AEE 2596: Derailed Plans? How to Connect About it in English

Summary

All Ears English Podcast: Episode 2596 Summary
Derailed Plans? How to Connect About it in English
Date: April 8, 2026
Hosts: Lindsay McMahon & Aubrey Carter

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Episode Overview

In this lively and practical episode, Lindsay and Aubrey continue their two-part series on discussing unexpected changes to plans—especially travel plans—and how to express these mishaps in natural, idiomatic American English. The hosts share personal stories, teach key vocabulary and expressions for describing ruined or altered plans, and give actionable tips on maintaining a positive outlook when things go awry. This episode is especially useful for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to sound more fluent and nuanced when talking about real-life mix-ups.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why Plans Get Derailed

• Life is unpredictable: family, work, health, and travel "always have something that can throw off our plans" (03:07)
• Traveling is particularly prone to unexpected changes—knowing how to talk about it helps form connections and craft great stories

Judging Character by Flexibility

• When traveling, the way someone reacts to plans going off the rails “tells you a lot about who they are,” says Lindsay (03:32)
• “Before you marry someone, you must travel internationally… and see how they treat people, how patient they are.” - Lindsay (03:50)

Articulating Disrupted Plans: Core Vocabulary

1. Upend (04:28)

• Literal and figurative use; "turn upside down" or “ruin”
  • Example: “The storm upended our vacation.” (04:28)
  • More dramatic, less common; using it signals strong English skills or playfulness
  • “Are you trying to upend my plan?”—implies sabotage (05:05)

2. Derail (05:46)

• From trains: means to stop progress, ruin plans
  • Example: “Budget cuts derailed the project.” (06:02)
  • “When I got sick, our plans got totally derailed.” (06:11)
  • “That derails the whole trip… what a bummer.” (06:16)

3. Torpedo (07:25)

• From explosives; means to intentionally ruin
  • “This relationship isn’t working out, I think I’m ready to torpedo it.” (07:31)
  • Business: “They torpedoed the deal.” (08:12)
  • Aubrey notes: “Torpedo is often about intentionally ruining something.” (14:22)

4. Throw a Wrench Into (something) (08:20)

• A favorite of Lindsay’s; idiomatic and vivid
  • “She was late, which threw a wrench into our plans.” (08:43)
  • Missed connections, lost passports, etc.
  • “A wrench always gets thrown in. Something happens that throws things off.” (08:37)
  • Great for storytelling, relatable to all travel experiences

Real-Life Examples and Role Play (11:39)

• Lindsay and Aubrey act out a conversation using all key expressions:
  • “That storm totally upended the whole thing.” (11:59)
  • “I got sick… plans got totally derailed again.” (12:10)
  • “Fate really threw a wrench into your trip.” (12:17)
  • “I had tried to torpedo it when we first booked.” (12:20)
• They discuss the emotional responses: sometimes people are secretly glad for canceled plans!
• Emphasis on variety: "You would need a different verb, you can't use the same one to share. Then this happened, then this happened. You need these different ways to say it." - Aubrey (13:39)

Making the Best of It

• Lindsay: “There is such a thing as overbooking your life... sometimes it’s nice to have an excuse to rest.” (12:43)
• Aubrey: “When things go wrong, this is going to make a really good story someday.” (15:07)
• Glass-half-full attitude, see mishaps as chances for growth and connection

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Before you marry someone, you must travel internationally…see how they treat people, how patient they stay." – Lindsay (03:50)
• "Are you trying to upend my plan?" – Aubrey explaining a rare but impactful verb (05:05)
• "Queen or king for sure. Or when negotiations stalled, they torpedoed the deal." – Lindsay (08:05, 08:12)
• "A wrench always gets thrown in. Something happens that throws things off." – Aubrey (08:37)
• “When things go wrong, this is going to make a really good story someday.” – Aubrey (15:07)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• 02:04 — Personal stories about derailed plans
• 03:32 — Judging character by flexibility while traveling
• 04:28–09:38 — Introduction and explanation of core vocabulary (upend, derail, torpedo, throw a wrench in)
• 11:39–13:39 — Role play using all the featured expressions
• 14:53 — Results of listener poll on bad hotel stays/mishaps
• 15:07 — Perspective shift: seeing mishaps as stories

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Tone & Takeaways

• Friendly, fun, and full of real-life references
• Core message: Focus on "Connection, not Perfection." Use vivid language to express life’s little disasters, laugh about them, and turn mishaps into memorable stories.
• Practical for travelers, ESL learners eager for authentic conversation skills, and anyone who knows plans don’t always work out.

