When you talk about your holiday, sound more natural by using phrasal verbs. They make you sound less formal and more like a native speaker.
Here are 15 very common phrasal verbs to talk about travel. Make sure you can understand and use them in your conversations.
Holiday Travel
check in (to a hotel / at the airport) = register at the hotel / airport, etc (Also a noun = “check-in”)
“What time can we check in?”
go through (security / customs, etc) = pass through a check at the airport
“You’ll need to take your PC out of your bag when you go through security.”
take off = when your plane starts the journey
“What time do we take off?”
stop over = break your journey in a particular place (Also a noun = “stop-over”)
“We stop over in Singapore on our way to Australia.”
pick up (a hire car) = get the keys to a hire car
“We picked up a hire car at the airport so we could be more independent.”
Holiday Activities
get away = have a holiday
“I really need to get away this year.”
check out = go and look at
“While we were in France, we checked out some of the food markets.”
cool off = make yourself cooler
“There was a lovely pool in the hotel where we could go and cool off.”
kick back = relax
“All I did on holiday was kick back and take it easy.”
take in = make time for an activity
“While we were there, we took in the sights. It’s such an interesting city.”
Holiday Health
burn up = have a very high temperature
“I asked to see a doctor because I was burning up.”
come down with / go down with (an illness) = get an illness
“He came down with food poisoning on holiday, so we stayed in the hotel most of the time!”
come out in (spots / a rash) = develop spots or a rash on your skin
“I bought a local sun cream, but I came out in a horrible rash.”
keep (something) down = be able to keep something in your stomach
“I got terrible food poisoning and I couldn’t keep anything down.”
pick up (a bug / virus) = get a bug / virus
“I think I picked up a bug when I was on holiday.”
Hi! I’m Clare – the founder of this site.
One of the things that separates non-native and native speakers of English is phrasal verbs.
We use them all the time in conversations – but also in newspaper articles and stories. When YOU understand and use them, you’ll sound more natural, you’ll be able to understand conversations, and it will be easier and quicker for you to understand when you read English.
I show you common and useful phrasal verbs in my fluency course Real English Conversations – check it out below!