Learn and Improve Your English FAST With Real Stories | English Podcast!

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:01]This is Max and Mia podcast.

[00:00:06]Hello everyone. Welcome back to Max and Mia podcast where we talk about real everyday English. No complicated stuff, just language you can actually use.

[00:00:19]>> Good to have you here. Now, if you're wondering where Max and Mia are today, well, they're not here. It's just the two of us every Wednesday. Matthew and Rachel. And honestly, we're very happy to take over for a bit.

[00:00:34]>> Exactly. Max and Mia will be back. Do not worry. But today, you are stuck with us.

[00:00:41]>> So, before we get into today's topic, we want to ask you something. Think about this one.

[00:00:48]>> Here it is. What has been your biggest travel disaster? Think about it for a second. Your worst travel moment. Go on.

[00:00:58]We will wait.

[00:01:00]>> Okay, I'll go first. A few years ago, I took a flight from Madrid to London.

[00:01:06]Simple, right? Well, I got to the airport, went through security, sat at the gate, and then I looked at my ticket.

[00:01:15]>> Wait, don't tell me you lost it.

[00:01:18]>> Worse, I was at the wrong terminal. The gate had already closed.

[00:01:24]>> No way. How does that even happen? I know. I had to pay for a whole new ticket. It was awful.

[00:01:33]>> Oh, that is painful. Okay, mine is a little different. I was in Portugal in a small town and I got completely lost. My travel eim just stopped working. So, I had no internet, no map, nothing.

[00:01:48]>> Oh, no. So, what did you do? Did you speak Portuguese?

[00:01:52]>> Not a single word. I just walked around for almost two hours before I found someone who could help me in English.

[00:02:00]Two hours in the heat.

[00:02:04]>> 2 hours. That sounds like a nightmare.

[00:02:07]But you know, the funny thing is those are the stories we always remember the most, right? Not the perfect hotel or the nice dinner, the disasters.

[00:02:17]>> Which brings us to today's topic. We're talking about travel, but not the travel you see on Instagram with the perfect light and everything looking amazing.

[00:02:28]>> Exactly. We're talking about real travel. Getting lost, the stress of airports, booking the completely wrong hotel, >> the full picture, the good, the bad, and the messy.

[00:02:42]>> But also discovering places you never expected to love. So stay with us. It's going to be a good one.

[00:02:51]All right, so let's get into it. Today we're breaking the whole travel experience into three parts because honestly a trip doesn't start when you land. It starts way before that.

[00:03:02]>> Exactly. So we've got phase one, which is the prep, everything you do before you even leave home. Then phase two is the transit, the getting there part, which is sometimes the worst part. And phase three is the destination. What actually happens when you arrive.

[00:03:19]>> And in each phase, we're going to look at some words and expressions that are really useful. Not textbook stuff, things people actually say, >> things we actually say, >> right? So phase one, the prep.

[00:03:33]>> Okay, so the prep, this is where everything begins. First thing you do, you book your flights and your accommodation. To book something means to reserve it, to secure your spot. You book a flight, you book a hotel room, you book a hostel.

[00:03:47]>> And this is also where people make their first big mistake.

[00:03:51]>> Oh, already?

[00:03:52]>> Already. Because a lot of people, and I was one of them for years, make this very detailed itinerary. An itinerary is basically your plan for the trip. Day one, you do this. Day two, you go here.

[00:04:06]Every hour is accounted for.

[00:04:08]>> I used to do that, too. Color-coded spreadsheets.

[00:04:11]>> Yes. And then you get there and everything falls apart on day one and the spreadsheet is useless.

[00:04:18]>> Completely useless. I think there's a balance, right? Having a rough idea of what you want to do is helpful, but if your itinerary is too tight, you miss things. You miss the unexpected stuff, which is usually the best stuff.

[00:04:30]>> Totally. And then there's the other classic prep mistake. How much you pack.

[00:04:36]>> Oh, packing. Okay. So, there are two types of travelers in this world. people who pack light and people who overpack.

