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Lisa's week: Up, up and away
Do you like flying? Or are you similar to me and like it less and less as you get older?
I’m not really sure but I have the feeling that when I was younger, it was an entirely more glamorous, special thing to get to fly somewhere. Somehow it made me feel very extravagant or even a little sophisticated. I suppose that’s connected to the fact that it was so much more expensive way back when - in the days before cheap airlines, rock bottom prices, global tourism, more disposable income and an ever “smaller” world.
I was late to the game, with my first flight at the age of nearly 11 when my grandparents took me on holiday to (what was then) Yugoslavia. I remember being in awe of the whole process and loved every second of it. And while I’m not an extensive traveller compared to many, I have to say that I think I have certainly had my share of flights – short and long haul, business and pleasure, alone and with others, economy and business class, and of course, regular and low-cost airlines.
When I first arrived in Germany, the cheap airlines were just taking hold, but the idea of online booking and shopping around for a cheaper flight was not at all as easy as it is today. I remember it was horribly expensive to book single tickets and I sometimes bought multiple tickets months in advance to get the cheapest rate. I would combine an outbound ticket to the UK from one complete ticket and match a return ticket from another complete ticket to get the best possible prices! It was always a complicated process but it worked for me then, although I’m relieved it’s much easier these days.
New, low-cost airlines seemed to be starting every week and smaller, more remote airports popped up at quite a rate. I had a choice of many airlines to get to Birmingham International Airport and at that time flew “home” four or five times a year.
Over the intervening years, the cheap airlines have been swallowed up, gone out of business or reduced their destinations, and Düsseldorf/Birmingham is not exactly the tourist route that so many of them concentrate on! It’s a business flight to be honest or just people like me – popping over from one country to another for a few days.
Why am I telling you all of this then? Well, last week I really did just “pop” back to the UK for a really quick, 24-hour visit and it got me thinking that I needed to share some of that experience with you. Travel vocabulary can be useful for business trips as well as holidays, and hurtling towards the summer holidays as we are, I often find myself talking about this type of vocabulary in lessons. However, I realise that I’ve gone on long enough for a start. I will save the rest for another episode of Lisa’s Week – perhaps in a fortnight.
No! Not next week.
I’m sure my regular readers will understand why and what I’ll be talking to you about next time.
And you can be sure, I’ll be waving my Union Jack and scoffing a scone or two. Tune in next week to find out all about it!
What is Lisa's week?
"We’ve (hopefully) been entertaining you so far with the meaning and background of a weekly English idiom and now we’ve decided to expand that a little to give me the chance to share some details that come my way in my daily life as a Business English teacher. I hope to find weekly tidbits of information and experience to tell you about such as British traditions that I (or we) celebrate, or typical mistakes made when speaking English, or even some of the funny things I come across in my daily life. We hope that you’ll enjoy the insight into the life of a Brit in Germany!"
Episode 1: The Queen's 90th birthday
Episode 2: What did you do last Sunday?
Episode 3: What's the best way to answer?
Episode 4: The sound of London
Episode 5: Not just a last resort
Episode 6: Quick tip of the week: advice vs. advise
Episode 10: Quick tip of the week - Are you watching or just looking?
Episode 11: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Episode 12: Don't forget to take you handy to the public viewing!
Episode 13: Up in the Highlands
Episode 14: Quick tip of the week - "Popular" false friends
Episode 16: Through the tunnel
Episode 18: Quick tip of the week - Rise vs. raise vs. arise
Episode 19: How do you say that?
Episode 22: Can you change a fiver?
Episode 23: Grabbing some "me time"
Episode 24: Typical Mistakes (part 1)
Episode 26: Quip tip of the week - Fell vs. fall etc.
Episode 27: Things that go bump in the night!
Episode 28: Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpower, treason and plot
Episode 29: What's that badge you're wearing?
Episode 31: What are you thankful for?
Episode 32: Where's the larget Christmas Market outside Germany or Austria?
Episode 33: What's behind the door?
Episode 34: The joy of a Christmas cracker!
Episode 35: Does it all fit on the table?
Episode 36: Seeing in the New Year
Episode 37: How are your resolutions going?
Episode 38: Quick tip of the week - "Popular" false friends - part 2
Episode 39: What will the Year of the Rooster mean for you?
Episode 42: I'll have mine with sugar and lemon juice, please!
Episode 43: The joy of golden daffodils
Episode 44: To correct or not to correct, that is the question
Episode 45: The whole world's going green!
Episode 46: Idiom of the week - Raining cats and dogs
Episode 47: The joke's on you!
Episode 48: Left over from the Middle Ages!
Episode 49: More calendar food-based ponderings
Episode 50: We use German words too
Episode 51: Celebrating St George
Episode 52: The perfect start to the day
Episode 53: The tiny apostrophe is actually something big (part 1)
Episode 54: The tiny apostrophe is actually something big (part 2)
Episode 55: The tiny apostrophe is actually something big (part 3)
Episode 56: Holiday season is coming!
Episode 57; ‘Tis the season (of Bank Holidays) – part 1
Episode 58; ‘Tis the season (of Bank Holidays) – part 2
Episode 60: Harry Potter turns 20
Episode 61: Quick Tip of the Week - live, life, live
Episode 62: Oh I do like to be beside the seaside
Episode 63: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
Episode 64: Stick a stamp on it!
Episode 65: Idiom of the week - Water under the bridge
Episode 66: I say QWERTY, you say QWERTZ
Episode 67: Doing your homework and making mistakes! (Part 1)
Episode 68: Doing your homework and making mistakes! (Part 2)
Episode 69: Joking around in Scotland
Episode 70: The first day of school
Episode 71: Let's go down to the Wiesn!
Episode 72: Celebrating language
Episode 73: It's a Harry thing!
Episode 74: My favourite time of the year
Episode 75: TED-Ideas Worth Spreading
Episode 76: Grinning like a Cheshire cat
Episode 77: Enjoying the downtime
Episode 79: Do you need anything from the Hight Street?
Episode 80: Just another few minutes!
Episode 81: Counting the cards on my shelf.
Episode 82: What sign are you?
Episode 83: Great if you have a sweet tooth
Episode 84: It's an acquired taste!
Episode 85: New Year's Resolutions
Episode 86: Quick Tip of the week - go/come & take/bring
Episode 87: My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose
Episode 88: Once in a blue moon
Episode 89: Learning by Listening - part 1
Episode 90: Learning by Listening - part 2
Episode 91: This is the travel news!
Episode 92: The "Beast from the East" hits Western Europe!
Episode 93: The flu hits Lisa's Week
Episode 94: Spring forward and fall back
Episode 96: Quick Tip of the Week - prepositons of time
Episode 97: Perfect for dunking!
Episode 98: Part of the family
Episode 100: Happy Anniversary to me!
Episode 101: To all the mothers out there
17.05.2018