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Final Thoughts:
Plans go off the rails for everyone, and being able to talk about it fluently, with expressive, native-like vocabulary, not only boosts your English but helps you connect and bond with new people—especially when swapping travel disaster stories!

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Related Episode:
Check out Business English Podcast Ep. 547 “Don’t Let Homophones Upend Your Vocabulary” for part one of this vocabulary series.

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Practice Tip:
Try telling a recent story of derailed plans using at least two of these key verbs or idioms for richer, more engaging storytelling in English!

Transcript

[A]

This is an Allers English podcast. Episode 2596 Derailed Plans. How to connect about it in English.

[B]

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash, subscribe.

[C]

Do you love to travel? You know that when you think you have the perfect itinerary, something always goes wrong.

[B]

But that's okay.

[C]

Okay. If you know how to talk about

[B]

the experience, it can make a great story.

[C]

Learn more today.

[A]

Who are you in your native language? Confident, funny? Opinionated. Now, who are you in English? If you feel smaller, quieter, or less expressive, that's not because you're bad at English. It's because fluency is tied to identity. When you're unsure, you hold back. And when you hold back, people don't see the real you. You don't need perfect grammar. You need clarity about what is holding you back. In just two minutes, you can discover your English level and what's slowing your progress for free. Go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore that's allersenglish.com flu e n c Y S C O R E.

[B]

Hey there, Aubry. How's everything going today?

[A]

I'm great, Lindsay. How are you?

[B]

Good. So I have a question about plans. Making plans. Do you feel like sometimes your plans get derailed?

[A]

Yes. This happens to me a lot lately because my brother is in town for the winter. He does an art show here and we'll make plans, but I always have to stay flexible because often at the end of the day, he'll have someone interested in a painting and he'll need to do a home show to go and, like, show it in their home to see if they want to buy it. And if that's happening, that takes priority over our plans. Text and say, just kidding. We need to reschedule. So I know it's always. Often plans are going to get derailed depending on his schedule.

[B]

Oh, no. Yeah, that can happen. Oh, that's not good.

[A]

It's good news, though, right? That it's like potentially a big sale for him. So I just have to know, like, yeah, no problem. Let me know.

[B]

Nice. Nice. Yeah. I mean, this is part of life, right? Especially when you have a lot of factors Going on family, work, you know, social life. Maybe there's traffic going on, a lot of traffic in your city.

[A]

Somebody maybe gets sick. Right. You never know what's gonna come up.

[B]

Yeah. So this is part two of a two part series. What was part one?

[A]

Yeah, Stay to the end for details. The first word we're talking about today was highlighted in part one, which is appendix. Upend, Gave up in an episode. It's an interesting verb. So we're going to cover that one and other ways that we talk about plans getting changed, thrown off.

[B]

Yes. And this is why I feel like you learn a lot about someone when this happens, especially when you travel it. Oh, yes.

[A]

When you travel.

[B]

Because that's a good point.

[A]

When we're traveling, like, things don't always go according to the plan. We have to stay flexible. And some people handle that better than others.

[B]

That's why I feel like before you marry someone, you must travel internationally in a country where they don't speak any English. Like any version of English. Absolutely.

[A]

See how they treat people, how patient they stay, are they able? Absolutely. That's great advice.

[B]

That's good advice for sure. All right, so let's. So we'll talk today all about how you can articulate this. When this happens, what do you do? How do you act? Or when did it happen to you in the past? Right. This is what we're getting into.

[A]

Connect about. Right. When this happens, people want to talk about it. When plans get ruined. Yeah, you can take.

[B]

It can be some great stories that can come up. Right. Depending on what happens. So start us off today, Aubry.

[A]

All right, so first we're talking about this verb, up, end, which means to turn upside down, literally. Or we often use it figuratively when it means ruin. So for example, the storm upended our vacation. It's kind of a dramatic big word to use. It just means ruined.

[B]

It can happen. I mean, on the east coast, we get these nasty hurricanes over here, Right. Or, well, I'm not there anymore. But on the east coast, especially like North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, they get crazy hurricanes.

[A]

And it can literally upend a house, a whole community. And it's definitely upending plans, both literally and figuratively.

[B]

That could have been a little bit of a pun there. Right. But we've had some really devastating ones for sure, so. Or you could say, are you trying to upend my plan? Now, this is asking someone if it seems like they're trying to sabotage what you're trying to do. Right.

[A]

And this is interesting because this word is less common In English, for sure. You're more likely to hear like, are you trying to ruin my plan? Or my plans. Right. So if someone is to use upend, they probably have a pretty good vocabulary, but they might be also doing it sort of playfully to emphasize the ruining of the plan. Right. Are you trying to upend my plan? There might be, like a reason they're using this vocabulary.

