Describe an occasion when you had to wait a long time for someone or something to arrive
You should say:
- Who or what you were waiting for
- How long you had to wait
- Why you had to wait a long time
and explain how you felt about waiting a long time.
Sample Answer
About a year ago, my friend and I had a plan to meet up in Spain, and then go onto London for a vacation. We were arriving from different places, because I had been studying in California, and she had been working in Amsterdam for a year.
So, the plan was to meet up in Spain and then fly together across to London. Unfortunately, I arrived in Madrid as scheduled but there was a problem with her flight, which was delayed until the next day, so she arrived later than scheduled.
I didn’t know anyone in Spain, and hadn’t planned to spend the night there, but I ended up having to find a hotel for the night until my friend’s plane arrived. If I had only had to wait for a few hours it wouldn’t have been a problem, but for some reason she couldn’t get an alternative flight until later the next day which meant that she wouldn’t arrive until the middle of the afternoon, and I wasn’t prepared to wait that long in the airport.
Thankfully, I found a hotel near the airport after a quick search online, and jumped in a taxi and went to spend the night there. It was good to relax, have a shower, change my clothes and have a decent meal, because I had been on a long 11-hour transatlantic flight most of the day. I was really glad to get out away from airports and planes and into a comfortable room.
I actually didn’t mid waiting for my friend at all, we had plenty of time to change the flights to London, and it was actually a chance for me to unwind and relax before meeting up with her when she arrived at Madrid airport later that day.
Anyway, these things happen, it wasn’t her fault, and in fact one of my connecting flights had been late in the USA, so I could understand her predicament.
When we did finally meet up, it was great and I felt a lot less tired than I had the day before, so maybe the long wait was beneficial for me – it gave me a chance to recover from the jet lag and traveling of the previous day.
