Describe a bus or train journey you remember: IELTS Speaking Part 2 sample answer

I clearly remember a train journey from Tashkent to Samarkand on the Afrosiyob high-speed train. I took it two years ago to attend a friend's wedding, and it was the first time I had travelled on that service.

The trip took about two hours, which seemed incredibly fast compared with the old trains my parents describe. The seats were comfortable, the carriage was clean, and a trolley came round selling tea and snacks. Through the window I could see wide cotton fields, small villages and, further away, the hills turning pink in the morning light.

I sat next to an elderly man, a retired teacher, and we started talking. He told me he used to travel the same route in a slow overnight train that took six hours, with no air conditioning, and everyone brought food from home. He shared some dried apricots with me, and I offered him my sandwich. By the end of the journey, we were chatting like old friends, and he wished me luck with my English studies.

That is why I remember it so well. It was not only a comfortable journey, but also a reminder that public transport brings strangers together. I often think of that conversation when I am on a crowded bus and feel tempted to stare at my phone. At the wedding, I told my friends about the old teacher, and they said that this was typical of train travel in our region. Whether it is true or not, I now try to sit in the carriage rather than the quiet zone whenever I travel by rail.