Intermediate Listening Practice

Dan: Have you had a chance to look at holidays yet?

Louise: I've been looking all week, actually. I've got about twelve tabs open on my laptop.

Dan: Twelve. That seems like a lot.

Louise: It's not enough. I want to compare everything properly before we decide.

Dan: Can I make a suggestion?

Louise: Go on.

Dan: Let's just pick somewhere hot and book it. Beach, sun, a pool. That's all I want. A week of doing absolutely nothing.

Louise: That sounds lovely, but we said the same thing last year and by day three you were bored and wanted to go sightseeing.

Dan: That was different. The hotel was in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't even a town within walking distance.

Louise: Which is why I think we should consider a city break this time. Somewhere with things to see and do, restaurants, galleries, that kind of thing.

Dan: A city in summer, though. Cities are hot and crowded in summer. Everyone is queuing for the same museums and paying twice the normal price for everything.

Louise: Not everywhere. I've been looking at a few places that aren't the obvious choices. There's one in Portugal, not Lisbon, a smaller city on the coast. It's got beaches but also a proper old town with restaurants and a market. Best of both.

Dan: That does sound good, actually. How much?

Louise: For a week, including flights, around eleven hundred for both of us. That's for a small apartment, not a hotel. I thought an apartment would be nicer because we could cook some meals ourselves and save a bit.

Dan: I'm not sure I want to cook on holiday.

Louise: I don't mean every night. I mean breakfast and maybe a couple of lunches. We'd still eat out in the evenings.

Dan: Okay. Where's the other option?

Louise: The other one I liked is in the south of France. It's more expensive, about fourteen hundred, but it's a proper hotel with a pool and it's right on the water.

Dan: I prefer that one already.

Louise: Of course you do, it's three hundred pounds more.

Dan: It's a pool, Louise.

Louise: The apartment in Portugal has a shared pool.

Dan: Shared. See, that's different.

Louise: How is it different? It's still a pool. The water is the same temperature.

Dan: Shared pools have other people's children in them.

Louise: Fair point. How many days could you take off?

Dan: I could probably get a full week. Maybe nine days if I move a few things around. What about you?

Louise: I've got five days left, so a week is the most I can do. I was thinking we'd fly out on a Saturday and come back the following Sunday. That way we get eight full days without using any extra leave.

Dan: That's clever. When were you thinking? July or August?

Louise: Late June, if we can. It's cheaper before the school holidays start and the weather is still good.

Dan: Works for me. So which one are we going for?

Louise: I think we should sit down tonight and look at both properly. I'll show you the photos and the reviews and we can decide together.

Dan: Can we just flip a coin?

Louise: We're not flipping a coin for our holiday.

Dan: You say that like it's unreasonable.

Louise: It is unreasonable. This is a significant amount of money and I want to make sure we choose the right place.

Dan: Fine. Tonight. We'll look at both. But if they're roughly equal, I'm going with the one that has its own pool.

Louise: I'll add it to my spreadsheet.

Dan: You have a spreadsheet?

Louise: I have two.

Dan: Of course you do.