Not Next to me English file 1 pre intermediate

When you’re travelling by plane or train, there are some passengers you just don’t want to have next to you…

Perhaps you normally like them, but when you are sitting next to them on a plane it’s a different thing. They usually spend all the flight moving around and dropping their toys on the floor, and when they’re drinking their orange juice it ends up on your trousers. Then they decide they want to play with you, so you can’t have the little siesta that you were planning.

You recognize this type as soon as you sit down. They immediately start talking about the plane, or the weather, or they ask you a personal question. It’s very difficult not to talk to these people, and you’ll probably have to continue talking until the plane lands.

These are the people with white faces who sit down and immediately ask for a double whisky. Every five minutes they call a flight attendant to ask if there are any problems with the plane. They also tell you about air disasters (which you are not interested in!). The best thing to do is to buy them a few drinks or pretend to sleep.

These people are not necessarily very big, but they have a terrible habit of taking up all their room, and some of your room too. They usually sit so that you can’t move, with their arms and legs in your space. They also have a lot of hand luggage which takes up all the room in the overhead locker.