English Listening - Planning a Vacation
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Welcome to the Listening Time Podcast.

Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 202 of the Listening Time podcast. I hope you're all doing great and that you're ready to practice your listening comprehension in English.

I hope you have enjoyed the different episodes you've listened to so far. I hope some of you have listened to all 201 episodes so far. I don't know if people always listen to all the episodes from episode number one until the most recent episode or...

If a lot of people find the podcast and then start listening to the newer episodes, it

I kind of wonder that, but I'm sure there are people who do both. But I hope that you find this podcast helpful for your English listening practice. And in today's episode, I want to talk about planning vacations. This is a fun topic. I think everyone loves talking about vacations and traveling and all of that, so...

This will be a fun one. And everyone is different in terms of how they plan their trips, how they think about the different elements of their vacation. So I'd like to talk about my process of how I plan trips and my style of

how I like to go about this. And I've probably mentioned some of these things before in other episodes, but this will be an episode dedicated entirely to this topic. So I hope you like it. And for those of you who find this podcast pretty easy, if you can understand me comfortably without using the transcript, then...

then it's time for you to try out the advanced podcast episodes. If you become a Listening Time family member, you'll get two new advanced episodes every month in which I speak fast. So if you want that, go down below and click on the link to sign up

And I also encourage you to go check out my U.S. Conversations podcast, in which I talk to other native speakers from all around the U.S. about all kinds of topics. It's really interesting and educational, and it's a lot of fun. I sometimes talk to family members as well, but

But usually I talk to different English teachers from around the country. So you'll definitely want to check that out. That link is also down below. All right, let's get started. Are your ears ready? You know what time it is. It's listening time. Okay, let's talk about planning vacations, planning trips. So the first thing I want to talk about is planning.

how I decide on the actual place where I'm going to travel to. This is the first thing that needs to get settled. You need to know where you're going to go before you do anything else, probably. So for me, I

there are probably three main factors involved in this. So my desire, like where I have the desire to go,

the price, how much it's going to cost me, and the feasibility. If something is feasible, this means that it is realistic to do. It is definitely possible and realistic. So feasibility is the other factor.

Is this a feasible trip? Is this something I can realistically do with my situation, my family dynamics, and all of that? So hopefully these three factors...

for the most part, and usually there will be a little bit of sacrifice probably in one of these three areas. Like maybe there's a place that I really want to go and the price is...

a little bit expensive for maybe this time period, but it's a feasible trip. Like maybe it's not too far. It's something I can do easily with kids. So I might sacrifice a little bit on the price because the desire is there. The feasibility is there. So at least,

Two of these three things need to be there. Hopefully all three, or maybe there's a little bit of sacrifice in one of the areas. So for example, Japan, I really wanna go to Japan.

This is one of those countries that I just hope I can visit at some point in my life. So the desire is definitely there. However, the price, the cost of the trip is very high. So that is something that will make it hard. And the feasibility...

is maybe not there either because that's a really long flight. It's longer than even just...

going to some other countries that are outside North America, so it's far it's probably harder in terms of doing it with children and Maybe the language. I don't think that that's a huge impediment for me, but I'm just

adding up all the different factors. Uh, I think just overall, it seems like a trip that's a little harder to take, at least with my situation. I think if I were alone, it might be different, but given my current situation, it's not the most feasible trip. So because, uh,

The price and the feasibility are not great. I'm probably not going to go to Japan anytime soon.

However, another example might be the Chepe train in Mexico. Probably the only people who know what I'm talking about are the Mexicans listening right now. But there's a pretty famous train ride in Mexico that I would like to take. I would like to go on this train and take that trip.

And with this one, the price is okay. It's not super expensive and it's not too far so the flights aren't that hard to find. They're not too expensive.

There is some desire, like I want to do this, but it's not the thing that I'm dying to do right now. But I would like to do this at some point. The feasibility, eh, whatever.

