Describe a car journey you made that took longer than expected

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 593 with Model Answer:

Describe a car journey you made that took longer than expected.

You should say:

• where you were going
• who you were with
• how you felt during the journey

and explain why this car journey took longer than expected.

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

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Model Answer 1:

Thank you so much for this opportunity to let me share an experience I had during a car journey that took far longer than I had expected. It was a trip from my home in Toronto to visit some friends in Montreal, which should have been a simple drive of about five hours. However, things didn’t go as planned.

I was heading to Montreal, a beautiful city in Quebec, to visit a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I was really excited about the trip because I had been planning to catch up with them for some time, and I was looking forward to a weekend of good food, sightseeing, and great conversation.

I was driving with my younger brother. He and I often take trips together, so I wasn’t too concerned about the drive. We get along well in the car, and we usually have some great conversations along the way. He was just as excited as I was about the trip, so we were in high spirits when we started the journey.

At the start, the journey was fine. We were both in good spirits, the weather was perfect, and the playlist was just right. But as the hours went on, we started to get a little bit anxious. The drive, which should have taken us about five hours, started to stretch out into something much longer. We were still enjoying the road trip, but we were also starting to feel the strain as time passed. The excitement of the journey began to wear off, and we started questioning how much longer it would take.

The journey took longer than expected for a couple of reasons. First, there was some unexpected roadwork on the highway that slowed us down significantly. We weren’t aware of it ahead of time, so we ended up stuck in traffic for nearly an hour. Then, about halfway through, we encountered a rather severe storm that caused us to drive at a much slower pace. Heavy rain and poor visibility made it difficult to go at the speed we’d anticipated, and it felt like we were crawling along the highway. We also had to stop a few times because of the weather and to refuel, which further added to the delay. As a result, what was supposed to be a five-hour drive ended up taking almost eight hours, and by the time we arrived, we were both exhausted.