Unit 1 - Travel like a geographer

2. Obstacles to travel
Barriers to Travel
• Take a moment to brainstorm the factors that might get in the way of travel or make travel more challenging as
you plan and execute a trip. You could also think about these as factors that persuade people to take one kind of
trip over another.

Time

Transportation Money

Barriers to
Fear travel Weather

Lack of Interest
Family

Health
Practice:
Identify the travel barrier influencing each decision

Cost time health weather

Lack of interest fear family

Barrier Situation
The Guptas have switched their vacation plans from a hotel in
Fear Miami to a northern resort because they read about a recent
increase in crime against tourists in south Florida

Beatta has to complete a business proposal and cannot take a

Time planned weekend trip to Vancouver

The Wongs decided not to take a vacation this year because of

Family the recent birth of their daughter

Kim twists her ankle playing on the school hockey team. She will
Health not be able to go on the school ski trip as planned

Nick’s parents give Nick a choice. He can either travel on the

school trip to Montreal or he can buy a new mountain bike. He
Cost can not have both

Kate turns down the opportunity to go on a camping trip to

Bavasi Park. She prefers not to miss a local soccer tournament
Lack of Interest planned for the same weekend.
The Language Barrier
• How many languages are you fluent in? Did you learn more than one language as a child?
• How many languages would you feel comfortable using while travelling? When travelling, language
basics are the most important. Being able to ask for a washroom, to say please and thank you, and to
get directions will solve most problems. If these are the criteria, how many languages would you list?
It’s important to remember that internet access is not yet widely available in all foreign countries -
sometimes you really do find yourself facing a language barrier.
• In fact, even when countries cater to English speaking tourists, sometimes the message is still ‘lost in
translation’.

Of course, if you aren’t fluent in the local language

(which will happen often if you travel
internationally), there is translation technology
available.
If you want to go low-tech you could try
something like this to help you get around:
• ICONSPEAK World Edition Travel Shirt -
Speak to everybody, everywhere!

1: Watch the following videos and write a reflection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byfg3FPj6dg&feature=emb_title

https://www.traveller.com.au/iconspeak-tshirt-travellers-tshirt-that-can-speak-in-any-language-using-up-to-40-icons-
gogyol

What is your opinion on this linguistic aid? Explain your opinion.

My opinion on this linguistic aid is good and helpful because it can help you communicate with
different people from the different countries.

2: What else can you do to overcome the language barrier when travelling in foreign
countries?

To overcome the language barrier when travelling in a foreign country you must download an
language app in order to speak or understand that language.
3. Perhaps a better question to ask when you look at this image is “As a traveler, what
language would you most like to learn?” Why?

As a traveler, the language

that I would love to learn is
French it is because if I
learn French then I would
be able to understand and
learn how to speak it
properly.

Put this activity in your portfolio