Talking about a Journey

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Speaker 1: It was the first time I’d been back to Paris since my university days, when I’d visited an old friend, Lauren. We’ve lost touch now, and I’m not sure she’s still there. Besides, what with having to organise the meetings, refreshments and all the accommodation arrangements, I probably wouldn’t have had time to socialise anyway. The conference room being double booked didn’t help either, let me tell you. That meant quite a lot of extra running about that left little time to be bored. Hopefully, though, next time I go back, I’ll be able to get out and about more, and see some sights. I do think I’ll try and establish contact with Lauren again, though.

Speaker 2: I had considered it a great opportunity to catch up with an old buddy. I had a few days off work and we hadn’t seen each other for years. We both work in sales and are quite busy in general, but at this time of year business can be a little slow. It was all quite last minute, if truth be told, and the tickets were cheap and there was no predicting such a freak storm at my end. What with the delays and all, by the time I landed in Munich my next flight was already in the air. Of course it was too late to cancel everything so I decided to make the most of being in a new city and turned it into a little sight seeing trip.

Speaker 3: I’ve always had an amateur interest in robotics, so when I heard about the exhibition I decided I had to go. It’s really big business nowadays, and all the experts in Europe would be there so it was a great opportunity to learn something new. I looked into flying initially, but that was beyond my means, and I was thinking of counselling. But then a friend put me onto a car sharing where you find someone going to your destination and share costs. A great deal I thought. But when I saw the state of the vehicle I must admit I can’t say I was optimistic. In actual fact we barely made it to the border before the trouble started.

Speaker 4: Speak of four. Since moving abroad, I haven’t been able to see friends or family so often. So when my sister decided to tie the knot, I thought I’d better book a flight and catch up with everyone. The fact that my passport had expired caused an initial panic as obviously without that I’d never get through customs or out of the airport. Fortunately, the embassy were really helpful and issued me with an emergency travel document in no time. The time difference was a real pain for a few days and it took some time to adjust. But by the day of the ceremony I was back to normal, had a wonderful day, and I even bumped into some old friends I hadn’t seen in ages.

Speaker 5: Me and my friends have been meaning to go for ages. So when we saw that this year the festival was taking place just over the border, we thought we’d make a trip out of it. One of my friends even knows somebody who lives in Berlin, who offered us his floor to crash on, so costs were minimal. So we were on the train and about halfway there when we got the message that he had to leave town for a funeral. He was very apologetic and all, but of course with such a big event in town everything was fully booked. It’s not the first time I’ve slept in a train station, but hopefully the last.