| Role | Dialog |
| Narrator | Lucy has been stressed out at work lately and wants to get away from it all. She has just entered a travel agency to book a two-week vacation for herself and her husband Todd. |
| Agent | Good morning. Please have a seat. What can I do for you? |
| Lucy | Thanks. (sits down) I’d like to book a vacation next month. I’d like a far-away destination, somewhere exotic. |
| Agent | Okay, let me get you a few travel brochures to see if any of them suit your fancy. (leaves and comes back with a handful of brochures) Browse through these and tell me what you think. |
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| Lucy | Madagascar? Too expensive. An island off the coast of Thailand? I don’t like Thai food — too spicy. Seychelles? Hm, this one sounds interesting. |
| Agent | Seychelles? Yes, they’re an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean northeast of Madagascar, but only about 16 of the islands have hotels on them. We have an excellent “all-in” holiday package that will give you the holiday of a lifetime. |
| Lucy | What’s an all-in package? |
| Agent | That means that everything is included in the package price—flight, hotel, meals, drinks, everything. |
| Lucy | My interest is piqued. Tell me more. |
| Agent | You’ll fly into Madagascar, a large island off the east coast of Africa, and then take a small charter flight from there to Seychelles. You’ll stay in a holiday resort with a breath-taking view of the ocean and lush mountains. The resort will provide all your food and beverages. |
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| Lucy | Sounds intriguing. Tell me more. |
| Agent | In the departure airport, you will have privileges to use the airline’s VIP lounge. We’ll give you a voucher for the lounge when you buy the package. You’ll be going out of season so there won’t be hordes of tourists pushing and shoving. The landscape is stunning. Places of interest include a picturesque village where you can buy local crafts. You can go sightseeing around the islands in a rented jeep so you can travel around at your own pace. The island also offers a wildlife safari tour where you can ride in a tour bus through open fields with wild animals roaming around. I should warn you that there are some tourist traps on the islands that are less than reputable, so be careful. |
| Lucy | Okay, thanks. Am I guaranteed to have an ocean view? |
| Agent | Yes, once we reserve it, it’s guaranteed — no last-minute changes. We want you to have a hassle-free vacation. |
| Lucy | This all-in package sounds like just what the doctor ordered. I’ll take it. |
| Agent | How many people will there be in your party? |
| Lucy | Just my husband Todd and I. We’re leaving the kids with the in-laws. |
| Agent | Okay, will you be paying by cash or credit card? |
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| Lucy | Do you take checks? |
| Agent | Yes, we do. |
| Lucy | Okay, I’ll pay by check then. (writes a check and hands it to the travel agent) Here you go. |
| Agent | Okay, give me a few minutes to enter all this into the computer and lock in your reservations. (a few minutes pass) Okay, here are your tickets and vouchers… (hands a packet of papers to Lucy) Please remember to make sure your passports are up to date. |
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| Lucy | No problem. We renewed them just a few months ago. Okay, thanks. Bye. |
| Agent | Bye. |
| Narrator | Later in Seychelles, Lucy and Todd are relaxing on vacation on one of the main islands at the Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove Resort. They are sitting in an ocean-front restaurant overlooking a small bay. |
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| Todd | Wow, just look at that beautiful view! This vacation is worth every penny. |
| Lucy | Yep. This Mai Tai cocktail is heaven (sips her drink). We’ll have to do some snorkeling and diving while we’re here. |
| Todd | Tomorrow we can take a helicopter jaunt to some of the surrounding islands and lounge on their pristine beaches for a few hours. It’ll be refreshing being on a quiet beach without hordes of tourists trashing up the area for a change. |
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| Lucy | Agreed. Quiet and solitude is what I came on this vacation for. So far, it’s not disappointing me. |
| Todd | Let’s head back to our room. |
| Narrator | Later in their hotel room… |
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| Lucy | Look at that view. I could get used to this kind of luxury living. |
| Todd | Couldn’t we all? I have a headache. I’ve taken some aspirin. Let me lie down a few minutes and see if my headache goes away. |
| Lucy | Okay, I’m going to walk along the beach for a few minutes. I’ll be back in a little while. |
| Narrator | Lucy is walking along the beach… |
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| Lucy | Wow, look at that white sand and those lovely palm trees and that crystal clear, blue water. It’s breath-taking. I wish this vacation would never end. |
| Narrator | Later that night, Lucy gets a deluxe aroma-therapy massage treatment in the hotel’s massage parlor facility. |
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| Lucy | This is the life. Such a fragrant, tranquil, solitary, stress-free environment. It’s like a little slice of Heaven on Earth. If only this moment could last forever. |
| Narrator | Two weeks pass by and Lucy and Todd have just checked out of the resort. |
| Lucy | Well, vacation’s over. Back to the salt mines. |
| Todd | Yep. Time to put our noses to the grindstone again. |
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Wow!!! I don’t know why the recent posts are filled with spectacular photos!
It feels like I was in Seychelles for a while!!!
By the way, I have one doubt. Is that a palm tree? Isn’t that supposed to be called as coconut tree?
How do you call this one?
http://www.ajithkumar.cc/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Palm-tree-friendship.jpg
It’s the fruit
https://nurulsculinaryadventures.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/p1110593-1-b.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-439a3ueD6MQ/T8zJVn3BHYI/AAAAAAAABNw/CwDVFuJ-2mI/s1600/_DSC6198.jpg
I’ve been going back through my posts and enhancing them with pictures.
Yes, it’s a coconut tree. I tend to call all tropical trees “palm trees”. I’m probably being too general here.
From a distance, I would just call your tall trees “palm trees” based on the tall skinny trunk and the leaves. The hard shells in your pictures look like coconuts but the gelatinous insides look more like lychee nuts. I don’t know what kind of trees those are.
Don’t forget. You have questions (lack of information), not doubts (lack of belief).