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Amy
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Amy
Hey, this is Amy from Real English Conversations, and today we're going to be talking about some of the different experiences we've had while traveling through various airports. And for the Real English tips, we're going to give you some ways to talk about different time zones.
Curtis
Welcome to realenglishconversations.com the podcast where you
Amy
can study the art of real English conversation while listening to fun and interesting topics. Hey guys, this is Amy and Curtis and today we're going to do a conversation that one of our listeners actually suggested to us. So who was that?
Curtis
That was Elfredo and he's living in Venezuela.
Amy
No, he's from Venezuela.
Curtis
Oh, okay. Where's he living?
Amy
He is living in Argentina and working as a pilot.
Curtis
Oh, that's a cool job.
Amy
So what did he ask us to talk about?
Curtis
Well, because he is a pilot, he asked us to talk about some of our experiences in airports and specifically doing
Amy
it in another language.
Curtis
Yeah, this can be tricky at times.
Amy
Yeah. So if you guys have been listening to the podcast for a while, you're gonna know that we've done quite a bit of traveling. I mean, where have we been? We've been to. We went to Hawaii.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
We've been to California.
Curtis
We've been to Costa Rica.
Amy
Yeah, Costa Rica. Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador. And upcoming we have a trip planned to Ecuador again and to Colombia. And this next vacation is going to be three months. And I think we might be able to this time when we go to the airports, we might actually have an experience to do the whole process of the customs and like checking in with the customs agent and getting your passport stamped and stuff. I think we might be able to do it completely in Spanish this time.
Curtis
Yeah, I'm feeling a little more confident, that's for sure.
Amy
Yeah. So the last times that we've traveled, we've really had a fairly limited level of the language.
Curtis
Yes.
Amy
You know, because I know when we came back from Ecuador, after. We came back after I had been there for six weeks, I was still just a beginner. Looking back now, I thought I was better then than I was, but looking back now, I can see I was.
Curtis
It was pretty basic and I was basic. Basic.
Amy
You were like a newbie. Like you knew words, you didn't know grammar, how to put anything together. Okay, so we have a couple of stories. We'll talk about two that are related to airport travel specifically.
Curtis
Yes.
Amy
And the third one is still. I mean, it's when you need to communicate certain and specific information, but it's actually related to a surfboard rental.
Curtis
Okay.
Amy
So. But we kind of thought it was on the same note because you're having to communicate something in a non native language with whatever words you have.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
So what was the first experience that we had where we had to find out certain information and the person that we were talking to didn't know English?
Curtis
We experienced this in Panama.
Amy
Panama City.
Curtis
Panama City. And we were flying to a different part of Panama.
Amy
Yeah. So we came in on an international flight and we had landed and there is about, I think an hour and a half layover in between our flights. And we had to find the. I guess the domestic flight connection.
Curtis
Yes.
Amy
So a domestic flight is a flight within the country. And anyway, I asked the. I don't know who it was. You know those people that are kind of at the. They're near the area where you get your tickets and boarding passes and they're kind of at the end to help you. Let's talk groceries, specifically your groceries. With Instacart, you want your groceries just the way you like them, right? Well, the Instacart app lets you do just that. They have a new preference picker that lets you pick how ripe or unripe you want your bananas. Shoppers can see your preferences up front, helping guide their choices. Instacart get groceries just how you like. They're like an assistant to guide you around or give you information. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I asked one of those people, you know, how do you. Or where is the flight connection? We're going to Boca Toro. Where, where do we go to get that flight? And you know, he looked at me and he said, oh no, you need to be at the other airport. It's a 35 minute taxi ride from here.
Curtis
And we had to catch the plane
Amy
in an hour and a half.
Curtis
In an hour and a half. And there was no way.
Amy
And luckily I don't trust what people tell me the first time when I know that it's probably wrong.
Curtis
Your gut instinct was no, I knew
Amy
our airplane was flying out of the Panama International Airport.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And that. That's it. I knew it was there. It wasn't. I knew about the other airport that he was talking about and I knew on our ticket that that wasn't the one that I had booked.
Curtis
And this was very limited Spanish, very, very limited.
Amy
Because this is prior to our Ecuador trip. So this is about three years ago that we did this one. And anyway, so I asked another person and I asked another person and finally we got the answer. And where was the terminal?
