the world, I’ve found that a large percentage of people have a fear of flying. I don’t know the exact number, but it seems like a very high percentage. I don’t have a deep fear of flying, but I’m a little bit afraid. I fly a lot. I fly very often, actually… I would say probably five, six times a year, sometimes even more. But I fly a lot. And so, for me, I’m very used to it. It’s not a new experience for me, but I still get nervous during certain parts of the flight. So, even though I’m not very afraid, I’m a little bit afraid. So, I always think about the fact that I’m in a man-made machine and I’m flying very high over the earth, and when I think about that, it seems a little bit scary to me.

But when it comes to turbulence, I’m not that scared. So, if you don’t know what “turbulence” is, this refers to the experience where your airplane starts shaking when you’re in the sky. Usually, turbulence is very mild. Remember that the word “mild” means not intense. So, a mild salsa means a salsa that’s not too spicy, for example. Usually, turbulence is very mild. It’s nothing to worry about, and it’s really just a little bit of shaking. But sometimes, turbulence can get pretty heavy, and it can seem a lot scarier. I’ve only had one experience like this. It was actually earlier this year. It was the worst turbulence that I’ve ever experienced. People were screaming and crying, and it was really intense. But luckily, it didn’t last for too long, and everything went back to normal.

But I think after that experience with turbulence, everyone on the airplane was just waiting to be on land again. Everyone wanted the flight to be over because it was a really intense experience. So, I was a little bit afraid during that turbulence, but usually turbulence doesn’t bother me, and turbulence really isn’t anything to worry about. Airplanes are built to withstand turbulence. The word “withstand” just means to endure, like the word I taught you earlier. The airplane can deal with turbulence.

I’ve talked to several pilots, because I’ve had students who are pilots, and they’ve told me that the parts of the flight that are the most dangerous or the riskiest parts are the takeoff and landing. And in particular, the landing is the hardest part because there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration. Like for example, if the wind changes direction at the last moment, this can be very tricky for pilots. But in general, there’s nothing to worry about. And like I said, when you’re just cruising in the sky, meaning you’re just going at a normal comfortable speed in the sky… the word “cruise” means to just go at the same speed comfortably. When you cruise in the sky, when you’re just experiencing a little bit of turbulence, there’s nothing to worry about. I guess the only time you might worry is if the flight attendants are also screaming and crying. The flight attendants are the people that work on the airplane that serve you food and help you out. These are flight attendants.

Okay, lastly, I just want to make a note about low-cost or budget airlines as we call them. Nowadays, you can actually fly for very cheap if you fly with a budget airline. I’ve done this a few times before, and the experience was actually very nice. There were no problems. So, on these flights, sometimes they have restrictions about how much baggage you can take. So, the word “baggage” just refers to the suitcases that you have. So, on some of these flights, you have to take the minimum amount of baggage if you want to get the really cheap price. If you add more baggage, then the price goes up.

So, I’ve traveled with several budget airlines, and I traveled with very little baggage, so I didn’t need to pay extra. And I also didn’t have any free food on the flight. I had to pay extra if I wanted food during the flight. So, that’s one other thing to consider. But overall, it’s very nice. It’s a good experience, and I definitely recommend it to people. Budget airlines are a great option nowadays.

Alright, I think I’ll end there for today. Hopefully this episode was interesting for you, and hopefully you learned some new vocabulary. I’m sure you did. So, remember that you have the transcript available in the Episode Notes, so you can access it there. Also remember to sign up for our one dollar Listening Practice Seminars at polyglossa.com and make sure to share this podcast with anyone else who might find it useful, and help this podcast grow. Okay, thank you for listening to this episode and I hope you’ll come back for Episode 34 of the Listening Time podcast.