Путешествие - Travelling. Руденко Т.П. - 67 стр.

traveller fails to do so some strict measures could be taken by the authori-     3. Bad flying experiences begin on the ground, naturally. One American
ties including imprisonment (in some countries) or payment of a consider-          airline managed to double-book an entire 747, but this is nothing com-
able penalty.                                                                      pared to what happened on an internal flight on a certain African airline.
       When these formalities have been completed the passenger goes to            The flight had been overbooked three times. The local military sorted the
the Customs for an examination of his / her luggage.                               problem out by insisting that all passengers with boarding cards should
       As a rule personal belongings may be brought in duty-free. If the           run round the plane twice, the fastest getting the seats.
traveller has nothing to declare (s)he may just go through the ”green” sec-
tion of the Customs.                                                             4. An overbooked flight that was going from Heathrow to America gave
       In some cases the Customs inspector may ask you to open your bags           one traveller a bit of a shock. Dressed only in trousers, shirt and socks, he
for inspection. It sometimes happens that a passenger’s luggage is carefully       had been allowed by the stewardess to leave the aircraft to see if he could
gone through in order to prevent smuggling or due to anti-terrorist meas-          get a colleague aboard. He returned a few minutes later to find the 747
ures. After you are through with all customs formalities the inspector will        closed up and about to start moving – with his shoes, wallet, passport and
put a stamp on each piece of luggage or chalk it off.                              luggage inside. Banging frantically on the door got him back inside.

2. Do jigsaw reading. Split the text so that two of you read one piece of        5. A similar event was seen by a businessman on a flight from Bangladesh.
   the text below to share the information with your partners later in             Passengers were waiting for take-off when there was sudden hysterical
   group discussion. In your group decide which of the travellers’ stories         hammering on the door. At first the cabin crew paid no attention. The
   you think is the most horrific / crazy and explain why.                         hammering continued. When the door was finally opened, the pilot got in.

                           Traveller’s Tales                                     6. One frequent flier lost a certain amount of confidence when the cabin
                                                                                   staff asked him to sit in the lavatory during take-off, so that they could
1. Every year a magazine called Executive Travel organizes a competition           occupy the seats nearest the emergency exit. Another lost faith in the pi-
  to find the Airline of the Year. Travellers from all over the world are in-      lot’s navigational skills when passengers were given lifeboat drill on a
  vited to vote for the most efficient, the most punctual, the safest and the      flight between London and Manchester.
  friendliest airline. The winner in 1985 was British Airways. The competi-
  tion asked travellers what for them was most important from an airline,        7. For nervous fliers, a journey to be avoided was one between Gatwick
  and the results were as follows:                                                 and Montpellier, where the in-flight entertainment consisted of watching
 Punctual departures and arrivals                              35%                 pieces of the engine falling off. Another passenger was asked to hold the
 Attentive cabin staff                                         35%                 aircraft door closed at take off and landing.
 Comfort                                                       18%
 Safety                                                        9%                8. Baggage is a rich source of horror stories. There was the unlucky travel-
 Good food and wine                                            3%                  ler who left Chicago in minus-23 weather. He was going to an important
                                                                                   meeting in Dallas, where the temperature was 80-plus. Unfortunately his
2. The competition also invited travellers to tell their most horrific stories
                                                                                   suitcase had gone to LA, where it spent the next two days. The customers
  of the nightmare side to international travel.
                                                                                   he was trying to impress were more than a little surprised to see him go-
  Replies included six hijacks, fifty-three cases of engine failure or trouble
                                                                                   ing round in a thick suit, heavy overcoat and fur hat.
  with the landing gear; eleven lightning strikes, twenty-three bomb scares,
  thirteen cases of food poisoning, eleven near misses and two collisions
  with airport trucks.

                                     133                                                                              134