Your friend bought your ticket for your and you promised you would pay her/him back as soon as you got home.

Task: Recently you went on holiday abroad and stayed with a friend. Unfortunately, you misread the departure time on your return tickets and missed your flight. You were able to another flight the same day but had no money to pay for the ticket yourself. Your friend bought your ticket for your and you promised you would pay her/him back as soon as you got home. Write a letter to your friend explaining how you arranged repayment and inviting her/him to stay with you when she/he visits your country.


Dear Clara,

Thought I'd better drop you a line straightaway to thank you for helping me our on Friday. I'm really sorry I had to bother you at such an unsociable hour and I'm sure you can imagine how embarrassed I was about having to ask you to pay for my ticket like that.

I am now back home safely, as you can see. I went into the bank yesterday and arranged to transfer the price of the ticket from my bank account to yours, so you should find the money in your account any day now. I'm enclosing the receipt so you can see how much the ticket cost in dollars and check that the amount I've sent you in pounds is correct. I hope it is, as I asked the people in the bank to double check.

Despite missing the plane like that, I had a really wonderful time in San Francisco. I particularly enjoyed meeting your niece and going out skating with her friends. I also loved the city, especially the bay and hope I'll get to go back some time.

I know you said you might be coming over to London in the summer. I really hope you do manage to get time off work and that if you do, you will come and stay with my family. There's plenty of room here and you'd be very welcome, so just let us know when you're coming.

All the best and thanks again!

John