Lesson 12: Travel & Directions

Travel is where your Spanish earns its keep. This lesson gives you the language of movement: transport vocabulary, asking where things are, understanding directions (which almost always come with landmarks and gestures), and buying tickets. Notice how much you can already say: with *ir a*, the preterite, the future and polite commands from earlier lessons, you can run a whole journey.

Core vocabulary: travel and directions

Asking where things are

¿Dónde está la estación? — Where is the station? Use está for the location of one place, están for plurals: *¿Dónde están los servicios?* (Where are the toilets?). To ask what exists in a place, use hay: *¿Hay una farmacia cerca de aquí?* — Is there a chemist's near here? Answers use distance expressions: está a cinco minutos (andando) — it's five minutes away (on foot); está a dos manzanas — it's two blocks away (Latin America: *a dos cuadras*).

Understanding directions

Directions in Spanish come as commands — usually the polite usted forms (Lesson 8). Learn to *recognise* them:

• Siga todo recto. — Keep going straight on.
• Gire a la derecha en el semáforo. — Turn right at the traffic light.
• Cruce la plaza y tome la segunda calle a la izquierda. — Cross the square and take the second street on the left.
• Pase el puente y lo verá a mano derecha. — Go past the bridge and you'll see it on the right-hand side.

At the ticket office: Querría dos billetes de ida y vuelta a Barcelona, por favor. — I'd like two return tickets to Barcelona. ¿De qué andén sale? — From which platform does it leave? ¿A qué hora llega? — What time does it arrive?

Example sentences

• Perdón, ¿dónde está el Museo del Prado? — Excuse me, where is the Prado Museum?
• Está cerca, a unos diez minutos andando. — It's near, about ten minutes on foot.
• El autobús sale del andén número seis. — The bus leaves from platform six.
• Querría un billete de solo ida a Sevilla. — I'd like a one-way ticket to Seville.
• El equipaje llega mañana. — The luggage arrives tomorrow.
• Gire a la izquierda después del banco. — Turn left after the bank.
• ¿Hay un hotel cerca de la estación? — Is there a hotel near the station?
• Tomamos el tren de las ocho y cuarto. — We're taking the quarter-past-eight train.

Dialogue: at the station

Viajero: Buenos días. Querría un billete a Valencia para hoy. Empleado: ¿De ida solamente, o de ida y vuelta? Viajero: De ida y vuelta, por favor. Vuelvo el domingo. Empleado: Muy bien. El próximo tren sale a las once y diez del andén cuatro. Llega a Valencia a la una menos cuarto. Viajero: Perfecto. ¿Cuánto es? Empleado: Son cuarenta y dos euros con cincuenta. Viajero: ¿Aceptan tarjeta? Empleado: Sí, claro. Aquí tiene su billete. ¡Buen viaje!

Comprehension questions: 1. What kind of ticket does the traveller buy, and when does he return? 2. Give the departure and arrival details of the train. 3. How much does he pay, and how?

Answer key: 1. A return ticket; he returns on Sunday. 2. Departs 11:10 from platform 4; arrives in Valencia at 12:45 (la una menos cuarto). 3. €42.50, by card.

Pronunciation notes: this lesson's sounds

• andén ends in -n, yet it is stressed on the last syllable — the written accent tells you (an-DÉN). Trust accents over the default rules.
• aeropuerto runs its vowels together: ah-eh-roh-PWEHR-toh, five syllables flowing fast.
• ida y vuelta: the y is the word "and" — pronounce the phrase as one ribbon: EE-dah-ee-VWEHL-tah.

Common mistakes (wrong → right)

• ✗ *¿Dónde es la estación?* → ✓ ¿Dónde está la estación? — locations use estar, not ser.
• ✗ *Soy perdido* ("I am lost") → ✓ Estoy perdido/a — being lost is a state: estar.
• ✗ *El tren parte a las ocho* understood, but at the ticket office saying *un billete para ir y volver* → ✓ un billete de ida y vuelta is the set phrase staff expect.
• ✗ *Camina derecho* to an adult stranger → ✓ Use the polite command: Siga todo recto — giving directions to strangers in tú form sounds rude.

