Do You Confuse Trip and Travel? (Plus 9 Travel Expressions!)

What’s the difference between TRIP and TRAVEL? They are both verbs and nouns, but we usually don’t use them interchangeably.

In today’s lesson, you’re going to learn the difference between TRIP and TRAVEL, and some very useful travel idioms!

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Hey RealLifers, welcome to another episode of RealLife TV.

Today I’m going to teach you the difference between trip and travel, and about 10 expressions related to these words.

So stay tuned!

General Rule

Ok, as a general rule, in 95% of the cases, trip is a noun and travel is a verb.

So, “I traveled to Germany last weekend.” “I took a trip.”

You can also say “to make a trip,” but this is more, it’s a shorter trip that has a specific purpose.

“I made a trip to the grocery store to buy some milk.”

So, in most cases, trip is a noun and travel is a verb.

When Is It Different?

Sometimes, you can actually use travel as a noun.

So, for example, “Travel expands your perspective on life.” That’s a noun.

Or, if you use with the possessive, “My travels really expanded my perspective.”

This is more like my collective experience of traveling.

And trip, when used as a verb, is to trip over something, when you’re walking and something blocks your path, and you fall. That’s to trip.

It’s also used when you trip on drugs, like on LSD, or if you have a crazy idea.

So trip can be used as a synonym for travel, but this is quite rare, and it’s usually used for like a short trip.

Expressions

So now let’s move on to the expressions for travel and trip.

Hit the Road

So, to hit the road means to leave. So, “I’m going to hit the road now,” I’m going to go on the, on the highway and then leave.

One For the Road

Second one is one for the road. For, for example, maybe you are eating cookies at somebody’s house, and you want to grab one to take on the road, so you say like “Ok, I’ll take one for the road.”

Wanderlust

The third expression is wanderlust. A wonderlust is like an inexplicable desire to travel, to hit the road, to go on your journey and explore.

Off the Beaten Path

Off the beaten path means to explore places that aren’t really on a established pattern that people normally go to.

Itchy Feet

And itchy feet. Itchy feet is when your feet itch, not literally, but when you really, really want to leave and go travel.

So, to finish, let’s go through a couple of expressions that you say to people when they’re leaving on a trip.

Happy Trails

The first one is happy trails. Happy trails. This is just, I hope your trails, or your path, is happy, is successful.

Godspeed

The next one, which is a little bit more grandiose, is godspeed. Godspeed is more like when you’re about to set off, or to leave on an adventure, you say to that person “Godspeed!”

Safe Travels

Another one – Safe travels. Safe travels. It’s like “I hope you have a safe trip, have a good trip.”

Life is a Journey, Not a Destination

The final one is a really great expression that’s sort of a cliche, but I use this one all the time. It’s part of an Aerosmith song, but… “Life is a journey, not a destination.” It means that we should enjoy the moment and not think too far ahead at the destination.

That’s it!

So, that does it for today’s lesson, travel vs. trip.

I hope you learned a lot.

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Thank you very much, take care!