Curtis
The terminal was like a. Was outside and we had to walk to it.
Amy
Yeah. And it was a crazy climate difference because the air in Panama City is super hot, very humid, moist air.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And the little waiting room was like an ice box,
Curtis
one extreme to the other.
Amy
Yeah, it was interesting. But anyway, we got where we needed to go and everything was fine. But in this case, we had to use our limited Spanish to try to make a very important connection and we didn't really have very much time. So it was, it gives you a little bit of anxiety when you can't
Curtis
communicate what you need and you know you have another plane to catch.
Amy
Yeah. And what happened with the second one? I think it was in Quito in Ecuador.
Curtis
Yeah. And it was really, really early in the morning.
Amy
Oh yeah. Because they make you show up three hours early for a international flight connection. But it wasn't even. The check in area wasn't even open.
Curtis
No. There was nobody around. We were like, are we in the right area?
Amy
Oh, yeah. And again, I forgot about that. But we had to ask around in Spanish and try to make sure that that was the area that we were supposed to be.
Curtis
And then some of the employees showed up, a few more people started to line up the in the queue line. And yeah, we were just standing there waiting to get to the counter. And we got to the counter and there was a problem.
Amy
Yeah. And I think I Know what the problem was? The problem was that we had changed our flights two weeks ago and we were supposed to originally leave Ecuador and fly to Peru for two weeks. But we changed our mind because, because we were having such a good time on the coast in Ecuador, we decided to stay longer. So somewhere in that process, when we went to go get our boarding passes, we needed to do some sort of extra step, some sort of registration. I don't know what it was.
Curtis
Yeah, maybe we had to sign a different piece of paper or I don't know.
Amy
But I remember the lady, the first lady, she didn't speak English none and she was trying to explain to us what we needed and she had to actually get another attendant that spoke a bit of English to explain what we needed to do.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And I don't think that I would have like, if I didn't know any Spanish, I don't know what I would have done in that situation, you know. And anyway, so we had to go over to the other lady and what was that like?
Curtis
It was a very bad experience. She didn't want to be at work that day. She was in a bad mood.
Amy
That was the first Ecuadorian that we met that wasn't happy.
Curtis
That was the only Ecuadorian that we met that wasn't happy.
Amy
And yeah, we were like the Latin American people when, when they're referring to North Americans that don't speak Spanish, they call them gringos. So we're a couple of gringos and we show up and, you know, we need help with something and I don't even know what I needed help with. You know, I handed her this piece of paper, tried to answer her questions
Curtis
and to, you know, we're all sleepy headed because it's early in the morning.
Amy
We only had three hours of sleep or something. It was crazy. And anyway, we got through that process. I don't know how, but we got through that and we went through the check in area and because I was so tired I forgot to take off my belt and I had my, my cell phone tucked in, in my pocket.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And of course when I went through the, the metal detector.
Curtis
Yeah, yeah, had to.
Amy
The alarm went off.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And I had to, oh shoot, I forgot my belt. And here's my, here's my cell phone. And the guy put it through a separate bin but behind other people's bins that they have like the bins for the security screening. And anyway, so we, you know, went through. Okay, I passed the test, no metal, you know, and we put on our, our shoes and Our. Put our, our laptop back in the backpack.
Curtis
Yeah. Repacked everything up.
Amy
Yeah. And off we went. And just after I left the security area that you can't return back into.
Curtis
Yeah, we were going through. It was like a duty free kind of area or something there just past security.
Amy
Yeah, yeah, duty free where they sell alcohol that's tax free or perfumes and electronics and things like that.
Curtis
Every airport has it.
Amy
Yeah. And I went, oh no, I forgot my cell phone. Where's my cell phone? And of course I'm panicking because, you know, my cell phone has all my contacts on it and yeah, you know, it's expensive. Cell phones are expensive. And so anyway, I found the first security guy, or I think he was maybe a janitor or something that like. Like that.
Curtis
Oh, yeah.
Amy
And I had to communicate what I forgot in the security area in Spanish.
Curtis
In Spanish.
Amy
And he took us back through and it got us to the security area again.
Curtis
Yeah, the. The security agents were. They were funny.
