Travel English vocabulary: 12 words to learn before your trip
A2–B112 words
Travel vocabulary is the fastest English to put to use: you will hear these words at check-in desks, on boarding announcements and at hotel receptions within hours of landing. Learn the twelve below, then keep them alive with spaced repetition so they are still there on your next trip.
Where you will use it: Airports, hotels, transport and asking for directions.
Travel English — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| boarding pass | The document that lets you get on a plane.“Please have your boarding pass ready at the gate.” |
| check-in | Registering your arrival at an airport or hotel.“Hotel check-in starts at three in the afternoon.” |
| aisle seat | A seat next to the walkway on a plane or train.“I always book an aisle seat on long flights.” |
| layover | A short stop between two flights.“We have a four-hour layover in Istanbul.” |
| luggage | The bags you travel with.“My luggage did not arrive with the flight.” |
| departure | The act of leaving, or the time a transport leaves.“Departure is delayed by twenty minutes.” |
| one-way ticket | A ticket for a single journey, with no return.“A one-way ticket was cheaper than a return.” |
| book in advance | To reserve something ahead of time.“Book in advance if you travel in August.” |
| currency exchange | A place where you change money into another currency.“There is a currency exchange in the arrivals hall.” |
| sightseeing | Visiting the interesting places of a city.“We spent the morning sightseeing in the old town.” |
| get lost | To no longer know where you are.“We got lost trying to find the museum.” |
| pick up | To collect someone or something.“Can you pick me up from the station?” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying travel english pairs well with our restaurant English word list, common English collocations and phrasal verbs with get, or browse all free English word lists.
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