Are you planning or considering taking a trip by train?  Do you want to avoid having to deal with parking and traffic?  In today's podcast, we're going to get you to the train station - on time.  The picture that you see above was taken of Amtrak's  Route 128 Station.  Before we listen to the dialogue, take a look at the picture above and answer the following questions.

• What do you see? 

• Do you think you would feel comfortable waiting in a train station like this one? 

• Would you feel safe waiting for your train here?

• Would you feel safe if your train were arriving late at night?

Now, listen to this dialogue between two friends, one of whom wants to go to New York City.
 

My husband and I want to go to New York City for a few days.


How about taking the train!  You can leave from Back Bay Station or from Route 128.  Both will get you into New York's Penn Station.


  That's a good idea, because we don't want to deal with parking in New York City.


Why don't you leave from Back Bay Station.  It's closer to your home.


Is there parking there?  We have a lot of luggage to carry, and we have our daughter, too.


No, there isn't.  There isn't any parking there.  So maybe that won't work for you.  If you want to drive to the station and leave your car there, then I would suggest driving to the Route 128 Station and leaving your car there.  They have a nice new parking garage. It's easy to find parking there, and the rates for long-term parking are low.


That could work out really well for us. My husband can drive the car right up to the curb and drop me off with our daughter and the luggage, then he can go park the car.  And I think we could purchase our tickets ahead of time at the Back Bay Station, which is near where we live, or purchase them online.  Thanks to you, I think we'll drive to the train.


Sounds like a plan!  Let me know how it works out!
 

Now, how about you writing your own dialogue based on the vocabulary from this lesson, the vocabulary that you see to your left.  Maybe you can print this page and write your dialogue while you are on the train!  There are so many advantages to taking the train, and being able to read and write while you are traveling is one of them.

We'd like to thank you for stopping by today's ESL Help Desk.   And we hope that you'll be sure to subscribe to us, and visit us next week at  www.eslhelpdesk.com, your homepage for English language learners!

Music Copyright, permission of Luca De Bernardi,  www.saguarovideo.it/blog
Photo of the Route 128 Amtrak Station, permission GNU Free Documentation License
Photo of Headphones Copyright Karl-Erik Bennion