[00:04:44]To pack light means you take only what you really need. One bag, easy to carry, easy to move around. To overpack is the opposite. You take three pairs of shoes for a 4-day trip.

[00:04:55]>> I'm going to say nothing.

[00:04:56]>> Oh, Matthew.

[00:04:59]>> I said nothing. Moving on.

[00:05:01]>> Phase two, the transit. This is the part I have a complicated relationship with.

[00:05:08]>> Everyone does. Okay, so the transit is basically the journey, the airport, the plane, the waiting. And there are a few things that come up a lot here. First one, a layover. A layover is when your flight has a stop in another city before you reach your final destination. So instead of flying direct, you land somewhere, wait a few hours, and then take another flight.

[00:05:32]>> Some people actually love layovers. Like if you have a long one, you can leave the airport and see a bit of the city.

[00:05:39]>> That's true. I had a 12-hour layover in Istanbul once and I went into the city for the day. It was brilliant.

[00:05:45]>> See, that's smart. But then there are the bad layovers. The 2-hour ones where you're just sitting at a gate eating overpriced airport food.

[00:05:54]>> Yeah, those are not fun. And speaking of not fun, delays and cancellations. If a flight is delayed, it means it's leaving later than planned. If it's canled, it's not happening at all. And both of those things are incredibly stressful, especially if you have a connection to catch.

[00:06:11]>> I had a canceled flight once and I ended up sleeping on the airport floor just on the floor with my jacket as a pillow.

[00:06:19]>> That is a right of passage as a traveler. I think >> a terrible one. And then even when everything goes right, you land and you feel awful anyway.

[00:06:30]>> Jet lag.

[00:06:31]>> Jet lag. So jet lag happens when you travel across multiple time zones and your body gets confused. It's like your internal clock is still on your home time, but the world around you is on a completely different schedule. You're tired when you should be awake. You're awake when you should be sleeping. It usually hits hardest on long haul flights. I flew to Japan a couple of years ago and for the first 3 days I was waking up at 4:00 a.m. feeling completely fine and then falling asleep at dinner.

[00:07:03]>> Classic jet lag. Some people swear by certain tricks to fight it. Staying hydrated, adjusting your sleep schedule before the trip. I'm not sure any of it fully works.

[00:07:14]>> I think time is the only real cure, honestly.

[00:07:17]>> Okay, phase three. You've arrived.

[00:07:20]You're there. Now what? Now the real decisions begin. And the first thing I want to talk about is something every traveler runs into. Tourist traps.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah, exactly. A tourist trap is a place, a restaurant, an attraction, a shop that exists basically to take your money. It's usually in a very central visible location. It looks appealing and then you get there and the food is bad.

[00:07:48]that it's overpriced and you realize every single person around you is also a tourist who made the same mistake.

[00:07:55]>> The most classic one for me was this restaurant right next to a very famous landmark. I won't name it. And we sat down and ordered and the bill at the end was I still think about it.

[00:08:07]>> How bad?

[00:08:08]>> Let's just say it was a very expensive bowl of pasta.

[00:08:12]>> Worth it?

[00:08:13]>> Absolutely not.

[00:08:14]>> So, how do you avoid tourist traps? You go off the beaten path. That expression off the beaten path means you look for places that are less obvious, less touristy. You walk a little further from the main square. You ask locals where they actually eat. You don't just follow the crowd.

[00:08:34]>> That's where the best experiences usually are. The small coffee shop no one talks about. The neighborhood that isn't in any guide book.

[00:08:42]>> And of course, there's still a place for the classic stuff, too. Sightseeing.

[00:08:46]going to see the famous landmarks, the museums, the things a city is known for.

[00:08:51]There's nothing wrong with that. The Eiffel Tower is famous for a reason.

[00:08:55]>> It is beautiful.

[00:08:56]>> It is. But if that's all you do, you're probably missing a lot. The best trips usually mix both. A bit of sightseeing, a bit of going off the beaten path, and a few happy accidents along the way.

