Describe a time when you used information for tourists, for example from a guidebook or online.
You should say:
I'll talk about a trip I planned for a couple of friends who were visiting me from abroad — I ended up playing the role of unofficial tour guide, which is actually the reason I went looking for tourist information in the first place.
So, the place in question was the city where I live, and honestly I realised I didn't know half as much about it as I'd assumed. I got most of my information from a combination of a guidebook my friends had picked up and a few online forums — there's this really active local community on one of the travel sites, full of people who've been to the same attractions and are happy to tell you exactly what's worth your time, what's overrated, and what's a bit of a trap for tourists.
What I specifically wanted was a proper itinerary for a single day. I was looking for the best route that would let us see the main sights without spending the whole day queuing, and also some genuine local recommendations for lunch — places that aren't just selling overpriced food to tourists because they're right next to a landmark.
And it was genuinely helpful, actually. The forum advice about timing was spot on — we got to the main site first thing and skipped a forty-minute queue that had formed by lunchtime. The restaurant suggestion was amazing too; it was tucked away on a side street we'd never have found on our own, and it's now one of my favourite places in the city.
So yeah, I'd definitely recommend doing a bit of research like that. It turned what could have been a very average day into something we all still talk about.
The monologue follows a clear narrative arc: frame the situation → the place and the research → what you wanted → how it paid off → a closing reflection. Discourse markers ("So", "And it was genuinely helpful, actually", "So yeah") steer the story without sounding like a list.
Takeaway: structure a Part 2 talk around setup → what you did → pay-off → reflection (4 beats) and keep one marker at each beat; that internal roadmap makes the 2 minutes feel organised rather than recited.
The language is vivid and idiomatic: "played the role of unofficial tour guide", "spot on", "tucked away on a side street", "overrated", "a bit of a trap for tourists." The phrases carry image, so the listener can see the situation.
Takeaway: collect travel/city idioms (off the beaten track, tucked away, a trap for tourists, spot on) — concrete, image-rich phrases are far more Band 8 than abstract "it was really good" statements.
Complex clauses are used lightly: "which is actually the reason I went looking for tourist information in the first place" (non-defining relative), "so we got to the main site first thing and skipped a queue" (result clause), and "it turned what could have been a very average day into..." (nominal what-clause).
Takeaway: drop one or two non-defining relative clauses ("which is why...") and one nominal clause ("what could have been...") into a Part 2 talk — they extend the sentence without losing fluency.
Linking and stress carry the story: "a side street" → /əsaɪd‿striːt/, "spot on" → /spɒt‿ɒn/ (linked /t/), "turn what could" → /tɜːnwɒtkʊd/. Keep nuclear stress on the payoff words — "queue", "amazing", "favourite" — so the highlights land.
Takeaway: rehearse the linked cluster in "spot on" and place the emphasis on the result words; the rise-and-fall on the payoff is what makes a story feel finished at the 2-minute mark.