[B]

Yeah, for sure. That's fun.

[C]

Or derail.

[B]

Now, typically when we think about the word derail, what do we think of?

[A]

Yeah, it's literally. It's about like a train coming off of its rails. A train can derail, but we also use it figuratively. It just means to like stop progress. Or again, ruin.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. So budget cuts derailed the project. Maybe in the business world.

[A]

Yeah, we use that a lot. Or when I got sick, our plans got totally derailed. Right. Just means they were ruined. They had to be changed. Yes, for sure.

[B]

Sometimes you might get sick on vacation. Right. And that's really a bummer that derails the whole trip. Gosh, what a bummer. And what if you're going to something that's like a once in a lifetime thing?

[A]

Yeah, it's tough if you have to miss. And that does happen. Right. I remember a friend of mine went to see Oklahoma. On Broadway and it was. I can't think of his name. That was. What's his name? He was also on X Men as like Wolverine.

[B]

Oh, I don't know.

[A]

He has like the big chops. Anyway, he's also a singer and it was a big deal that he was going to be on Broadway. And they went, they paid, they went to New York and I don't know if he was sick, but there was an understudy the day they were there, they were devastated. Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman.

[B]

I knew it would come to me.

[A]

You know, our listeners at home were like, yelling Hugh Jackman. At their ipod players.

[B]

They knew.

[A]

But anyway, like, totally de. Really ruined their Hulk. That was the whole reason they went was to see Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma.

[B]

Yeah, and it's not cheap to go to New York and get Broadway tickets, get a hotel and all that stuff. Wow, that's not good.

[A]

It happens.

[B]

It happens. And sometimes we can use the word torpedo. Now, this is more rare, but really fun.

[A]

It is fun. It's definitely exaggerating. Right. So of course we have a literal torpedo, which is like a rocket that would explode. We use this as a verb and it means to ruin, often intentionally. Right. So, for example, this relationship isn't working Out. I think I'm ready to torpedo it. And that would mean I am going to, like, blow it up. I'm going to do something that's going to end it.

[B]

Yeah, not good. Oh, my gosh. Maybe go to therapy.

[A]

Yeah, right. It sounds very. Just a very dramatic person. They're going to torpedo their relationship.

[B]

Queen or king for sure. Or when negotiations stall, stalled. They torpedoed the deal. Yeah.

[A]

We hear this in business too. Right. It just means they, like, ended the deal. They canceled a contract. We'll say this. They torpedoed the deal. Yes.

[B]

And I love this last one. This one is my favorite because it is throw a wrench into. Because we always think as human beings, that's our fatal flaw. It's like we think we can control things. Like we have an itinerary for a trip. It never goes as we think our itinerary will go.

[A]

Right, exactly right. A wrench always gets thrown in. Something happens that throws things off.

[B]

Like she was late, which threw a wrench into our plans because all these other things were scheduled to happen based on her arriving on time.

[A]

Right, exactly right. Maybe you miss a flight you miss. Who knows what could happen if someone's late that. That can definitely throw a wrench in.

[B]

Well, I've always kind of wondered what happens there when you. If you. Let's say you have like. Because I remember when we went to Cambodia, we had a flight from LA to Shanghai. I think there were three legs. It was like Boston to LA, LA to Shanghai, Shanghai to Phnom Penh or something like that. And I was thinking, what happens if we miss the first one? It throws a huge wrench into the whole travel plan.

[A]

Yeah, right. Yeah. I had a friend that went to Puerto Rico and they were late, so she missed her connection back to Arizona. And there were no other flights that day. So they. I think they had put her up in a hotel or maybe she stayed in the airport, I can't remember. But threw a wrench into everything. She ended up late getting back, threw off everything.

[B]

I mean, the point here is go

[A]

to the airport early, be there early. But then if you're on the plane, right. If the plane's late, it's not your fault that you miss the connection flight. That's the worst.

[B]

That's what I wonder about. What happens, like, who pays for the re. Rebooking. Right.

[A]

So anyways. Or here's another example. It threw a wrench into our plans when our passports never arrived. That would be terrible. I've been waiting on passports to be able to go on a trip before and it's so stressful hoping that they'll get there in time.

[B]

That's really stressful. Can't cross the border without a passport, right?

[A]

Yeah. And it takes a long time in the States for passports to be approved and sent. You have to apply for them well in advance, for sure.

[C]

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[B]

Okay, Aubrey, let's break into a role play here. We're talking about travel because this really fits with travel. Again. It's the fatal mistake we make as human beings, thinking we have everything perfectly planned and it never is.

