SECTION 2

You are going to hear some announcements made to a group of people who are planning a trip to Greece.

Tour organiser: Good morning everyone. I’m getting very excited about this trip to Greece, and I’m sure you are too. As you know, we didn’t have all the details at our last meeting, but I can give them to you now.

We’ll leave London Gatwick Airport on British Airways next Wednesday. Please be sure to be at the airport by 6.30. I know’ it’s early, but our departure time is 8.25 AM. We’re quite a large group, and we don’t want to have any hassles. Please be sure to have all your travel documents ready. We’ll arrive in Athens at 2.25 in the afternoon, and there’ll be a vehicle there to meet us. It’ll be a full sized coach so everyone can travel together.

We’ll spend three full days in our hotel in Athens, although we’re only being charged for two nights’ accommodation, which is good news. The second day we’ll go to the National Archaeological Museum to see the enormous collection of ancient Greek works of art, antiques, statues – a brilliant display. We’ll eat out at a typical Greek restaurant on Thursday night. It’s going to be a very busy time in Athens! Friday morning and afternoon we’ll visit historic sites, but we have nothing planned for the rest of the day.

On Saturday we’re off to the islands, the Greek islands of ancient myth and modern romance. Now, the big news! At first we thought we’d take the ferry, but we’ve been very lucky to secure a sailing boat which is big enough for all of us. I’m really excited about this part of the trip, because we’ll see the islands to the best advantage, and we’ll be able to cruise around and sleep on board. We’ll get off at different islands and for one part of the trip we’ll have people playing Greek traditional music actually on board with us. Now I’ll pass out a brochure with all the details. Narrator: Now look at questions 16 to 18. As the talk continues answer questions 16 to 18.

Tour organiser: A lot of work has gone into organising this tour, and I’d like to thank in particular the travel agent who got us a really good deal and the people at the British Museum who offered us such good advice. Trips like this only happen because of the hard work of really expert people.

As you know, we have planned a gathering for when we return. I have a list of things which the committee would like you to bring to the party. They are: your pictures and something to eat for everyone to share. You are almost bound to have people ask what we have in common, and why we are travelling as a group. I suppose the answer is that we are interested in learning about old societies and vanished cultures, and we all enjoy travelling. Of course, we enjoy fine food too, but that’s not as important!

Narrator: Now look at questions 19 and 20. As the talk continues answer questions 19 and 20.

Tour organiser: I nearly forgot the last piece of information. You will see there are labels which I have passed around for you to put on all your luggage. Could you fill them in, please? On the top line please write “Greek tour” and on the lower line, write, in block letters, I mean upper case, the letters A A and the number 3 – that’s AA3.

We need to have these labels clearly displayed to help the baggage handlers keep our luggage together on the different parts of our trip, so please don’t take them off.