Describe an Occasion When the Vehicle You Were Travelling in Broke Down Cue Card

Who you were with?

So, at about 12 in the morning, as I was making my way to the bus, we heard a few loud noises coming from the bus's rear. There were about 15 people on the bus, and of course, we all became extremely frightened. Some of us even started picnicking, and others hurried to the driver to alert him to the noises. They approached the bus driver when it suddenly came to a sudden stop with a loud jerk.

How long it took to fix the vehicle?

We were thrown from our seats and left feeling very perplexed. The conductor, a few other passengers, and the driver went down to investigate. They soon returned with dejected expressions. The truth was much worse; the engine's fuse had caught fire, causing the entire system to fail and shut down. All of a sudden, a fellow passenger said that there was no point in waiting for the service repairmen to arrive until the morning because many of us had important business to attend in the morning. Instead, we should try to walk to a nearby bus station and make arrangements for another vehicle. We were sent a big van that arrived at around 3 am by the bus service provider, and I was able to reach my destination by 9 am.

Explain how you felt about it?

I'll have to admit that I continue to prefer taking the bus to driving my own car to get where I'm going, especially in urban areas. In any case, I would not have been able to arrive at my destination in time if it weren't for the other bus passengers.

Who you were with?

I was with four of four of my friends with whom I have studied from college days. We booked our hotels and took a car for rent as two of us knew how to drive and decided to drive the car turn by turn. There are numerous beaches in Goa that one can visit and we tried to cover for our five days trip at least three beaches and spend our time.

How long it took to fix the vehicle?

One of the beaches was around 15kms from our hotel so we decided to go to that beach on the last two days and stay at another resort on that beach. I was driving towards the beach when we all suddenly felt bits of jerking and eventually the car stopped in the middle of the road. It was starting to get dark and being in an unknown place we were quite scared of what we should do. We got out of the car and checked that there was a flat tire because of which the car stopped.

Explain how you felt about it?

We tried checking the back of the car for a spare tire but there wasn’t any. We were tense and decided that the two of us needed to walk down the road to find a repair shop who could help us with the same. Fortunately, after a ten minutes walk, my friend and I found a car repair shop and a person who agreed to walk down with us to change the tire. It took him around 20 minutes to fix the issue and we were able to resume our journey again. While it was a lesson that we need to check for these issues prior to a car rental booking, our Goa vacation was spectacular.

Who you were with?

The next morning I got ready and decided to leave between 8.30-9 am just to reach at least 1hour before the exam began. I was traveling alone in the cab and decided to go through my notes and books once to revise. Suddenly after 15minutes of traveling, the car stopped. The driver got down to check and stated that the car broke down and it would take at least an hour to repair the car. I got nervous and scared that I might miss the examination and might lose my chances of getting into PhD.

How long it took to fix the vehicle?

I waited for 15minutes more to find any public transport by which I can travel, but since I was in a bylane where public transport routes are not available. I made a call to my friend who I guessed lived nearby the area and asked if she left for the exam. Fortunately, she did not and offered to pick me up on the way. However, I was extremely nervous and I started to panic a little. Within the next 10 minutes, my friend came to pick me up and I was so relaxed and glad to have her as my friend.

Explain how you felt about it?

I narrated the incident and she asked me to calm down, offering me some water. I might never forget this moment when I thought I almost won’t be able to sit for the exam and would have to wait for another year to apply for the same.