Do you know the difference between TRAVEL, JOURNEY, and a TRIP?
26/6/19 Do you know the difference between TRAVEL, JOURNEY, and a TRIP?
Now you will!
The words travel, journey, and trip can easily be confused by learners of English. I suppose it’s a good time of year to look at these words!
Travel (noun)
The noun travel is a general word, meaning to move from place to place, usually over long distances.
We can say: air travel, food and travel, space travel, business travel, a travel agency.
- Air travel is getting more expensive.
- The magazine is a food and travel guide.
We can also say travels, which is a plural noun:
- Where did you go on your travels?
- Jack Kerouac wrote many books about his travels.
Travel is also a verb:
- I travel 20 km to work every day.
Journey (noun)
A journey means moving from one place to another, especially in a vehicle. It is a single piece of travel. A journey can also be a regular thing.
Here is an example. Let’s say we go from London to Leeds then back again. That is two journeys (London to Leeds is the first journey, Leeds to London is the second journey).
We can say: a bus journey, a train journey, the journey to school, my journey to work.
Be careful with the plural: journeys NOT .
- How long does your journey to work take?
- Did you have a good journey?
Trip (noun)
A trip describes the whole process of going somewhere and coming back. (It is more than one journey.)
Once again, let’s go from London to Leeds then back again. As I said above, that is two journeys, but it is one trip.
Some examples: a day trip, a round trip, a round-the-world trip, a boat trip and a business trip. We say go on a trip.
- We went on a three-week trip to Scotland.
- He’s gone on a business trip to Germany.
- Let’s go on a trip to the mountains this summer!
- The journey there took three hours.