[00:09:10]>> Happy accidents being the disasters we talked about earlier.

[00:09:13]>> Exactly. Full circle.

[00:09:16]Okay, listeners, now it's time for grammar.

[00:09:20]>> Exactly.

[00:09:22]>> And hey, before you turn it off, we promise it won't be boring.

[00:09:26]>> We meant that because here's the thing.

[00:09:29]Grammar only feels boring when it's disconnected from real life. But today, we're going to look at something you actually need if you want to talk about travel or really if you want to tell any kind of story in English.

[00:09:42]>> And who doesn't love a good story?

[00:09:44]Exactly. So, let's talk about narrative tenses, specifically the contrast between the past simple and the past continuous. And I know, I know those names sound very textbook, but stick with us.

[00:09:57]>> Here's the simplest way to think about it. The past simple is for the main action, the thing that happened, the event. And the past continuous is for the background, what was already happening when that thing happened. So, for example, and this is actually something that happened to me on a flight once, I was sleeping on the plane when a baby started crying.

[00:10:19]>> Classic. I was sleeping. That's the past continuous. That's the background.

[00:10:24]That's what was already happening. When a baby started crying, that's the past simple. That's the new action, the interruption.

[00:10:32]>> You can feel the difference, right? One sets the scene, the other breaks it.

[00:10:37]>> Exactly. And travel is actually the perfect context for this because travel is full of those moments. You're doing something and then something else happens. Think about your own trips.

[00:10:47]Have you ever been in a situation like that? Here's one from me. I was walking around a market in Morocco, completely lost in the moment, looking at everything, and then I realized my wallet was gone.

[00:10:59]>> Oh no.

[00:11:00]>> I was walking around. Background context. I realized my wallet was gone.

[00:11:06]the main action, the thing that hit me, past continuous, past simple.

[00:11:11]>> And once you start noticing this pattern, you'll hear it everywhere in films, in podcasts, in conversations.

[00:11:18]It's how English speakers naturally build a story, >> right? It's not a grammar rule for the sake of a rule. It's just how storytelling works in English.

[00:11:28]>> Okay, moving on. Phrasal verbs. Now, these these are the ones that drive learners crazy. And honestly, fair enough. There are so many of them.

[00:11:39]>> But today, we're keeping it simple. Four phrasal verbs, travel ones, things you'll actually use.

[00:11:45]>> First one, to set off. To set off means to start a journey, to leave. We set off early in the morning. What time are you setting off tomorrow? It's that moment when you actually begin the trip.

[00:11:58]>> I love that one because it has a bit of energy to it. We set off sounds like an adventure is starting. We left is fine, but it's a bit flat.

[00:12:07]>> It does sound more exciting. Okay, number two. Check in and check out. You probably know these already, but let's be clear. You check in when you arrive somewhere at a hotel, at an airport. You check out when you leave. I checked in at 3 p.m. We need to check out by noon.

[00:12:25]>> And if you forget to check out on time, they charge you extra. Ask me how I know.

[00:12:31]>> Moving on. Number three, to look around.

[00:12:35]This one's really natural. It means to explore a place, to walk through somewhere without a specific plan. We spent the afternoon just looking around the old town. No agenda, no itinerary, just wandering.

[00:12:48]>> That's honestly one of my favorite things to do in a new city. No plan, just look around.

[00:12:54]>> Same. And last one, to get away. To get away means to escape from your normal routine, your everyday life. I really need to get away. We're planning to get away for the weekend. It's not just about going somewhere. It's about that feeling of leaving your normal life behind even for a little while.

[00:13:13]>> And I think that's actually why people travel at the core of it. Not just to see new places, but to get away, to step outside of the routine.

[00:13:21]>> Well said. So, to recap, set off, check in and check out, look around, get away.

[00:13:28]Four phrasal verbs, all very usable, all very real.

[00:13:32]>> And here's a little challenge for you.

[00:13:34]Can you make a sentence using one of those phrasal verbs to describe a trip you've taken? Any trip. Doesn't have to be far. Even a weekend trip counts.

