Which is better? Staying in our own country or travelling abroad on holiday?

Although I can understand why some people think we should find out more
about our own country, I think it’s better to go abroad.
I realise that there are many interesting and beautiful places I have not seen or
been to in my country. Tourist may have seen more than I have! And of course,
it’s more important to know about the country where you live and where you
were born. It is also a lot cheaper to have a holiday in your own country and can
sometimes be less stressful than going abroad.
However, in my opinion, it is very good for people to travel to different countries
as much as possible. In addition to seeing new types of scenery and spectacular
sights, you can meet people who have a different way of life.
In today’s world it is very important for us to respect people from other cultures
and I firmly believe that travelling to these countries is the best way of doing
this.

Everyone needs a break but while many people choose to spend their holiday
time in another country, others prefer to stay and explore their own. I have to
admit that I belong to the second group.
Firstly, a holiday abroad can be very expensive, especially for a big family. You
need to pay for accommodation and travel which can both cost a great deal.
There is also holiday insurance to consider which I think is more important
when you travel abroad. In contrast to this, a holiday in your own country is
likely to be much less expensive and stressful.
Secondly, people often do not realise that there are lots of different beautiful and
interesting places still to visit in their own country. Many people say that they
like to go abroad to learn about different cultures but in fact, even in a small
country like England, the people who live in different areas have different
traditions, food and even ways of speaking!
Although I can see the attractions of going abroad, in my opinion there are
definitely more benefits to travelling around your own country.

Most people today spend a lot of time communicating with their friends online
or by phone, but is it better to have a face-to-face conversation? Personally, I
think it depends on several things.
Firstly, it depends on why you are communicating. For example, if you just want
to make an arrangement or give someone some information then it is easier and
quicker to email, text, or make a quick call. On the other hand, if you want to talk
about something serious or important, it is probably better to actually meet up.
Secondly, you have to think about how much time you have. If you’re on
facebook or another social networking site, you’ve probably got lots and lots of
friends. It’s impossible to see all of them! So, you have to rely on the internet or
your phone.
Finally, for me, it depends how close your friends are. I have a couple of very
good friends and I like to go out with them regularly and spend time with them.
Seeing them face-to-face is very important.
So, to conclude, I would say that both types of communication are good but for
different reasons.

Many people today prefer to spend most of the time with their friends instead of
their family, but don’t you think that spending time with your family is also a
very important part of your life? Personally, I think both groups deserve our
same company.
Firstly, I would like to begin by saying that there are many different activities
that we can do with our friends but not with our family. For example, with
friends we can go to nightclubs to have a great time at the weekend, or maybe
plan a party at home. On the other hand, with our family we can have family
reunions and invite relatives to keep up to date.
Secondly, it is sometimes difficult to spend time with our family because of work.
There are a lot of families in which most of their members work, and for that
reason we prefer to meet up with friends and spend most of the time with them.
Work is one of the main reasons why we separate from our family.
Finally, I think that it is important that we have friends to have a good time with,
but we do not have to forget that our family need to feel that we care about them
and that we want to spend some time with them, after all, they are a very
important part of our lives.
To conclude, I would say that both family and friend are a significant part of our
lives. So, we need to make both groups feel that we want to stay with them.

Hi, Suzanna!
I’m looking forward to the school reunion next week! Are you coming? I hope so!
I’m so happy that our old school organises such an exciting event. I remember so
much about our school days! I am out of touch with some of our old friends now,
so I can’t wait to talk to everyone face-to-face about what they are doing these
days.
The party starts at seven o’clock, so if you like; I can pick you up after I finish
work at six. Let me know!

I LOVE MY MOBILE PHONE

I just love my mobile phone and I spend hours every day texting friends and
chatting on the internet. My parents think I waste too much time playing around
on my phone while I should be doing more important things like schoolwork!
But I go online to look things up and it’s really helpful talking to my friends
about what we’re doing at school. My parents don’t agree with me, though! My
favourite app is the music app. I’ve got all my music stored on my phone so I can
listen to my favourite tracks quietly when I’m in bed before I go to sleep. It helps
me relax. I also love taking photos on my phone, which I share with all my
friends on Facebook. I’ve got loads now – I just can’t seem to have plenty. It’s like
my own personal photo diary of my life.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A HOLIDAY REP? READ ON...