In terms of getting there, it's probably okay, but I have kids and it's a train ride with these different stops. It seems a little bit off the beaten path, as we say. You kind of have to go places and do things that aren't just the normal eating

Easy things that all the tourists do so the feasibility is maybe Okay, I don't know so with this trip. I'll probably postpone that for a little bit because it's not what

most desire to do right now, and the feasibility might be an issue. I don't know. I have to do more research. But that would be another example. And then one other example is the trip I took last year, actually just a few months ago, to Puebla and Mexico City. And

The desire was there. My wife and I definitely wanted to go to these places. The price was okay, not super cheap, but okay. And the feasibility was okay. There was nothing that was really difficult about this trip, like physically or with kids. The flight was short. We were able to get

get around pretty easily. So that made sense and we went on that trip. So that's kind of an illustration of, um, the criteria I might use to decide where I want to go, right? The desire, the price, the feasibility. Unfortunately, most places around the world, uh,

cost a lot of money to get to from the U.S. So the price and maybe the feasibility are usually big factors here that prevent me from going to more places, unfortunately. The desire is not a big issue. I kind of want to go everywhere, but some places I obviously want to go to more than other places.

I'm not going to lie, you're slacking. You're slacking on starting that business you've been holding off on. It's just living in your head. And if you don't act now, that idea is going to leave or maybe someone's going to take that idea. And there's a tool that I personally use and that is Shopify. You don't need to be a web designer. You can just start

Moving, zooming in, adding the text you need, adding pictures you need. And Shopify has so many templates you can use from. Get it out of your head and onto a website with Shopify. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand, open for business, and get your first sale. They make it easy to manage growing your business. They help with details like shipping, taxes, and payments from one single dashboard, allowing you to focus on all the important stuff like growing your business. With Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think.

Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash sonoro, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash sonoro to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash sonoro. Okay, the next thing is finding flights. So what I use if I'm not going somewhere in Mexico is,

is the website Skyscanner, but there are other ones. I think they're called aggregators, right? Where they scan all of the offers that are available from all the different airlines and they show you the different offers. They show you the cheapest ones, the direct flights. They show you all the different flights from the different companies and

and you can put in your criteria and your dates and all of that. So it's really easy to compare different flights, different dates, different destinations with a website like Skyscanner or something similar. And I'm usually pretty flexible with dates because I'm not an employee myself.

I don't have to go places only when I have vacation from my job. So I don't get all the benefits that employees get. I don't get health insurance and paid vacation and all these cool things.

But one thing that I do have being self-employed is flexibility and freedom. So I can travel basically whenever I want. So that's pretty cool. And I use Skyscanner to compare different dates, destinations, airlines. That really helps. And I don't like layovers.

A layover is a stop that you have to make in a city that is not your final destination. So I don't like layovers, especially with young children. So what I do is I book direct flights. I do not book flights with layovers. However,

There are some places where you can't go directly from your city. So if that's the case, then I prefer to create my own layover that will allow me to actually enjoy the city where I have to stop. For example, the first time I went to Europe,

back in 2017. This was a huge trip, like five weeks. I had very little money. It was a super irresponsible thing for me to take that trip. I think I ended that trip with almost zero dollars left in my bank account. Like it was a really irresponsible thing, but I took a five week trip to Europe and

And I first flew directly to New York City and spent two nights there. And then I flew to Paris from New York City and spent two nights there.

And then I flew to Portugal and went around Portugal and Spain, which were the two countries that I actually intended to travel to. So I created my own little layovers in New York City and Paris, but I actually enjoyed these layovers. I actually spent a couple nights in these cities. So...

That's not the same as having a layover where you're

You're just in the airport and you're stressed about your first flight being delayed because you will miss your second flight. I hate that stress. So I would prefer to give myself more time and create my own layover if necessary where I stay one night, two nights, maybe even three. Who knows? It depends on the trip.

I haven't done this much. I've only been to Europe twice, so I'm not speaking as someone who has traveled to very far places many times. No, but the couple times I went to Europe, this is what I did, and this is what I might do if I go again.

And in terms of flying, I like flying cheap. It's harder to do that now with kids because you need more comfort and you need to buy extra tickets. But what I do is I pack minimally, meaning I don't pack a lot.

