Summer is here and you need to take a vacation! Conversations about your time off from work with friends, family and colleagues are likely to come up during these hot months. Everyone relaxes and takes a break in a different way.
Perhaps you like to spend your vacation at home relaxing with friends and family or watching Netflix, in the mountains camping or backpacking, at the beach sipping a refreshing drink or in a large city visiting museums and going to night clubs. This is a fun topic that most people are very enthusiastic about, so let’s make sure you have the words and phrases you need to describe your experience.
What are your plans for your summer vacation? (future tense questions)
· When do you have vacation?
· How long are you on vacation?
· What are your plans for the summer?
· What are you going to do/see on vacation?
· Are you going somewhere for vacation?
· Who are you going on vacation with?
· Where are you going?
· Where do you want to go?
What kind of vacation do you like?
Beach (ocean)
· swimming
· sun tanning
· playing beach volleyball or paddle ball
· surfing
· paddle boarding
· barbecuing
Outdoors (mountains, lakes, rivers):
· camping
· hiking (trekking)
· rafting
· backpacking
· zip lining
· water skiing
City
· sightseeing
· visiting museums
· touring the city
· staying in a hotel or hostel
· shopping
· partying or going to the clubs
What did you do on your vacation? (past tense questions)
· Did you enjoy your vacation?
· What did you do for vacation?
· What was your favorite part about your vacation?
· Where did you go on vacation?
· How was your vacation?
· How long were you on vacation?
· Who did you go with?
· Did you go with your [family, friends, wife, boyfriend, etc.]?
More ways to talk about your time off
· “go on vacation” or “take a” vacation: go somewhere or do something during time off
o I’m going on vacation in two weeks.
o I took a vacation a month ago.
· “book” a vacation: make a reservation (i.e. hotel room, plane ticket, city tour, etc.)
o I booked a vacation for the first week in December.
o I’m going to book a vacation in Dubai in September.
· “stay in one place”: remain in one location for a certain period of time
o We’re going to relax and just stay in one place during our Europe trip.
o I stayed in one place when I was in Dubai.
· “take a day trip”: go on a journey, travel or visit a place and return home that same day
o My friend and I went on a day trip to Valparaiso.
o We’ll be taking a day trip to celebrate the New Year.
· “take a long weekend”: take a three or four day vacation over the weekend
o It was so relaxing to take a long weekend last March.
o I’m going to take a long weekend in December.
· “go sightseeing” or “do sightseeing”: visiting famous places in a city or country
o I went sightseeing in Dubai on my vacation
o I’ll do some sightseeing when I take my vacation in Paris.
Describe your ideal Vacation
· My idea of a good vacation is…
· My dream vacation would be…
· I prefer to…
· I’d prefer not to…
· I would like to…
· I hope to…
· I’d rather…
· I don’t like…
Do you want more travel vocabulary and phrases? See our blog about air travel vocabulary and our blog about requesting and giving travel advice.
Written by: Monica Jones