May to August 2019 IELTS Speaking Topic #23 Describe an unusual vacation you had

Describe an unusual vacation you had.
You should say:
when and where you went;
who you went with;
what you did there;
and explain why it was unusual.

It was a journey about my college graduation travel. Sardinia is a beautiful island located in the Mediterranean Sea. It has stunning landscape and abundant natural resources. It’s no wonder that local people call it paradise. I was there for a short vacation. My friend kindly arranged a car for me in case I wanted to see around. Anyway, after a good sleep, I woke up early in the morning, jumped into my car, started my exploration. The beauty of Sardinia is beyond my wildest imagination. I can’t find words to properly describe it. There were a few times that I doubted if I were in a beautiful dream. In the days followed, I drove my car to almost everywhere my car could reach. I’ve been to the white sand beach in the north part of the island, which I can say is the best in the world, and ancient village where I saw amazing stone buildings which were probably built thousands of years ago. There’s so much to talk about. But I am afraid that I don’t have enough time. In short, it’s an unusual journey. I would never had second chance like that to go there after I turning to work. Lastly, for your information, rending a car and driving yourself is the best choice if you want to travel around there since it’s really hard to get a taxi.

Part 3

Why do people need breaks?
Because occasional breaks can make change to normal life and help release heavy pressure. For the people in the modern society, they may find their life dull and unchanged. By having breaks and vacations, they can know about the outside world and become energetic again after a break.

What can make people feel stressful?
This can happen in different scenarios, before a test, an interview, a date or choosing future career. As long as we are living in this world, stress comes from everywhere. Stress sometimes is just a state of mind, people can feel stressed anything, maybe only caused by tiny things. But we can say that those things which can make people stressful are important to them.

Would you like to have long holidays or short holidays?
For me, I love all the holidays, no matter long or short. What I wish is that there would be less people in the place I’m planning to go, which I know is not possible in China. Long holidays can give people more time to recover from stress, but if there’s no such time for us to use, a short holiday may also count.

Should people have holidays?

Yes of course. Holidays normally have two meanings for me, for memorial and for leisure. In China, holiday like Qingming Holiday is there to memories our ancestors, and holiday like Spring Festival is for celebration. Different holidays have different meanings, but they all make our life colorful.

Do men and women spend holidays differently?
Definitely, for women, they prefer to go shopping and sightseeing in China, they feel happy when there will be huge discounts in the store during that time. However, men, on the opposite side would like to sit in home or chat with close friends during the precious relaxing time.

How have working hours changed compared to the past?
In China, I have to say that really depends on the area. For east area, which is more developed, the working hours is usually longer, compared to the middle part of China. And also, compared to the past, the renting expense and living expenditure are higher than before, so, a lot of people need to work extra harder during work than they used to be to make money.

What’s the difference between female and male lifestyle?
Female, enjoys fancy stuff and a classier lifestyle. They are more likely to make themselves looking good. While, male usually prefer are comfortable way of living, which means they pay much attention to the quality, not merely the appearance.

What do you think are the changes of lifestyle compared to a couple of years ago?
With the development of the modern society, people are paying more attention to the spiritual accomplishment, not merely being full. So, they are most likely to figure out the most suitable life style by changing it from time to time. Nowadays, people sleep late and spend plenty of time on the electronic devices.