The Business of Travel

I. Before You Read

While people travel, they contact with many people who help (or, sometimes, disturb!) them during their journey. Now try counting the people you might meet on your way starting with the moment you have made up your mind to make a trip. Then, finish the list with your actual arrival at your place of destination.

Who are those people? Describe their professions and duties. Are they all necessary?

II. Read the text.

Between the office and the hotel shower, a business traveler coming abroad comes into contact with some twenty people. Try counting. Starting at the airport there is someone to check you in – and maybe someone else to ask you security questions – someone to search you when you set off the alarm at the metal detection arch and another, to greet and serve you in the lounge. There’s the aircraft cabin staff, customs and immigration officials, a taxi-driver, someone at the hotel check-in. And so the list goes on.

In the future, however, trips will involve much less human contact. It will begin with airline and hotel reservations being made by voice recognition. Your secretary will then check you in and select a seat for you using a digital interactive television. A desktop printer will produce your boarding card, and a driverless train will take you to the airport. Once aboard the aircraft you will enter your request for a drink using a seat-arm screen and keyboard – and a robot trolley will come along with it.

At immigration control, your face will be checked automatically against information stored in a microchip on your identity card. In the hotel lobby you will check in at a touch-screen kiosk, where you can tap in any special requirements.

During your trip, your headquarters might send you an e-mail asking you to divert from Atlanta to Cincinnati. You plug in your laptop computer and tap into a programme which provides details of your hotels and flights and allows you to make reservations without picking up a telephone.

Far-fetched? Not a bit of it. These developments may not all become common practice, but if they are not being tried out already they have all been the object of serious consideration.

An equally serious consideration for the travel industry, however, is how much its customers want to avoid human contact. Research carried out by British Airways indicates that they are ambivalent. A spokesman says: “When we asked a business traveler to describe the ideal, the answer was: I want to be able to walk completely freely from the taxi – or my car – to the aircraft, carrying my boarding pass and with hand baggage only. But the second I click my fingers, I want a member of the customer services staff to be there.”

By Roger Bray

from the Financial Times

1. Train your reflective mind! Answer the questions:

1. Does the phrase “human contact may become part of history” make you feel scared?

2. Do you like dealing with machines, for instance, when you take money from the bank? Or do you prefer human contact?

3. Are you happy about the fact that many human jobs now are being replaced with machines? Who, in your opinion, benefits from this process and who suffers?

4. How do you feel about the implantation of chips to make certain checking procedures faster and easier? Would you easily agree to have a chip implanted in your body?

5. In the article, a business traveler said that the second he clicks his fingers, he wants a member of the customer services staff to be there. Is clicking your fingers an acceptable way of calling someone?

6. Do you believe that in the nearest future trips will involve much less human contact? Are you looking forward to it?

2. Vocabulary Questions

1. If you are ambivalent about something, is it clear what your opinions are?

2. If something is far-fetched, is it common?

3. If you divert from Atlanta to Cincinnati, do you go to Atlanta or from Atlanta?

3. Find the verbs in the first paragraph to complete these sentences.

1. If a barman prepares and gives you a drink, they ____________ you.

2. If a security official checks your pockets, they ____________ you.

3. If the person behind the check-in desk says “hello”, they ____________ you.

4. When the customer services staff look at your tickets, weight your baggage and give you your boarding pass, they ______________ you ______________.

4. How to write these words – separately, hyphenated or together?

1. e m a i l

2. f a r f e t c h e d

3. d e s k t o p

4. s p o k e s m a n

5. s o m e o n e

6. t a x i d r i v e r

7. a i r c r a f t

8. t o u c h s c r e e n

9. a i r l i n e

10. c h e c k i n

11. h a n d b a g g a g e

12. b o a r d i n g p a s s

5. Match the words to build new word combinations:

1. immigration	a. the alarm
2. hotel	b. services
3. boarding	c. television
4. cabin	d. control
5. driverless	e. at the airport
6. to set off	f. arch
7. human	g. questions
8. digital	h. train
9. customer	i. check-in
10. to start	j. staff
11. metal detection	k. contact
12. security	l. card

6. Task for the most creative!

Draw a car and with the help of little arrows show all the parts of the car listed below:

1. bumper

2. wheels

3. tyres

4. bonnet

5. exhaust pipe

6. petrol cap

7. head lights

8. sidelights

9. number plate

10. boot

11. aerial

12. bodywork

13. wing mirror

14. windscreen

15. roof rack

16. radiator grille

7. Task for the smartest!

Which form of transport do you associate with each of the words and phrases listed below? Fill in a chart:

TRAIN:	CAR:	BOAT:	PLANE:
…	…	…	…

Transport Vocabulary:

1. set sail	11. quayside
2. a cruise	12. mid-air collision
3. traffic jam	13. departure lounge
4. a compartment	14. buffet car
5. bonnet	15. pull in
6. fast lane	16. charter flight
7. to indicate	17. to disembark
8. sundeck	18. express
9. commuter	19. bypass
10. take off	20. guard’s van

KEY:

Ex. 3. 1. serve; 2. search; 3. greet; 4. check you in

Ex. 4. 1. e-mail; 2. far-fetched; 3. desktop; 4. spokesman; 5. someone; 6. taxi driver; 7. aircraft; 8. touch-screen; 9. airline; 10. check-in; 11. hand baggage; 12. boarding pass

Ex. 5. 1. d; 2. i; 3. l; 4. j; 5. h; 6. a; 7. k; 8. c; 9. b; 10. e; 11. f; 12. g

Ex. 7. 1. boat; 2. boat; 3. car; 4. train; 5. car; 6. car; 7. car; 8. boat; 9. train; 10. plane; 11. boat; 12. plane; 13. plane; 14. train; 15. car; 16. plane; 17. boat; 18. train; 19. car; 20. train