Exam Experience

Reading comprehension. Read and answer in English. *Aviso a los pasajeros: el tren con destino a Granada saldrá hoy con veinte minutos de retraso. Saldrá a las tres y veinte del andén siete. Los pasajeros con equipaje grande deben presentarse en el vagón número dos. Perdonen las molestias.* 1. What is the announcement about, and by how much is the train affected? (1 mark) 2. From where and when does the train now leave? (2 marks) 3. What must passengers with large luggage do? (1 mark) Answer key: 1. The Granada train is delayed by twenty minutes. 2. From platform 7 at 3:20. 3. They must go to carriage number two.

Multiple choice. 1. ¿Dónde ___ los servicios? a) es b) está c) están. Answer: c — plural location takes están. 2. "Turn left at the corner" as a polite command: a) Gira a la izquierda b) Gire a la izquierda en la esquina c) Girando. Answer: b — usted command of girar + en la esquina. 3. Un billete de ida y vuelta es: a) a one-way ticket b) a return ticket c) a ticket machine. Answer: b.

Guided writing task. Write 50–60 words: you are at a station in Spain. Describe buying a ticket (say where to, which kind, price), then give directions from the station to a famous place nearby. Model answer: *Estoy en la estación de Atocha, en Madrid. Querría un billete de ida y vuelta a Toledo: son quince euros. Para llegar al Museo del Prado desde la estación, salga por la puerta principal, gire a la derecha y siga todo recto diez minutos. El museo está a la izquierda, enfrente de un parque grande.* Marking notes: content marks for ticket details + directions; language marks for *querría* + ticket phrase accurate, polite commands (salga, gire, siga), and location language (*está a la izquierda*). Award full marks only if both halves respond to the task.

Going further: more journey language

Extend the journey kit with the phrases that solve problems:

Transport nouns to complete the set: el metro (underground), el tranvía (tram), el ferry, el carril bici (cycle lane), el aparcamiento (car park), la gasolinera (petrol station), la autopista (motorway), el peaje (toll), el carné de conducir (driving licence). Time expressions for timetables: puntual (on time), con retraso (delayed), cancelado (cancelled), completo (full — of trains and hotels), libre (free/available). A model mini-announcement to decode: *El tren procedente de Málaga con destino a Córdoba saldrá a las quince cuarenta y cinco. Se ruega a los pasajeros que validen sus billetes.* (The train from Málaga to Córdoba will leave at 15:45. Passengers are requested to validate their tickets.) — note se ruega, the formal impersonal from Lesson 17's family.

Workshop: the journey story

Travel talk becomes travel narrative with this lesson's vocabulary plus your past tenses. Model first: *El verano pasado viajé a Perú con mi hermana. Llegamos a Lima de noche; el vuelo tenía dos horas de retraso. Al día siguiente tomamos un autobús a Cusco. El conductor paró en un mirador y todos sacamos fotos. En Cusco perdimos una maleta, pero apareció al día siguiente en la estación. ¡Qué alivio!* (What happened: arrived at night after a two-hour delay; bus to Cusco; photo stop at a viewpoint; a suitcase lost and found at the station.) New words: el retraso (delay) you know; el mirador (viewpoint), sacar fotos (to take photos), ¡qué alivio! (what a relief!). Now write your own real or imagined journey in five or six sentences using: one transport noun, one time expression (*al día siguiente*), one problem (*perdí, tenía retraso, estaba cancelado*), one solution, and one reaction phrase (*¡qué suerte!* — what luck!; *¡qué horror!*). The directions language from the main lesson tells the reader where; the past tenses tell them when; the reaction tells them how it felt. All three layers together are real travel writing.