And I usually do laundry when I travel. For some of you, that might sound crazy. Like, why would I ever want to do laundry on vacation? But it can save a bunch of money, especially if you're traveling with your whole family, because maybe you can avoid paying for luggage. Maybe you can just have fun.

a carry-on bag and you don't need to document any bags. You don't need to check in

any of your bags so you can get the cheaper ticket. So, uh, the, the disadvantage, the con is you got to do laundry, but, uh, you might save a lot of money. That's what I prefer to do. So I often fly with budget airlines, meaning those low cost airlines, but they're

beware because you get what you pay for. If you're not willing to take the risk of having a horrible experience with a budget airline that doesn't treat you well, if you're not willing to do that, then don't fly on a budget airline. Trust me, I've had terrible experiences with these low-cost airlines. That's just...

part of the game. If you don't want to pay a lot of money, you run that risk. So I will probably do this less as I get older because I don't like dealing with these problems. But if there's a trip I really want to take, but it's expensive and the only

the only way I can do it is flying with a budget airline, then I'll take the risk. So that is my philosophy when it comes to flying. Next, how about hotels or Airbnbs, accommodations? So nowadays, I kind of balance price and comfort.

I sacrificed comfort just to get the best price. And I stayed in backpacker hostels and the cheapest Airbnbs. And I had some okay experiences, some good experiences, but also some bad experiences. So it's just like the budget airline point that I made. If you...

stay at really cheap places, you run the risk of having a bad experience. So if you're not willing to run that risk, then don't do it. But nowadays, I

I prefer a little more comfort, so I don't want to just be in the cheapest place, especially if I'm with my kids. So I have to balance the two, but I never go just for comfort. I never pay a huge premium just to get the really comfortable, luxurious hotel room. I've never done that. So I'm

I don't think I ever will probably. I will balance the two. I will balance comfort and price now, but I'm never going to pay a bunch of money to stay in a nice hotel room, I think. I definitely want to save money where I can. And I also consider the location, of course. So

I want to be close or somewhat close to the area where I'm going to be spending most of my time, the area where you can walk around. Of course, it's really expensive to stay right in the middle of the cool area, but I like to be somewhat close to that area.

that nice area where I'm going to spend time in that city. Right. So, um, those are the things I consider. I always read the reviews of the places where I'm going to stay just to be sure that there's no major issue. So I read the reviews. Uh, I'm not going to stay in a place with horrible reviews. So I,

I pay attention to those and I try to balance all of these things because obviously the highest reviewed places are probably going to be more expensive. So maybe I don't want to pay that much, but I don't want a place with bad reviews. So you get my point. I've got to balance all these different things.

I'm not going to lie. You're slacking. You're slacking on starting that business you've been holding off on. It's just living in your head. And if you don't act now, that idea is going to leave or maybe someone's going to take that idea. And there's a tool that I personally use and that is Shopify. You don't need to be a web designer. You can just start.

Moving, zooming in, adding the text you need, adding pictures you need. And Shopify has so many templates you can use from. Get it out of your head and onto a website with Shopify. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand, open for business, and get your first sale. They make it easy to manage growing your business. They help with details like shipping, taxes, and payments from one single dashboard, allowing you to focus on all the important stuff like growing your business. With Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think.

Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash sonoro, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash sonoro to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash sonoro. How about activities? When it comes to planning my activities, I'm going to be talking about

I don't just do things because they're the things that everyone does and the things you're supposed to do. Like, if you visit this city, you have to do this. You have to do that. I'm not like that. I don't necessarily feel that pressure to go to the place that everyone is supposed to go to just because.

I want to do the things that I want to do. I don't want to waste my vacation doing things that I'm just supposed to do. So in terms of planned activities or things we pay for, we tend to do things that we really want to do. For us, we really like

picturesque places. So a lot of the things that we want to do are free because it just involves going to a certain place that is very picturesque, meaning it's really beautiful. It looks like a postcard. You have beautiful scenery around you, whether that be a city landscape or the countryside or whatever. Um,

We like that. So, uh, that's good because oftentimes that's free. And I really like walking. This is my favorite thing. I just walk for fun. Even here. Um,

where I live. Uh, so I love walking and of course, especially in new cities that I'm discovering. And this is cool because it's free and I get to do a lot of sightseeing and I get to, uh, just, uh, take everything in. As we say, I take it all in meaning I absorb it and just, uh,

let myself kind of feel the environment. And I love doing that. I love spending hours walking around the city,

I walk a lot, many miles when I'm traveling. So this is my favorite thing. And I actually plan where we'll walk. So I read blogs online that talk about the nicest streets in the city, where you should walk in these different cities. And

I draw this out on a map or mentally I do this and I memorize where we're going to walk. And I kind of lead my wife or whoever I'm with, uh, and walk around these different streets that, uh, are really nice to walk around. And, uh,

