Speaker A. On my arrival in Tokyo, I spent a night in a traditional Japanese hotel. It was a terrible experience. My window opened onto the narrow dirty street, which lay between two buildings. The opposite building was so close that I could touch it. I looked out of the window and saw the sky, which was as grey as the building in front of me.

Speaker B. We stayed at the Bay Island hotel, which was a pleasure, as it faced the sea. The colour of the sea was blue, a colour that I had not seen in any of the beaches in India. It was calm and beautiful. I was happy about the fact that we were going to spend 10 days in such a beautiful place. All we had to do was sit in the open restaurant, look at the sea, enjoy the cool breeze and feel good.

Speaker C. During my trips I had to sleep in hotels, hostels, at Bed and Breakfasts and at friends’. Staying at your friends’ is the best thing to my mind, but if you don’t have any friends who are willing to give you a bed for the night, you should go to Bed and Breakfast. Those which I visited had nice rooms and very friendly hosts who were very proud of their home town.

Speaker D. We landed in Guatemala City at 10 p.m. I went through customs and hoped to see someone from the nearby hotel. I had booked my first night there. But nobody was meeting me. I didn’t know the way to the hotel, so I got general directions about how to get there from a policeman. It was about 200 meters from the airport. They had not received my booking, but luckily they found a room for me.

Speaker E. On my arrival in Japan one of my friends took me to a performance of Japanese classical dance and music. My attention was taken more by the evening audience than by what was going on the stage. It was very strange that there were almost no men at the concert. Later I found out that Japanese women, even if they are married, usually go out by themselves, or with their female friends. It is the norm here.

Speaker F. I can say that staying in hotels in Hong Kong as well as shopping costs a lot. However, visitors can have a wonderful time and they don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money. I always stay at a youth hostel, which is much cheaper than staying at a hotel. I have my meals either at a fast food restaurant or cook breakfast myself at the hostel. One of my favourite experiences in Hong Kong was taking a noisy tram back to the hostel from the horse races at night.