FEATURES

9a Holiday stories
Everyone has a story to tell about a holiday
9b A different kind of holiday
Interview with an adventure travel tour guide
9c Two sides of Paris
Two different views of the world’s most famous city
9e Requesting information
Write an email to request information
9a Holiday stories

Main contents
• reading: a holiday problem
• vocabulary: holiday collocations
• grammar: past perfect simple
• speaking: a holiday story
9a Holiday stories

OBJECTIVES:
•Acquire new words about holiday
•Develop reading skill: ordering events
•Use past perfect correctly to tell a story
•Tell a story about a holiday
 9a Reading Holiday stories

1 Have you ever had these problems or other problems on holiday?

What did you do?
• It rained all the time.
• You missed your plane / train / bus / ferry.
• The hotel wasn’t very good.
• You couldn’t find your bag at the airport.
• You got lost when you went sightseeing.
• Your family or friends couldn’t agree on what to do.

9a-p. 106
2 Read a story about a holiday. Why wasn’t the
tourist happy with her room? What did she do?
 Track 70
Holiday Stories
I was in a foreign country for the first time in my life. It had sounded amazing in the
brochure: ‘Enjoy seven days in one of the most beautiful cities in the world while staying at a luxury
hotel.’
I had been excited about the trip, but now I wasn’t so sure. I had waited at reception for fifteen
minutes before someone checked me in. And my room was small and dark, with a window looking
over a car park. I tried to be positive and I unpacked my bags. I decided to have a shower before
going sightseeing. However, the shower wasn’t working so I called hotel reception.
An hour later, an engineer arrived. He hit the pipes a few times. ‘Sorry, but I cannot fix it today.
Maybe, tomorrow.’ Then he held out his hand. He wanted a tip for doing nothing! I was furious. But
suddenly, I had a thought. He hadn’t fixed my shower, but I gave him the money anyway. Two
minutes later, I was at the reception desk. I explained the problem to the hotel manager and gave
him a very large tip.
Fifteen minutes later, I moved into room 405. It was twice the size of room 308, it had a wonderful
view of the city, a comfortable bed and, most importantly, there was water in the bathroom.

9a-p. 106
2 Read a story about a holiday. Why wasn’t the tourist
happy with her room? What did she do?

1. Because it was small and dark, it looked over the

car park, the shower didn’t work.

2. She gave a large tip to the manager and got a

better room.
 3 Read the story again. Number the events (a–i) in the
order they happened (1–9).
I was in a foreign country for the first time in my life. It had sounded
amazing in the brochure: ‘Enjoy seven days in one of the most
a gave the manager a tip beautiful cities in the world while staying at a luxury hotel.’
b arrived at the hotel I had been excited about the trip, but now I wasn’t so sure. I had waited
c the engineer looked at the shower at reception for fifteen minutes before someone checked me in. And my
room was small and dark, with a window looking over a car park. I tried
d gave the engineer a tip to be positive and I unpacked my bags. I decided to have a shower
e booked the holiday before going sightseeing. However, the shower wasn’t working so I
f tried to turn on the shower called hotel reception.

g called reception An hour later, an engineer arrived. He hit the pipes a few times. ‘Sorry,
but I cannot fix it today. Maybe, tomorrow.’ Then he held out his hand.
h moved to room 405 He wanted a tip for doing nothing! I was furious. But suddenly, I had a
i waited at reception thought. He hadn’t fixed my shower, but I gave him the money anyway.
Two minutes later, I was at the reception desk. I explained the problem
to the hotel manager and gave him a very large tip.
Fifteen minutes later, I moved into room 405. It was twice the size of
room 308, it had a wonderful view of the city, a comfortable bed and,
most importantly, there was water in the bathroom.
9a-p. 106
 3 Read the story again. Number the events (a–i) in the
order they happened (1–9).
I was in a foreign country for the first time in my life. It had sounded
amazing in the brochure: ‘Enjoy seven days in one of the most
8 a gave the manager a tip beautiful cities in the world while staying at a luxury hotel.’
2 b arrived at the hotel I had been excited about the trip, but now I wasn’t so sure. I had waited
6 c the engineer looked at the shower at reception for fifteen minutes before someone checked me in. And my
room was small and dark, with a window looking over a car park. I tried
7 d gave the engineer a tip to be positive and I unpacked my bags. I decided to have a shower
1 e booked the holiday before going sightseeing. However, the shower wasn’t working so I
4 f tried to turn on the shower called hotel reception.

5 g called reception An hour later, an engineer arrived. He hit the pipes a few times. ‘Sorry,
but I cannot fix it today. Maybe, tomorrow.’ Then he held out his hand.
9 h moved to room 405 He wanted a tip for doing nothing! I was furious. But suddenly, I had a
3 i waited at reception thought. He hadn’t fixed my shower, but I gave him the money anyway.
Two minutes later, I was at the reception desk. I explained the problem
to the hotel manager and gave him a very large tip.
Fifteen minutes later, I moved into room 405. It was twice the size of
room 308, it had a wonderful view of the city, a comfortable bed and,
most importantly, there was water in the bathroom.
9a-p. 106
4 When do people give tips in your country? How much
do they give?
 Vocabulary holiday collocations

5 Complete the sentences with these verbs.

1 go
I plan to ____________ abroad next year for the first time in my life.
2 book
When did you ____________ your holiday?
3 stay
We hope to ____________ at a hotel in the centre of the city.
4 check in
We need to ____________ at reception.
5 unpack
Let’s ____________ our bags and then go sightseeing!
6 call
Can you ____________ reception and ask someone to come and clean
the room?
give
7 Do you always ____________ the waiter a tip in this country?