[A]

Yeah. So I'm asking my friend Lindsay about a recent trip she was on.

[B]

Ready?

[A]

All right. Yeah. How was your vacation?

[B]

Oh, we didn't end up going, actually. That storm totally upended the whole thing. We waited at the airport for hours, and then our flight was finally canceled.

[A]

Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear it.

[B]

Then we rebooked, but I got sick the day before we were supposed to fly out, and our plans got totally derailed again.

[A]

Oh, man. Fate really threw a wrench into your trip.

[B]

Honestly, I was kind of glad. I didn't really want to go. And I had tried to torpedo it when we first booked. Just too much going on, you know?

[A]

Oh, what a good. That's a glass half full kind of attitude there. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I wonder if that's really true. I think I've had friends that are like that when things go wrong instead of being so Upset about it. They're like, I didn't want to go anyway. Yeah.

[B]

There is such a thing as overbooking your life. Because I have someone in my life that does that now that person's in Berlin. And there's a lot of things to do right now in Denver.

[A]

It happens. And then for to come back and be exhausted. Need a vacation to recover from your vacation.

[B]

Oh my gosh. So it's. It's kind of cool when you have that mentality. You can find the good side. It makes life a little less stressful. Right?

[A]

Very true.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I love that. Let's go through this vocab you first used that upended that storm. Totally upended the whole thing. So meaning it like ruined it Turned everything topsy turvy.

[B]

That's a good. And that's a more rare vocabulary word too. So it's fun to drop in these rare ones. Cuz you'll just be a more interesting person in a sense when you speak English.

[A]

Better vocabulary. It's interesting.

[B]

Yeah. And this one is descriptive derailed.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So next one. Then we rebooked, but I got sick the day before we were supposed to fly out and our plans got totally derailed again. Yes.

[A]

Yeah. And it's interesting if you look at this conversation, all of these things happened. And I would be interested. I would want to know all these details. But you would need a different verb. You can't use the same one to share. And then this happened. Then this happened. You need these different ways to say it.

[B]

Yes. 100. And then the wrench one. Which again is my favorite.

[A]

Yes. And this is a fun way to say it. To say fate really threw a wrench into your trip. Right.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Because then we're not blaming anyone. Like you just had bad.

[B]

Right. It just happens. It's the universe. It's inevitably going to do that to you. I didn't really want to go and I had tried to torpedo it when we first booked. And this is a little bit more. I guess this is probably a little bit more intentional, right?

[A]

Yes. Torpedo is often about intentionally ruin, ruining something. Right. So you probably wouldn't say at the beginning, like, the storm torpedoed our trip. You could. But it usually is collocated with something that was done intentionally by someone was torpedoed. It was intentionally ruined for sure.

[B]

Wow. This is a good episode because. Well, a lot of our listeners are world travelers. We know you guys love to travel. You have stories. But we know you have stories where there were mishaps, where things went wrong. Right, Aubrey?

[A]

Exactly. We recently did a poll and it was 80% of our listeners said, like, they've had bad hotel stays. This happens during travel. Right. Things go badly and that makes for maybe even a better story.

[B]

A better story. The funny thing about life is we know this. We kind of know we can't control everything and we know something's going to go wrong. But then we usually anticipate that it's going to be X. But usually it's something totally different. It's something you would never have thought about. Right?

[A]

That's so true. Always what you're not expecting is what goes wrong. Yes.

[B]

It's great. So, guys, go over to Business English. Don't forget that we have a whole other podcast, the Business English podcast. We recommend you check out the episode 547, don't let homophones upend your vocabulary. That's the one that we talked about earlier where this phrase came up.

[A]

Part one of this series was over on Business English. So if you're not following Business English, you might have missed it. Luckily, you can definitely listen to these out of order. Be sure that you're following both podcasts.

[B]

Exactly. And any other final takeaway for today.

[A]

Aubrey, I love what you were saying. A lot of you are travelers, right? And you know, people who love to travel. But things are going to go wrong. So we want to keep that, you know, glass half full attitude. But also remember, as things are going wrong, this is going to make a really good story someday.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Once all the annoyances are over and you're through the whole thing, you will have stories. And that's, that's a good thing in life.

[A]

Exactly. And then use today's vocabulary to tell that story in a fun way.

[B]

Campfire stories. Love it. So good. All right, Aubrey, we'll talk to you very soon. You have a good day.

[A]

Awesome. See you guys next time. Bye.

[B]

Thanks for listening. To all ears. English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our 2 minute quiz, go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.

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