Travel companies and tour operators. (p.170)

 

Planning a Holiday

More and more people book a package holiday. The obvious advantage of a package holiday is that it’s simple to organize. You book the holiday through a travel agent and transport, insurance and accommodation are all arranged for you. All you have to do is pay the bill. If you take an independent holiday, on the other hand, you can spend a lot of time and a small fortune checking complicated timetables, chasing cheap flights, and trying to make hotel bookings in a language you can’t speak. What is more, package holidays are often incredibly cheap. For the price of a suite, you can have a fortnight in a foreign resort, including accommodation, meals, and air travel. A similar independent holiday, however, can work out much more expensive.

Yet the advantages of planning your holiday yourself are considerable. You are free to choose exactly where and when you want to go, how you want to travel, and how long you want to stay. You can avoid the large resorts, whereas holiday - makers on package tours are often trapped among crowds of other tourists. You can eat the food of the region at reasonable prices in local restaurants. Besides, although package holidays are usually extremely good value for money. They are not always cheaper. If you are willing to take a little trouble, you may be able to save money by fixing up a foreign holiday yourself.

Going through the customs

Nowadays traveling abroad is very popular.

While traveling abroad you have to go through the customs, sometimes several times.

As a rule, the customs officers check your passports and visas if they are required. When coming to some countries you may need a health certificate or a certificate of vaccination. If you have anything to declare, then you are to fill in the declaration form.

The customs officers may ask you to show your luggage to them. Usually articles for personal use and wear and also items and gifts are not liable to duty anywhere. If you are carrying much currency, you should also to declare it. If you are carrying weapons, you need a permit. Although some items are liable to duty, if you carry only a small amount of them, they are duty free.

Occasionally the customs officers may take some of your things for a more detailed inspection but usually they return them soon.

Do not try to break the customs rules and regulations because you may have a lot of troubles.

English Character

Foreigners have many ideas about what the English like. For example, some people say the English are always cold and reserved, this means that they don’t talk too much to strangers, and don’t show much emotion. A reserved person never tells you anything about himself. But the people of the North and West of Britain are much less reserved than those of the South and East. Some believe that English eat porridge for breakfast and read the Times every day. And, of course, the English themselves have plenty of ideas about what they are, such as being proud of having one of the oldest parliament in the world.

English people are famous for their habit of politeness. It is considered polite to give up one’s seat to a woman who is standing, to open a door for her, carry things for her, and so on. Most British people queue when they are waiting for a bus or train arrives, people often push forward to make sure they get on. This is called jumping in a queue. British people keep their old traditions and are very proud of them. They are famous for their sense of humour. English people show great love for animals. And, of course, English people are fond of sports. Many continentals think life is a game; the English think cricket is a game. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior. When they consider something unfair, they say, “That isn’t cricket”.

The traditional love of English people for tea is well known. They like to drink tea with milk. They have their five – o’clock tea not only at home or in offices, but also in tea –rooms and tea – shops, which can be found in every town.

A nation is born from its land, its history, its art, its traditions and its institutions. These things work together to make people what they are. But above all, a nation is made up of people, and although there are things they all share, all of those people are different. We can say there is still a “British nation”, and one of the most characteristic features of Englishmen is their traditions, which they respect, and which they have kept for centuries. The traditions don’t only accumulate the experience and wisdom of many generations, but they bring some stability into the rapidly changing world.

Transport in tourism

As for a tourist the fastest way and perhaps the most comfortable to travel long distances is by air. You can sit back and relax, read or even watch a video. Of course, you have to pay more money and run risk of being delayed. Some people hate to fly for fear of accidents. However, according to statistics it’s a safe way to travel.

Travelling by ship is often the cheapest means of travel. Unlike other means of transport, you have the chance to move around on or below deck. Large liners often have shops, TV lounges and restaurants so there is plenty to do. However, a sea voyage is the slowest way to get to your destination and should be avoided, if you suffer from sea - sickness.

Perhaps the most convenient way to travel is by car, simply because you decide when and where to stop. You have the freedom to organize your own timetable so there’s no danger of missing appointments. However, you may need somebody else to help share the driving, map reading and petrol money. There is also the possibility that the car will break down or you will feel travel sick.

A train journey is often the best way to see a country. You can sit back and enjoy the view or have a meal in the restaurant car. For long journeys, you can reserve a bed in a sleeping compartment. However, you may delayed, or miss your connection. It’s also not the fastest or cheapest way to travel.