I have a lot of fun planning this and going on Google Maps and going into the street view mode and seeing what the streets look like just on my computer. So I plan out my walks even, and some of you might think that that's weird, but I

I love walking. I love planning that type of thing. So I do that. But I do plan other activities like maybe museums or things like that as well. But like I said, I'm not going to do it just because I'm supposed to do it. That's the thing everyone does. No, I'm only going to plan to do things that I actually really want to do. And

And I think you should do the same. I think you should do the things you want to do and not the things that everyone tells you that you should do if you're in that city, right? And food is a huge thing for me. I've talked about this before. This is like one of the top two things for me. If I am planning a trip and that place isn't known for good food, right?

There must be some other really good reason why I'm going to go there because five,

food for me is like the thing that draws me to different countries, different cities. Uh, and I can have fun in a city that's not very beautiful if it has fantastic food. So I plan this out in advance. I find different restaurants I want to eat at. I, uh,

at blogs and different websites and make lists and map these places out to see which ones we can do on which day, where they all are. And I love that. I love reading reviews of restaurants and

noting down specific dishes that I really want to try and finding which restaurant serves the best version of that particular dish and going there. So I love this. This is one of the funnest things for me about planning a vacation. Like I said, for me, food is huge. And I know for some of you, this

This isn't the case, and I've traveled with people before who don't really care that much about food. So I know that not everyone cares a lot about this, but this is a huge thing for me. I've said that word huge several

many times already because I'm emphasizing how important that is for me. I'm someone who really enjoys trying food from different places and I'm not a picky eater, meaning I'm not demanding. I don't find things gross. Like I like every food in the world almost like 99.9% of every food I've tried. I like so

So you can imagine that this is really fun for me when I travel to different places and discover new foods that I've never tried before because I already know I'm going to like this food. So that's one of the biggest reasons why I love traveling. And lastly, how do I schedule my individual days? Well,

I usually have like one or two things planned for each day. Like I say, okay, I definitely want to do this on that day and maybe this other thing on that day too. But I like to allow for a little bit of spontaneity, right? I want us to be able to improvise a little bit,

it and not have a super strict plan. I think for me, that's best. If I have a general plan with some main things that I want to do on certain days and when I

I'm not doing those things. I can also improvise and be spontaneous and decide that same day or the day before what I want to do the next day. So I plan my days, but allow for spontaneity, I think. And I

I love waking up early when I'm on vacation. I know a lot of you don't agree with me on this one, but I like waking up early so that I can take full advantage of the day and of the daylight, especially if I'm traveling during fall or winter when the days are shorter. And so I usually wake up early and try to do a lot of

earlier in the day. I'm that type of person. And one other thing to think about is meal times. So for us, we probably do two big meals a day with like a third lighter meal, let's say. So, um, we, uh, plan our day around our meal times as well. And we're flexible with that, uh,

in terms of meals, I'm very flexible. So that's kind of easy. I can change that depending on what we're doing that day. So at the end of the day, I don't really have to stick to a meal schedule, but of course we're,

we kind of have a general time when we eat our meals. So we kind of plan around that if we can, or if not, we adapt. So I think that's kind of an overview of how I plan my trips. I think I went into detail there and

I don't know if some of the things I do sound strange to some of you. I'm sure they do. Or maybe some of you are similar to me in terms of your style of traveling. I don't know. But I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope it was good practice for your listening. And I want to remind you to check out my advanced podcast episodes to practice with English spoken fast. It

If you can already understand me well in these normal episodes, it's time to start with those advanced episodes. So the link to sign up is down below and check out my U S conversations podcast, P

People usually love it when they listen to the different conversations that I have with other native speakers from around the country. It's really interesting. It's a lot of fun. I learn a lot about other parts of the U.S. while I'm talking to these different people from different parts of the country. It's cool. So check that out. The link is also down below.

All right. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. And I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.

Moving, zooming in, adding the text you need, adding pictures you need. And Shopify has so many templates you can use from. Get it out of your head and onto a website with Shopify. Shopify makes it simple to create your brand, open for business, and get your first sale. They make it easy to manage growing your business. They help with details like shipping, taxes, and payments from one single dashboard, allowing you to focus on all the important stuff like growing your business. With Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think.

Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash sonoro, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash sonoro to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash sonoro.