[00:13:43]>> Think about it. We'll give you a second.

[00:13:46]Okay, maybe not literally a second, but you know what we mean.

[00:13:51]>> Okay, so we've talked about vocabulary.

[00:13:54]We've talked about grammar. Now, let's just talk because there's something I've been thinking about for a while and I want to get Rachel's take on it.

[00:14:02]>> Uhoh.

[00:14:04]What is it?

[00:14:05]>> The difference between a tourist and a traveler.

[00:14:09]>> Oh, okay. Yes, that's a big one.

[00:14:11]>> Because I think there's a real distinction. And I'm not saying one is better than the other, but they are different experiences. A tourist to me is someone who follows the list, the top 10 things to see, the most photographed spots, the itinerary we talked about earlier, take the photo, move to the next one.

[00:14:30]>> And I get it. When you have limited time, you want to see the big things.

[00:14:34]That's completely understandable.

[00:14:36]>> Totally. But a traveler, and again, this is just how I see it. A traveler is someone who's willing to get a little lost. Who sits in a cafe for an hour just watching people, who talks to a local, even if it's uncomfortable, who wanders down a street with no idea where it leads.

[00:14:53]>> I think the best trips I've had were when I stopped trying to see everything and just existed somewhere for a bit.

[00:15:00]Like really existed there.

[00:15:02]>> Exactly. And I think the tourist mindset is very focused on the destination. The traveler mindset is more about the experience of being somewhere.

[00:15:12]>> And you know what's interesting? You don't need to go far to be a traveler.

[00:15:16]You can be a traveler in your own city if you're curious enough. Walk down a street you've never walked down. Go to a neighborhood you don't know.

[00:15:24]>> That's a good point. Curiosity is really the key thing, not the distance.

[00:15:28]>> So, and we're asking you directly here.

[00:15:31]Which one are you? Are you more of a tourist or a traveler? And be honest, there's no wrong answer.

[00:15:37]>> Genuinely no wrong answer. Both are valid, but it's worth thinking about.

[00:15:41]>> Okay, we want to talk about something now that we know a lot of you listening can relate to, and it's something that doesn't get talked about enough in language learning.

[00:15:51]>> Airport anxiety, specifically going through customs or immigration in an English-speaking country.

[00:15:58]>> Yes. Okay. So, for those of you who haven't experienced this, immigration is where an officer checks your passport and asks you questions when you arrive in a new country. And for a lot of people, even people with great English, this moment is terrifying.

[00:16:14]>> And I completely understand why. You're tired, you've just been on a long flight, maybe you have jet lag, and suddenly someone in a uniform is asking you questions, and you feel like you have to perform, like your English is being tested. But here's the thing we really want you to hear. Those officers, they talk to hundreds, sometimes thousands of people every single day.

[00:16:37]People from every country, every background, every accent. They are not judging your English. They are not grading you. They just need information.

[00:16:46]>> And the best strategy, honestly, the most effective one is to keep it short and clear. You don't need to explain your whole trip in perfect sentences.

[00:16:56]Short answers are completely fine.

[00:16:58]Actually short answers are preferred.

[00:17:00]>> So if they ask what's the purpose of your visit, you don't need to say well I am here because I wanted to visit some friends and also I was thinking about doing some tourism and perhaps no just tourism or visiting friends. Done.

[00:17:16]>> Exactly. How long are you staying? 10 days. Not a paragraph. 10 days.

[00:17:21]>> And if you don't understand a question, it is completely okay to say sorry.

[00:17:26]Could you repeat that? Or sorry, I didn't catch that. That is a normal human thing to say. Officers hear it all the time.

[00:17:34]>> The accent thing is also worth saying out loud. Your accent does not matter. I promise you, those officers have heard every accent on the planet. What matters is that your answer makes sense, not that it sounds a certain way.

[00:17:49]>> And look, we know it's easy for us to say, "Don't be nervous." But genuinely, the more you travel, the more you do it, the easier it gets. The first time is always the scariest.

