Talking about Travel in Portuguese 3: travelling by plane

Quanto tempo! (again)... Now that I have finally finished settling in in Nova Iorque, I am back from my sumiço (=disapearance). Completing our travelling series, here is a dialogue describing a trip. If possible, try to get the main gist from the Portuguese version and the glossary before peaking at the English translation. (More vocabulary coming up in a future post).

Diálogo:
Thomas: - Ananda, como foi a sua viagem para LA?
Ananda: - Foi bem legal, mas o vôo de volta foi bem longo.
Thomas: - Ah é? Foi um vôo direto, ou você teve conexões?
Ananda: - Eu tive uma conexão em Chicago. Foi bem demorada... mas a passagem foi bem baratinha!
Thomas: - Que bom! Por que? É baixa-estação?
Ananda: - Nem sei se é alta ou baixa... mas foi barata porque eu comprei a passagem pelo programa de milhagem.
Thomas: - Legal!

Notes:

• A volta: the way back on a return flight. A return flight is called ida-e-volta, consisting of a vôo de ida (flight there) and vôo de volta (flight back).
  
• Vôo direto: direct flight, with no conexões (connections) or escalas (stop-overs).
• Bem + Adjective, as in bem longo or bem baratinha: Although bem literally means 'well', in these cases it is used to instensify the meaning of the adjective, much in the same way of the word 'very' in English.
  

Loose Translation:
Thomas: - Ananda, how was your trip to LA?
Ananda: - It was very nice, but the flight back was very long.
Thomas: - Really? Was it a direct flight or did you have connections?
Ananda: - I had a connection in chicago. It took a long time... but the ticket was very cheap!
Thomas: - Great! Why? Is it low season?
Ananda: - I am not even sure if it is low [season] or high [season]... but is was cheap because I bought the ticket through the millage program.
Thomas: - Cool!

Exercícios:
1. Como foi a minha viagem para LA? E o vôo de volta?
2. Porque a minha passagem foi bem baratinha?
3. Você faz parte de um programa de milhagem? Em que companhias aéreas?
4. Qual foi o vôo mais longo que você já fez? Para onde foi? O vôo teve escalas ou conexões?

Talking About Travel in Portuguese

Quanto tempo! (= long time no see, lit. "how much time!"). Although I don't think I have much of a regular following (yet?), I feel I should appologize for my long absence. I have been camping and hiking in somewhat remote places (part of a road trip from LA to New York City), unable to post any Portuguese wisdom. Now that I have the basics (a cell phone connection and a power supply), we are ready for a special travel edition (i.e., basic with no links, as I am typing this from a cell phone).

In this post, you can learn some new expressions with a conversation (see what you understand on your own first, then look at the notes on new expressions... only then look at the translation... then practice!):

Conversation:

Ananda: - Dan, você prefere viajar de carro ou de avião?
Dan: - Ah, depende. Dirigir é legal... mas não se a distância é muito longa...
Ananda: - É mesmo... mas eu não gosto de tomar 'chá de aeroporto'...
Dan: - É... fazer o check in, as filas, preocupação com a segurança, bagagem... muito chato!
Ananda: - ...e de carro dá para ver a paisagem, parar para ver lugares diferentes...
Dan: ... Vamos dirigir até Nova Iorque, em vez de ir de avião?
Ananda: - Bora!

Expressions:

• Tomar chá de aeroporto literally means "to have airport tea" is a slang expression which means to have to wait around the airport. Another common variant (even more common) of this expression is tomar chá de cadeira ("to drink chair tea"), meaning to be made to sit down and wait around (for example while waiting for a doctor's appointment or for a friend who is late).
• Bora! - is derived from vamos embora (let's go (away)) and it means "let's go" or "let's do it". You can combine it with other verbs to mean "let's do X" (where X is the verb). For example, "bora comer" means, "let's eat".
  

Translation:

Ananda: - Dan, do you prefer traveling by car or by plane?
Dan: - Oh, it depends. Driving is nice... but not if the distance is very long...
Ananda: - That's right... but I don't like having to wait around at the airport [see glossary].
Dan: - Yeah... doing the check in, the lines, worry about security, luggage... very annoying!
Ananda: = and by car one can see the view, stop to see different places...
Dan: - Let's drive to New York rather than going by plane?
Ananda: - Let's do it!

E você: prefere veiajar de avião ou de carro?