Travelling,services

Talk about people, offices and institutions that are here to serve people when they need it (e.g. post-offices, shops, hotels, restaurants, insurance companies etc.)
What is/may be good or bad about them?
Why do people travel? Do they use any of the services mentioned above?
Getting ready for a journey

Current society depends on many services. For example I can’t imagine my life without electricity - the service provided by big company. Our family use electric energy for turning on lights in our house, for switching on computer, TV, for ironing or cooking, and so on. Of course the electricity isn’t only one service provided by other people. I’m going to choose and briefly describe some very important services:
1)    Post-offices - Post-offices are there for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In Czech Republic we have a company named Czech Post Office and through which we can send postcards, recommended letters or accommodations to universities. Even now - when e-mails and internet communications is replacing traditional letters - the most formal way to contact somebody is to write a letter.
2)    Shops - Shop is a place when we can buy some kind of goods. We have many kinds of shops today. Firstly we divide them to retails (maloobchody) and supermarkets. We can find the retails in a village which is good for people living there but generally these shops have their prizes above general limit - the goods are more expensive. Supermarkets are likely to find near bigger cities such as our city. In these shops there is variety of goods (e. g. from food to garden stuff). The prices are also lower than in village.
3)    Hotels - Hotel is usually a large building with many rooms. These rooms are for rent. Hotel is generally property of company or it could be administrated by one owner.
4)    Restaurants - Restaurant is place where we can order a food which we like from restaurant menu. Preparation of the meal could take some time (30-60-90-120 min.)
5)    Insurance companies - Insurance companies provide insurance - a contract between for example me and insurance company to provide a guarantee of compensation for damage, illness, death, est., in return for regular payment.
6)    Garbage collectors - They take care of our rubbish. In our part of the town they collect it every Wednesday.
7)    Transport services - Includes buses, trains, aeroplanes, ships and undergrounds.
In general these services are useful and many people including me cannot imagine living in the world without for example garbage collectors. On the other side every service we get is charged. And sometimes the services don’t have to be as comfort as we expect - for example exterior and interior of most of our railway wagons - it is terrible.
When people decide to leave the comforts of their home and move to other locations there is usually a reason behind it. It makes one think about all of the reasons why people travel. Let's look and see the top reasons:
1)    Romance - There is thousands of people who are involved in long distance relationships. At some point though, they need to see each other.
2)    Relaxation - All work and no play is not a good thing. People need to get away from the stress of everyday life, and a nice sunny location with a beach might just be what the doctor ordered.
3)    Family/ Friends - Many people have family/friends that are located in different parts of the world. They need to visit with them even if it's for a short period of time.
4)    Work - Job requirements might mean a fair bit of travel is involved. Even if the travel is within your own country it still has a purpose attached to it.
5)    Celebration - Wedding, Anniversary, Birthday, Birth - There's always something to celebrate and it doesn't always happen where you live.
Others: Religion, Death, Honeymoon, Medical/Health, Education...
And I’m pretty sure people use services like aeroplane to get into the exotic location for successful honeymoon or just get to work in time using underground (tube).
If we find ourselves in moment when we are getting ready for a journey it’s good to make a list of items we need. The most important is: clothes, hygienic [hájgýnik] needs, medicine, money, ID. Of course depends on a type of journey: there is a difference between getting ready on an extreme mountain expedition in winter and holiday near the Mediterranean Sea.