Speaker A. I am exhausted. I need a holiday. I have spent hours at a computer terminal  — sometimes late into the evenings, at weekends or on public holidays. I deserve a rest and I can afford to go anywhere for two or three weeks. But I am going to my home village and my childhood. My parents, family and many friends still live there. I am going to swim in the river with my friends again, go for picnics and drink homemade lemonade. I want to go fishing in the lake with my Dad and elder brothers, ride horses at the farm and sleep in the shade of the forest.

Speaker B. My trouble is that I want to go everywhere and see everything. Every opportunity that comes I’ll take it! I am still young but I don’t want to miss out on any chance. This year I decided to go to Egypt. Was it because I can get a good price for travel or that I want to see the Pyramids? Was it because I heard about the land of the Pharaohs, and the unique blend of North Africa, southern Europe and Middle East? No  — it is just that I have never been there before and now is my chance.

Speaker C. My Mum is French and as a result I am one of those people lucky enough to speak two languages without even trying. But until now I never had the chance to go and explore France properly. Of course we often visited Paris, but these were all visits to Mum’s family. But half of my ancestors came from this land! I want to breathe the air of my grand and great grand parents. I want to slip back into a world that I never knew but somehow believe is still a part of me.

Speaker D. A British Punk band in the 1970’s recorded a hit record called "Holidays in the Sun". Although I was a child then, I still think about the words "I want to see some history" and "I want to go over the Berlin Wall". It strikes me that holidays today are so trivial. We seldom try to learn about, let alone change, the world we live in. We follow "the herd" to beaches and roast in the sun. As for me, I am going to Botswana as a volunteer teacher. The package beach holiday is a symptom of a sick society.

Speaker E. I never took a holiday abroad. To be honest it is too expensive at the moment but really, it is not a priority either. My hobby is forest photography. Within 100 miles of home there is more forest than I can explore in a lifetime. My main speciality is birds. Getting a good clear shot can take two or three days of patient setting up. I have 11 decent "species shots" so far and I’ll be taking two weeks holiday this autumn to try and get a few more.

Speaker F. All my life I have been a skier  — both downhill and cross country. The trouble with a skiing holiday however is that all it takes is one small accident to ruin everything. This year I was in the French Alps. Everything was going really well until the second day of a two week trip. But as I returned to the chalet a complete beginner lost control and crashed into me on the driveway. A cleanly broken ankle was the result, followed by three days in a French hospital and the rest of the holiday watching my friends having fun.