Colloquial English 3.4: Travel Idioms with Katie and Cathy

Katie opens this one outdoors: "I’m sitting here in the park, on a very nice day, with Cathy." Moments later she breaks off mid-clue to laugh at the "people travelling around the park in the background". The game is simple — Katie describes a colloquial travel expression, Cathy guesses it — but the interesting part is what happens when a British expression meets an American ear. Told that a certain body part goes itchy when you want to travel, Cathy replies: "I would just think that you had a foot infection."

What you'll hear in this episode

The conversation runs in two halves of five expressions each, with a pronunciation drill after each half. Katie gives the situation, Cathy guesses, and the two of them compare what actually gets said on each side of the Atlantic.

Some guesses land straight away. Asked what we call it when you avoid the tourist spots, Cathy comes back with off the beaten track. Asked what we call someone who travels all over the world, often quickly, often for business, she offers a globetrotter and Katie answers: "Bingo! That’s the one."

Other guesses are near misses, and those are the useful bits. For travel that changes how you see things, Cathy suggests broadens your horizons, then adds opening your eyes — both good, though the target phrase was travel broadens the mind. For constantly moving from hotel to hotel, she tries packing light, then on the move, before Katie supplies living out of a suitcase. Cathy is honest about it: it's "not a saying that comes…that pops into my mind that easily".

She also contributes expressions Katie hadn't planned on — on a shoestring, and the travel bug with "that itch to travel". A whistle-stop tour draws a blank, so Cathy offers a whirlwind instead. And when the world's your oyster comes up, she admits: "I was going to say the world is your teacup… I don´t know if that’s an expression, or if I made that up." As Katie says, "you’re learning some British English here as well".

Quick facts

Episode	Colloquial 3.4 – Travel
Pack	Colloquial 3
Level	3
Duration	13 minutes 44 seconds
Recorded	in a park
Speakers	Katie and Cathy
Workbook	included in the all-in-one pack (€39)

What you'll learn

The clearest lesson here is that idioms don't cross borders neatly. Itchy feet, whistle-stop tour and jabs all stop Cathy in her tracks; shots, whirlwind and the itch to travel come naturally to her instead. You finish the episode knowing not just the phrases but which ones are safe with which listener — and that matters more than knowing ten idioms you can't place.

You'll also hear how a native speaker handles not knowing something. Cathy doesn't go silent: she guesses out loud ("To the…off the beaten track?"), flags her uncertainty, and offers an alternative when she can't find the phrase. That's a transferable conversation strategy, and it's exactly what the recording captures because nobody is reading from a script.

There's a register point too. Katie draws the line explicitly around injections: "vaccinations would be the more formal way to say it", then asks what you'd say in spoken language. Same idea, two very different words.

After each conversation half, the Meaning and Pronunciation sections turn the phrases into questions with a beep to repeat after — I like to go off the beaten track, I’m sick of living out of a suitcase, I need to get my jabs before I go — so the expressions come back as whole sentences rather than isolated words.

Vocabulary from the workbook

The glossary rates each expression 1, 2 or 3 for informality. Everything in this unit is a 1 — informal, but usable with most people in most situations.

travel broadens the mind – travel helps you become more accepting and open minded (Cathy's first guess is a close cousin of it)
off the beaten track – away from the places people (especially tourists) normally go
living out of a suitcase – to stay in places for only a short time and not have time to unpack your bags
to travel / pack light – carry only a small amount of luggage
to have itchy feet – to be bored of where you are and to want to travel to new places (the foot-infection moment)
a globetrotter – a person who travels a lot, to lots of different places
to get your jabs – to have injections of medicines that prevent you getting diseases
a whistle stop tour – to visit places very quickly
the world is your oyster – you are in control of everything, you can do whatever you want
on a shoestring – to be on a small budget, to not have very much money to spend
to have the travel bug – to be addicted to travel, to always want to go travelling
to see someone off – go and say goodbye to someone as they leave on a journey

In the workbook

The workbook for this unit contains the full transcript of the conversation with Cathy, so you can go back and see exactly where each expression appeared and how Katie set it up. It also has the glossary above with its 1–3 informality ratings, plus both Meaning and Pronunciation scripts written out.

Then there are two practice exercises. Practice Exercise 1 is word-order work against the clock: rearrange track / the / beaten / off / went / We and forget / your / to get / before / go / jabs / Don’t / you into proper sentences. Practice Exercise 2 is error correction, and it targets the mistakes learners really make — I had to make a lot of jabs, it really widens their minds, living out of your luggage, the globe is your oyster, get off the busy track. Full answers are included at the back.

This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack — every episode, every workbook, one price.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Are these expressions used in American English too?

Some are, some aren't, and the episode is honest about which. Cathy recognises off the beaten track and globetrotter immediately, but says jabs, itchy feet and whistle-stop tour aren't things she'd use in the United States — she'd say shots, the itch to travel and a whirlwind.

Is the audio scripted?

The conversation between Katie and Cathy is unscripted — the guessing, the laughter and the tangent about people walking through the park are all real. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

What level is this?

Level 3, from the Colloquial 3 pack. It suits learners who already handle everyday conversation and now want the informal phrases that don't appear in coursebooks.

How long is it?

13 minutes 44 seconds, split into two conversation halves with a pronunciation drill after each.

Do I need the workbook to follow along?

No — the audio works on its own, and it's free. The workbook is where you get the transcript, the glossary and the two written exercises that fix the phrases in place.

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