Amy
Yeah, they were actually joking.
Curtis
Prank on me.
Amy
They knew what I was looking for. They knew my phone and they were asking me to describe it. So. So anyway, I was like, well, it's a black phone. You know, I'm using very, very simple words. That's all I knew. And the guy asked me, and I think he was just doing it just to get that confused look on my face of like, what, what did you just ask me? But he asked me if it was a light black cell phone or a dark black cell phone.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And of course, there's no such thing. Black is black.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And yeah, it was, it was funny. But then he laughed and. Yeah, he just laughed at me and handed it back to me.
Curtis
So what is your non airport experience?
Amy
Oh, okay. So what happened with our, our last vacation? We were in a fairly small town on the coast in Ecuador and I remember there were only three people that spoke, well, varying levels of English. Most of them, it was like, I can count to 10 or say prices in English. Yeah, that was two of them. And the third one was actually a Chinese guy that was down there and he had learned Spanish and he knew English. Luckily, this Chinese guy, when I first made the deal with him to rent a surfboard, he knew English. And I was able to communicate it because I kind of went into the situation unplanned.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
Like somebody had said, I think you can rent a surfboard at this Internet cafe. And you know, I hadn't looked up any words to do with renting or talking about transportation, trying to get it delivered. So I had no idea how to express these ideas. I was really, really happy when I went in. And it was the first and only time I asked anybody on the trip if they spoke English.
Curtis
Oh, yeah.
Amy
And he did. And it was like, oh, good, perfect. And the thing that was complicated about it was that I actually needed the surfboard rental for about three weeks. And our accommodation was about three or four kilometers from the town.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And I needed to have it delivered and picked up when I was finished with the surfboard. And I think because it was a long term rental and it was kind of the slow season, he decided that it would be okay. And he would rent me the surfboard.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And deliver it to the location. And that was fine. Of course, that was in English, so that was fun. And then when I went back at the end of the time where I was finished using the surfboard and I was trying to arrange for it to
Curtis
be picked up and brought back to
Amy
be returned because I had no way of getting this surfboard back to rental place.
Curtis
And we weren't gonna, you know, walk down the street. It's a little too far.
Amy
And it was a big surfboard. It wasn't like a little four or five foot surfboard. It was a long board. So, you know, it'd be hard to get like. I don't even think we could. Could get it on the bus.
Curtis
No.
Amy
You know, so anyway, we went back and I think it was his wife or something.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And. And I had prepared this time for the conversation. I learned the words I needed. I even wrote out a little explanation just in case she couldn't understand my horrible Spanish accent.
Curtis
Yeah. I think you even rehearsed it with me a few times.
Amy
Oh, totally. I was prepared for this conversation. And I went into the surf shop or the Internet cafe slash surfboard rental place.
Curtis
And
Amy
the lady, I was talking to her and she had this look on her face like I was talking German or something.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And this was the only experience that I have ever had when I was trying to communicate in a foreign language.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And the person just did not get it. They could not understand me. Maybe they were bad with understanding foreign accents in that language. I don't really know. But it was, it was pretty frustrating. It was hard.
Curtis
Yeah. It was really surprising to me and
Amy
really awkward because I was like, I don't know what to do here. Okay, well, I'm gonna leave and hopefully when I come back someone else is working that understands, you know, broken Spanish. And anyway, so this experience, it actually gave me a really interesting Sensation. Because when I left, of course, when you're trying to communicate and someone can't understand you, it kind of affects your confidence a little bit.
Curtis
It does.
Amy
You're like, oh, am I that bad?
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
Is my accent that bad?
Curtis
Am I pronouncing something or everything really, really poorly or.
Amy
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I realized after that, no, this, this isn't the case. And I have come across this a few different times through language partners that I've been practicing with, and they have said similar things to me. Like one of my Colombian friends, he said that when he was in the United States and he was trying to communicate, people would just not give him the time of day. And I told him it's not that his English is bad, it's that those people are not. They're not trying.
Curtis
No.
Amy
And you can't force someone to try to understand you. They either want to or they don't.
Curtis
Yeah. It's a choice.
Amy
It doesn't mean you're bad. Like, you're trying, man. You don't know their language like a native. You can't help it. You're trying. You're doing the best you can. And if they're not trying to understand you, that's their problem. And you should never let that affect your confidence, ever.