[00:18:00]>> So, if you're planning a trip to an English-speaking country, you've got this. Short answers, clear information, and a deep breath before you walk up to the counter.

[00:18:10]>> Deep breath always.

[00:18:12]>> Okay, we're getting close to the end.

[00:18:14]So, let's pull everything together.

[00:18:16]Quick recap, cuz we covered a lot today.

[00:18:19]>> We did. So, travel in three phases.

[00:18:23]Phase one, the prep. You book your flights and accommodation. You put together an itinerary. And you make the very important decision of whether you're going to pack light or overpack.

[00:18:36]>> No comment.

[00:18:38]>> Phase two, the transit, layovers, delays, cancellations, and the joy of jet lag. The getting there part that nobody puts on Instagram. And phase three, the destination, where you have to watch out for tourist traps, where you can go off the beaten path if you're feeling adventurous, and where the real sightseeing begins.

[00:18:59]>> Then on the grammar side, narrative tenses. Past simple for the main action, past continuous for the background and context. I was walking through the market when I realized my wallet was gone. That structure, once you see it, you can't unsee it. and our four phrasal verbs, set off, check in and check out, look around, and get away. All very usable, all very real.

[00:19:26]>> That's actually a lot for one episode.

[00:19:28]>> It is, but hopefully it felt like a conversation and not a lecture.

[00:19:33]>> That's always the goal. Okay, now we want to hear from you. And we mean it.

[00:19:37]This isn't just something we say at the end.

[00:19:40]>> We have two questions for you, and we want you to leave your answer in the comments. First one, what's your dream destination? The place you haven't been yet, but you really want to go. Could be anywhere. It doesn't have to be realistic.

[00:19:53]>> And second, what's your worst airport story, your biggest travel disaster, because we shared ours today, and honestly, the more chaotic, the better.

[00:20:04]We want to hear it.

[00:20:05]>> Drop it in the comments. Seriously, we read them and we love seeing where everyone is writing from and what their experiences are. It's one of the best parts of doing this, honestly, hearing from you.

[00:20:15]>> Okay, before we wrap up, we want to take a second, just a moment for anyone who's listening and sometimes feels like English is just too much, like it's taking forever and you're not getting anywhere.

[00:20:28]>> Yeah, we hear that a lot and we get it.

[00:20:30]>> So, here's how I think about it.

[00:20:33]Learning English is like arriving in a new city with no Google Maps, no signal, no GPS, nothing.

[00:20:42]>> That's terrifying.

[00:20:44]>> It is at first because you're going to get lost. You're going to take the wrong street. You're going to end up somewhere completely unexpected. You might even get on the wrong train, >> which in English terms means you're going to make mistakes. You're going to use the wrong tense, mix up a word, say something a little off, and it's going to feel uncomfortable.

[00:21:05]>> But here's the thing. Getting lost in a city is actually how you learn the city, not from a map, from walking it, from making the wrong turn and figuring out how to get back. And that's exactly how language works.

[00:21:20]>> Every mistake is just a wrong turn. It doesn't mean you're bad at this. It means you're moving. and moving is the only way to get anywhere.

[00:21:29]>> So don't wait until your English is perfect to use it. Use it now. Messy, imperfect, confused, use it anyway.

[00:21:38]That's how it gets better.

[00:21:39]>> Enjoy the journey. Even the bumpy parts, especially the bumpy parts, honestly.

[00:21:44]>> All right, that's everything from us today. Genuinely, thank you for listening. It means a lot that you spend your time with us. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone who's learning English or someone who loves to travel or both. Ideally, both.

[00:21:59]>> And don't forget to leave your dream destination and your worst airport story in the comments. We'll be reading every single one.

[00:22:07]>> Safe travels on your English journey, everyone. See you next Wednesday on the Max and Mia podcast.

[00:22:13]>> Take care. Bye.

[00:22:17]To keep taking your English to the next level, click on the next video or explore the others we've made for you.