4. Trip or travel?

Here's a vocabulary question for you! 

The words trip and travel are often confused. Which answer is correct?

Sergei enjoyed his _____ to Hong Kong.
     a. trip
     b. travel

Read the explanation below to find out the difference.

trip (noun)

We use trip to talk about going to a place for a period of time. With this meaning, trip is a noun.

We went on a trip to Mexico.
My small children love a trip to the supermarket.
It's a five-hour trip to my parents' house.

We can use a variety of nouns before trip.

She's on a business trip.
The children are on a school trip to the zoo.
We took a boat trip on the Nile River.

Most of the time, trip refers to a specific time that we go somewhere. We don't use it to talk about the activity of travelling somewhere in general.

travel (verb or noun)

The word travel can be used as a noun or as a verb.

When we use travel as a verb, it means 'to go to a place', usually one that is far away.

My mother loves to travel. Every month, she goes on a trip somewhere.
He travels to Ecuador every few months for work.
The film is about two men who travelled from Germany to Beijing by bike.

When we use travel as a noun, we're talking about the activity of going somewhere in general, not about a specific trip. It's an uncountable noun.

My father's job involved a lot of travel.
Travel broadens the mind.
We share a love of travel.

We often use travel combined with other nouns or adjectives.

Her uncle was a travel agent.
Be sure to keep your travel documents safe.

My kids love air travel, but I like it less and less.
Business travel hasn't returned to previous levels.

Foreign travel can be expensive.
There's a discount for frequent travel.

We sometimes use the noun travels to talk about a long trip that included many other smaller trips.

Marco Polo wrote a book about his travels on the Silk Road.

A note on spelling!

• British English: travelled, travelling, traveller
• American English: traveled, traveling, traveler

Answer

Did you get the question about Sergei's trip to Hong Kong right?! The correct answer is:

Sergei enjoyed his trip to Hong Kong.

Try this exercise

Choose the best answer.