Curtis
No, not at all.
Amy
People that genuinely want to help will help, and, you know, that was the most important thing. So, anyway, I ended up the next day, we came back and we talked to the son in law and he called his dad and his dad knew about me and he knew where I was staying and everything was fine. We managed to get the surfboard picked up and delivered and I paid them for the rental and everything.
Curtis
Everything worked out.
Amy
And everything worked out. So those are some of the situations that we've faced based in our travels in a foreign language. I mean, there's been many more stories, usually on the bus, but in respect to airport travel and important situations where you needed to communicate.
Curtis
Yeah. And facing some language barriers. And we've got the real English tip coming up.
Amy
Yeah, real English conversational tip. All right, so for today's English tip, we are going to just talk about time zones and how to. Especially when you're doing airport travel and you're crossing time zones.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
You need to talk about what the time is, where you're going, or what it was or will be.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
And it's a little bit confusing. So we just wanted to give you some examples about how you can express this exactly like you should in English. So, Curtis, if. If we Were flying to Toronto from Kelowna.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
This is four provinces away from where we are and there's three different time zones. Yeah. Okay, so because where we are, we would say we're behind Toronto time.
Curtis
Yes. Toronto is three hours ahead.
Amy
Okay. So if we left here at 4:00 in the afternoon and our flight is three hours.
Curtis
Yes.
Amy
And Toronto's three hours ahead.
Curtis
Yeah.
Amy
What time will we arrive?
Curtis
That would be 10:00 clock at night.
Amy
Yeah, you're right. I had to think about it.
Curtis
My math is good today, I guess.
Amy
Yeah, sometimes it's not. That's why I was thinking about it. Okay, so for example, when I'm trying to coordinate times with different people for language lessons, or if I want to talk to one of my friends on Skype for practice myself, I have to always talk about time zones because they usually live in a different time zone than me. So most of the people that I talk to are two hours ahead of me.
Curtis
Okay, Right.
Amy
So when they say, what time is it there? I tell them the time and then I say I'm two hours behind. Yeah, so. So that's pretty much what we do. If the place that. If. Yeah, the place that you're flying to or the person is in a different country and their time is ahead of yours, you say your blank hours ahead of me, you're five hours ahead, you're 10 hours ahead, whatever it is. And if it's the other way, you know, like us here out in the west of Canada, we're always behind everyone. Like we're three hours behind Toronto, for example. So anyway, that's how you can talk about different time zones and the normal way that people express that concept. Yeah.
Curtis
So, yeah, if you guys haven't been to our website yet, I encourage you to come to realenglishconversations.com and sign up as a free member. We have access to three of our most popular conversations with transcripts, and you can download the slower versions of the audio. And yeah, lots of good free resources there for you to check out.
Amy
Kind of gives you a sample of what you're gonna get as a premium membership. Yeah, the. The free members stuff has most of the features. Of course, as a premium member, you get access to the speaking exercises, the phrasal verb course, and so much more. Just more of everything. We've got a whole bunch of stuff in the member section, the premium member section. So we'll see you there. If you're enjoying this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a comment for us. We'd love to hear your support or feedback. Come to our website@realenglishconversations.com to get access to a transcription of this audio that explains some of the vocabulary we have used in this lesson, a full transcription and some exercises to help you practice what you've learned. See you guys next time.
Real English Conversations Podcast – Real English for Global Professionals
Host: Curtis Davies (with Amy)
Release Date: August 1, 2017
Episode Theme: Navigating Airport Travel and Language Barriers as a Global Professional
In this engaging episode, hosts Amy and Curtis respond to a listener request from Elfredo, a Venezuelan pilot living in Argentina. They discuss real-world stories of traveling through airports in foreign countries, sharing how language barriers impact important travel moments. The episode culminates with practical English tips on how to talk about time zones—a common challenge for global professionals. The tone is conversational, supportive, and encouraging, with lots of personal anecdotes.
Story 1:
Story 2:
Story 3:
[20:01–22:55]
This episode is an excellent resource for intermediate to advanced English learners, especially global professionals seeking practical communication strategies, confidence-building stories, and real-world English language tips.