20. Maturitni otazka_Accommodation

Accommodation

When we travel away for more days, we usually need a place to stay. There may be several reasons why we may need accommodation - as tourists, as people on business, as students studying abroad, or as people working abroad, for example as au-pairs.

When we go on a business journey, we will probably stay in the hotel. Hotels offer modern facilities and high-quality services. There are usually 3 types of rooms – single room (with one bed only), double-room (with two beds next to each other) and twin rooms (two beds are separated). They often have en-suite bathrooms. A part of the services is a room service, which we can order if we need to have our room cleaned, we want to order something to drink. Hotels offer meals in their restaurants, coffee and drinks in their bars. We can also find other facilities, such as a gym, sauna.

If we travel as tourists, there are many ways where to stay. Of course, we can stay in hotels, howerer there are for example B&B (bed and breakfast). B&Bs are small lodging establishments that offer overnight accommodation and breakfast. Some B&Bs are located in private houses and you will be served breakfast in the host's kitchen. In Britain you can also stay in inns where simple meals are served in the pubs downstairs. When we travel by car, we can stay in motels, which are usually popular in the USA as car is the most popular type of transport. The rooms are usually simply equipped. However, all motels have a car park very close to the motel; or we can stay in a hostel. We can rent a bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge, etc. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex.

The cheapest way to stay is a camp site. Camps are usually located in the country, so they are mainly chosen by backpackers. We can rent a cabin usually with a bunk-bed or we bring over our own tent and pitch it in the camp area. The facilities in the camp are scarce and usually offer a shared bathroom for all the campers. Many camps also run restaurants that provide simple meals and small shops where we can buy basic goods.

If we stay away as students, we can stay in dormitories. A dormitory is a residence hall or a room providing sleeping and residential quarters usually for boarding school, college. They are usually segregated by sex. They often offer meal services in canteens. The dorms have usually communal bathroom facilities. Another form of tourism and/or study abroad programme is homestay. It allows the visitor to rent a room from a local family to better learn the local lifestyle as well as improve their language ability. Sharing a room with someone else has many pros but also many cons. The biggest advantage is, of course, the price. When we share a room with someone else, we also share the rent. If our roommates are great, we can also have great time with them. But, there are also some disadvantages. One of the biggest is the lack of privacy. We have to be tolerant and go to bed at specific time. We cannot have visitors, we cannot have pets, we cannot listen to music.