9a-p. 106
 6 Match these verbs to the groups of nouns.

go
1 ____________ : on a tour, clubbing, diving
stay
2 ____________ : at home, on a campsite, out all night
book
3 ____________ : a table (in a restaurant), a flight, a ticket
rent
4 ____________ : a car, an apartment, skis
get
5 ____________ : twenty days’ holiday per year, sunburned, lost

9a-p. 106
 Grammar past perfect simple

7 Look at the grammar box.

How do we form the past
perfect simple?
had + past participle (e.g. been,
done, gone, fixed). Had is often
reduced to ’d in informal
English, especially when using
pronouns (e.g. I’d, he’d, we’d).

8 Answer the questions (a–b) for each sentence (1–2) in the grammar box.
a Which is the main action? Which action happened earlier?
b Which verb is in the past simple and which is in the past perfect?
a 1 main action: wasn’t sure; happened earlier: had been excited
2 main action: gave him money; happened earlier:
hadn’t fixed my shower
b 1 past simple: wasn’t; past perfect: had been
2 past simple: gave; past perfect: hadn’t fixed

9a-p. 107
 9 Read this conversation between two friends about a holiday.
Choose the correct options. Then listen and check your answers.
A: How was your holiday? Track 71
B: To be honest, I’m really happy to be home!
A: Why? What 1 happened / had happened?
B: Well, on the first day at the hotel, someone stole my bag at the reception
desk.
A: Did you catch the person?
B: No. He 2 ran / ’d run out of the hotel entrance, so it was too late. The hotel
3 reported / had reported it to the police, but I never got it back.
Fortunately, I 4 packed / ‘d packed my passport and money in a different bag,
so as soon as I 5 bought / ’d bought some new clothes I went sightseeing.
A: Great.
B: The rest of the holiday went well until the last evening. Suddenly there was
no electricity in the hotel. I went to find the manager, but she 6 left / ’d left
for the night. But luckily the assistant manager 7 had / had had some torches
and candles and all the hotel guests sat in the reception area and sang
traditional songs from their different countries. That was fun. In fact, that
8 was / had been probably the best night of the holiday!

9a-p. 107
 10 Complete the sentences with the past simple or the past perfect simple.

1 We landed late in London, so our connecting flight to Dubai

had left
_______________ (leave) and we had to stay at the airport hotel.
hadn’t arrived
2 When my sister reached Rome, her luggage _______________ (not arrive)
and she spent an hour at lost luggage.
went
3 The hotel hadn’t expected them until the evening, so they ____________
(go) for lunch while the hotel staff prepared the rooms.
hadn’t eaten (not eat) for hours, but we finally arrived in the city
4 We _______________
centre and found a restaurant that was open.
had lost
5 I realized I _______________ (lose) my passport as soon as I put my hand
in my pocket.
had
6 As soon as they had met their friends, they _______________ (have) a
wonderful time.
gave
7 We’d had a wonderful meal, so we _______________ (give) the waiter a
big tip.
had left (left also possible here) (leave) my passport at home by
8 I _____________________________
mistake, so I had to go back.

9a-p. 107
 Speaking

12 You are going to tell a story

about a holiday. You can invent
the story or it can be about
something that happened to
you or someone you know.
Prepare five sentences about it
using these ideas.
13 Work in pairs. Take turns to read your story to your partner and decide
if your partner’s story is real or not.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Here are some example sentences from a possible story:
My family and I went to Greece five years ago. When we got to the
airport, we realized we had forgotten our passports. Dad drove home
really fast and got the passports. The holiday was great until we
decided to rent a car for the day. We’d just visited an ancient
temple when we heard a loud noise. Somebody had driven into our
car!
9a-p. 107
9a Wrap-up

• reading: a holiday problem

• vocabulary: holiday collocation
• grammar: past perfect simple
• speaking: a holiday story
 9a Review
Choose the correct option to fill in the blanks.
A: How was your holiday?
B: It was fine, in the end.
A: Why? What 1 ____________ (happened/ had happened)?
B: Well, when we 2 ____________ (arrived/ had arrived) at the hotel they were full and so
we 3 ____________ (didn’t have/ hadn’t had) a room.
A: Oh no! Why 4 ____________(did you book/ hadn’t you booked) the hotel?
B: I had! But someone 5 ____________ (made/ had made) a mistake with the reservation.
Anyway, they 6 ____________ (got/ had got) us rooms in another hotel, but it was in
another town.
A: So what 7 ____________ (did you do/ had you done)?
B: Well, I was really angry after everything that 8 ______________ (happened/
had happened), but the manager 9 ____________ (paid/ had paid) for a taxi to the other
hotel.
A: That was nice.