A journey you once made that was delayed

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 596 with Model Answer:

Describe an important journey you once made that was delayed.

You should say:

• when it was
• where you were going
• why the journey was delayed

and explain how you felt about it.

[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:

This is such a nice topic to talk about, and thank you so much for the opportunity to let me talk about it. Well, for this topic, I’d like to talk about an important journey I once made that was seriously delayed, and it’s something I still remember quite clearly. Back then, it was such a negative experience, but retrospectively speaking, it was not so bad!

This happened about two years ago when I was travelling to another city for a very important job interview. I had planned everything carefully because the interview was scheduled early in the morning, and being late was simply not an option. I chose to travel the night before so I could arrive relaxed and prepared.

Unfortunately, luck was not on my side, and the journey didn’t go as planned. I was travelling by bus, and halfway through the trip, the vehicle broke down on the highway. At first, the driver said it would take just a few minutes to fix the problem, but minutes turned into hours. To make things worse, it was raining heavily, and there were no nearby facilities or clear information about when we would be able to continue. You can now understand my frustration and anxiety about the whole situation!

The delay lasted almost three hours, and during that time, I was extremely stressed. I kept checking the time and doing mental calculations, wondering whether I would still reach my destination on time. I felt frustrated, anxious, and honestly quite helpless because there was nothing I could do except wait. In the end, we reached the city very late at night. I was exhausted, but thankfully, I still managed to attend the interview the next day.

At that time, the experience was so stressful, and I was so worried. It was unexpected, and I had an important job interview to attend to. At the time, it was nerve-wracking, but now it’s just one of those journeys I’ll never forget, and it does not seem so bad after all.