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Describe a journey that you remember well

IELTS Cue Card Question 12 With Model Answer:

Describe a journey [e.g. by car, plane, boat] that you remember well.

You should say:
  • where you went
  • how you travelled
  • why you went on the journey
and explain why you remember this journey well.

[You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]


Model Answer 1:
A journey is always pleasant to me. It not only gives us entertainment, it is helpful to teach over different unknown issues as well. The most important benefit of travelling is the excellent opportunity to gather knowledge. The knowledge earned in first hand experienced cannot be found on books or any other place. So, people like to travel and it a trend for a long past. But sometimes the journeys are not pleasant and the travellers have to undergo different unexpected situation during the trips.

Recently I have made a train journey and it was the most thrilling event in my life as I have never ridden on trains before. I went to join at the marriage ceremony of one of my intimate friends who has passed his childhood days with me. The area where the friend is getting married is at the farthest part of the country and requires trains to reach there.

Fourteen of our childhood friends planned to reach the village marking the marriage and accordingly we bought fourteen train tickets for the purpose. My friends and his family members had started for the village earlier before our journey. On the planned night of the journey, we got out of home reached the railway station to catch the train. But interestingly the train was half an hour late due to an accident on its way to the railway station. We all rode the train and finally, the journey at night on a train begins.

It was the most thrilling experience in my life I have ever made so far. It was highly enjoyable to me due to the nature of the journey. I used to hear experiences of people attentively when they described their experiences about the train journeys but could not ride on a train due to different reasons. So, when the other childhood mates made the plan, I was the only one of them who jumped out of joy.

The journey is truly substantial one for me. It was a moonlit night when the train started and my seat was just beside the window. I looked at the full moon and it appeared that I am floating on the heaven with a great speed. The trees were passing us fast and the illuminated distant localities appeared like stars to me, shining on the large sky. The deep emotions that I felt on the night journey are inexpressible.



Alternative Answer 2: 
Well, the journey I still remember very vividly is the one I took to Nha Trang, a coastal resort city in southern Vietnam, where my sister lives with her husband. It was probably early February 2014 when I got a call from my brother-in-law that my sister has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. We were expecting the baby a few days later but that was indeed a very good news as this was the first baby in our family and both the mother and child were doing fine as my brother-in-law informed me.

I immediately returned home from my university to give this wonderful and happy news to my parents. My parents were quite excited and they planned to visit the newborn and my sister on the following day. It was more than 10 hours’ journey and we started in the early morning next day.

We went to the local train station and luckily got three first-class seats on the train. I am very fond of train journey as it gives me the freedom to walk in different compartments of the train, read books pleasantly, enjoy the meal in the train cafeteria, buy books and magazines, use the lavatory if needed and enjoy the scenic beauty of the countryside, unlike the monotonous long bus journey. The journey was a very pleasant one and I finished a book that I took with me. Besides, I read two magazines and a daily newspaper that I bought from the station. I specifically remember the journey because my parents were with me and they also enjoyed being out of home after a long. The longing and waiting to see the new baby also made it a pleasant journey and a memorable one. My mother told me some stories of my childhood that she never shared with me before and my father told about his first experience on a train and that was so funny that we laughed quite loudly!

Idea Generation for this Cue Card: 

The model answer provided with this Cue Card could be followed to understand how you should answer this topic. However, it is advised that you use your own experience and sentences to answer any cue card topic. Following are some of the ideas that you can borrow and match with your own to properly answer the questions.

Some of the other journey types that you can talk about as an answer to this Cue Card topic: 

  • A journey you took to visit a famous tourist spot in your country. 
  • A journey to a foreign country.
  • Your first experience of walking a long distance. 
  • A mountain hiking. 
  • An expedition or a tour you took while you were in school. 
  • A journey you made by boat.
  • A journey to a remote area of your country. 
  • An experience when you visited one of your relatives. 
  • A tour you took recently. 
  • Your experience of visiting a new city. (Focus on the journey, not the city.) 
  • A journey you made with your friends. 
  • A journey that took unusually long time. 
  • A journey when something unusual happened. 

While answering the cue card topic, always focus on the accompanying questions. Focus more on the fourth question and give more details about this.
  

Part 3: Details Discussion:


Reasons for daily travel

Q.  Why do people need to travel every day?
A.  People need to travel in their everyday life for a large number of reasons. The most important thing is their job – they need to attend their office and thus they need to travel using different transportation mode. But not only the service holders, people of all strata in a society needs to travel for many other purposes. They need to shop, need to visit relatives, friends or others for important matters, need to go for learning at schools or educational institutions and many other issues.

Q.  What problems can people have when they are on their journey, for example, to work or school? Why is this?
A.  A few troubles may occur during their travel to school or office and the most common trouble is the traffic congestion on a busy road. It mostly happens when the traffic rules are violated, vehicles are parked on here and there on the roads, non-motorized vehicles occupy the important streets, and mostly the narrow roads where the traffic is large. It is also responsible for the law violation competition among the public vehicle drivers, pedestrians crossing the roads etc. These are the common problems and the regular commuters are to adjust to the situation.

Q.  Some people say that daily journeys like these will not be so common in the future. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
A. After passing a certain time, daily journeys will not be necessary but that should be applicable in some specific areas. When online presence is required for a formal meeting, someone does not need to be physically present there. If you work digitally, you always do not need to be at your workplace and there is no travel required. But if you are driving your own car, you cannot do that sitting on your writing desk at home. So, I partly agree that in near future journeys will be reduced for the advancement of the technology.


Benefits of international travel  

Q.  What do you think people can learn from travelling to other countries? Why?
A.  Travelling to a foreign country is one of the best ways to learn about that country and gain direct knowledge. When travellers are on a foreign trip, they try to get information about the culture and customs of the specific geographical location. They also do not miss the foods of the nation, visits the popular spots, ride on the common vehicles get pictures and have much fun. In fact, they learn about the country by their own attempt which is unavailable on books.

Q.  Can travel make a positive difference to the economy of a country? How?
A.  Definitely, travel can bring a positive change in the economy of a country. When the travellers go for a trip in a foreign country, they spend money on their desires. As a result, the travelling spots’ economy gets boosted. For instance, if you are travelling in France, certainly you will buy the miniature model of the Eiffel Tower for your collection. If the tourists start buying the miniatures, its demand is on the rise, then its production will also go up and the production requires employment, while the employed people will have a decent living with the wages they get and thus the economy of the entire locality will go up. It is happening for your travel in the country.   

Q.  Do you think a society can benefit if its members have experience of travelling to other countries? In what ways?
A.  A society could be benefited if the travelling experiences are used in a proper manner. When the travellers will return to their native lands, they may share their experiences with their families or in any formal or informal discussions. As a result, the knowledge is shared. The travellers may establish a profitable model that they have seen in their foreign trips and that could employ people or the models could be used for the benefits of the society. They can also find some exemplary social works in foreign countries and might start practising that. Thus the knowledge and experience the travellers gather from their visit to others countries can positively contribute to establishing a better society in their home country.

If you can comfortably talk about this topic, you should be able to talk about the following Cue card topics as well:  
  • Describe journey you recently had.
  • Describe an exciting journey or tour you remember well.
  • Describe a long journey you have had.
  • Describe a time when you visited a village.
  • Describe a tour you really enjoyed.
  • Describe a train journey you have had.
  • Talk about a journey that was too long.
  • Describe a tour you had when you were a teenager.

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