Hawaii

Hawaii is a group of islands located in the centre of the Pacific Ocean. The 130 islands are of volcanic origin. Volcanoes on the floor of the Pacific grew as a result of eruptions and finally appeared as islands above the ocean surface.

The largest of the islands, Hawaii, lies at the south – eastern end of the chain and is almost twice as large as all other islands combined. One of the two active volcanoes, Mauna Loa is the world’s largest. Yet, the Hawaiian capital city, Honolulu, is situated not on the Hawaii but on Oahu Island. This island is home for 80% of the population and the most popular island with tourists. The second biggest city (it is on Hawaii)) is hilo.

Hawaii’s first contact with the West was not until 1778, when it was discovered by English explorer James Cook.

In 1959, Hawaii was made the 50^th state which was followed by the tourist industry boom.

Today about 900,000people inhabit seven out of eight biggest islands. By origin they are related to the countries of Asia, and the Pacific. Hawaiian culture reflects this ethnic mix and Hawaii has been described as a place where East meets West.

Everybody’s everyday speech on Hawaii contains some words from different languages spoken. Hawaiian “hello” is “aloha” while “mahalo” stands for “thank you”. Hawaiian words have many vowels and repeated syllables. They can be quite long, for the example there is a small fish called a humuhumunukunukuapuaa.

Hawaii together with Indonesia and other islands in the Pacific is the Placewhere one of the dialects.of English is spoken. It is Pidgin. It began in the 19^th century, as a kind of combinations of languages introduced first by the English sailors who needed to communicate with aborigines. They used simple words and repeated them several times. Thus, still “fellar – fellar” (from the English “fellow”) is used as “hello”. Teenagers now like to speak Pidgin as a slang.

 

Tourism in Ukraine

Ukraine is open to foreign investors, businessmen and tourists. It is one of the most active tourist regions. The country is situated between the tourist centres of Europe and the Middle East. Ukraine has good transport communications with them.

It is not secret for many developed countries of the world tourism is one of the main sources of national wealth. Ukraine is rich in historical and architectural monuments and there’s a lot to be seen here. According to UNESCO tourists are interested mostly in museum complexes in Kyiv, such as St. Sophia’s Cathedral, Kyiv – Pecherska Lavra, St. Andrew’s Church, The Golden Gates and others.

There are a lot of tourist firms and companies in Ukraine now. They offer numerous tourist group and individual routes practically to every corner of the country. They invite tourists to enjoy the sights of the Carpathian mountains and valleys, sunny beaches of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Tavria steppes and Polissya woods. Ukrainian companies cooperate with tourist firms all over the world.

Ukraine can offer different sanatoria for special treatment for those who suffer from digestive, kidney and nervous problems. Famous resorts such as Morshyn, Truskavets, Svaliava are well – known to many people.

Cruises along the Dnipro river to the Black Sea have become very popular recently. Cruise companies provide active holidays with professional meetings and also a good chance to see Ukrainian’s world famous sights.

Ethnic tourism has become especially important in Ukraine. Tourists of Ukrainian, German and Jewish origin regularly visit their ancestors, relatives motherland.

My Vacations

As for me, I don’t like crowds when I’m on holiday. I remember that when I was a small boy, we – my brothers and sisters and I – Always tried to get from other people. We always had our holidays on the coast. Sea and sunshine, that’s what we looked forward to every summer. We always went to a small fishing village on the coast. And if, when we got to the place where we usually bathed, there were other people there, we stopped and said, “Oh, we can’t bathe here today: somebody’s got here before us!”

Today people seem to like crowds. If you wish to meet and make friends with as many people as possible, so go to the seaside hotels.

Hotels at the seaside towns on the south coast, such as Hastings, Brighton, are expensive. It would cost you, probably, for the two of you, at least fifty dollars a week. July and August are the two months when hotel rates are highest. But if you want to meet lots of English people, you might like to go to a holiday camp. That doesn’t mean sleeping and eating in tents. The kind of a holiday camp I mean is nothing like an army camp, or the kind of the camp that Everest climbers live in. Holidays in England are permanent buildings, with every modern convenience and comfort. There are wooden cabins with good beds, electric light, running hot and cold water. There are two large buildings – a dining hall, a large hall for dancing, a cinema, a theatre, a bar, a café, rooms for games such as billiards. In fact, there is, in the camp, everything you want. The camp usually has its own swimming – pool and tens – courts. Some camps are large enough for a thousand people; others take a much smaller number. A camp of medium size takes about five hundred guests

The USA