My name’s Angela and I’m a holiday rep. I love my job and it is the best way to
make friends with people from all over the world. Holiday reps are responsible
for making sure that the customer has a fantastic holiday. As a rep, you
represent the holiday company you are working for, so above everything else,
you have to be friendly, sociable, and believe in yourself. You also need to be
able to deal with all kinds of situations and if you’re impatient or like regular
working hours then this isn’t the job for you! In addition, you have to be ready to
go anywhere in the world – you don’t get to choose where you work. For
example, one month you might be in the south of France and the next in South
America!
You need to be at least eighteen to become a rep and although formal
qualifications aren’t necessary, getting a basic certificate in travel and tourism
(like I did) will always be useful because there’s a lot of competition for jobs. It’s
not as easy as you might think to get a job in the travel industry. It’s helpful if
you can speak other languages, especially French or Spanish. I only speak
English, so I didn’t really expect to get a job – but I did! It helps if you travel a lot
yourself too. I didn’t have much chance to do that before I became a rep, though I
do have a good knowledge of where places are in the world.
There are a few ways you can find work as a holiday rep. Newspapers and travel
magazines often advertise positions. And don’t forget the internet, which is
probably the most useful source of information! Travel companies send out
application forms to people who are interested in working for them – read the
form carefully and make sure your application stands out. If you do get an
interview, remember, you must answer questions truthfully – you’ll quickly get
found out if you pretend you can speak Greek or are familiar with a country
you’ve never even heard of! One thing you should avoid is saying you want the
job to get free holidays! It sounds silly but you’d be surprised by how many
people actually say that.
There are lots of cool things about being a holiday rep. The pay isn’t the best in
the world but in my opinion the benefits of the job are worth far more than the
pay packet. You get to see some amazing places and the people are fantastic – I
keep in touch with a lot of the costumers I look after. The nightlife with the other
reps and customers can be fun too, if you get on with them! You get free
accommodation as a rep. Don’t be too excited about this – I’m staying in a tent in
my current job, which isn’t the most comfortable place to stay! You also get a
uniform but the greatest thing of all for me is that you get to use the facilities in
the resort you’re working at – brilliant if there is a swimming pool or tennis
courts because you don’t have to pay to use them.

As we get older, we go to different schools, begin new jobs and even start
families. We meet a lot of different people and make new friends all the time, so
usually our social network includes people we have met at many different times
in our lives. But are the oldest friends really the best?
For some people, I think this is true. The reason I say this is because these
friends know you better than anyone else. They have shared important
experiences with and sometimes they know you better than you know yourself.
Because of that, they can give you really good advice.
However, this is not always the case. Someone may have known you very well in
the past but that does not mean that they know you well now. Perhaps, you have
both changed. This is especially true if you have been out of touch for a while.
For me, the best friends are the ones you can rely on to give you support and tell
you the truth. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve known them for ten months or
ten years.

ADVERTISING CAN HAVE A BAD INFLUENCE ON YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY

There is no doubt that advertising is an important part of our lives today.
Posters are bright and colourful and TV commercials can be very clever and
entertaining to watch. As well as this, magazines and newspapers depend on
advertising to survive and, of course, without advertising we wouldn’t know
what to buy, however, in my opinion; advertising can cause a lot of problems.
First of all, advertising encourages us to want things that we do not really need
and can’t afford. In my view, this causes dissatisfaction and envy.
However, for me, the biggest problem with advertising is the effect that has on
children. Advertising campaigns that are aimed at children make them think
about money and buying things from a very young age. Kids put pressure on
their parents to buy more and more things. They start to think that having the
most recent designer clothes makes them a more important person to their
friends.
On balance, I think that we have to accept that advertising will always be with
us. Nevertheless, we should try to protect children as much as possible. They
need to learn that people and relationships are more important than brands.