Quick test before we start. Is this sentence right or wrong?
Have a nice travel!
Decide now, out loud if you can, and don’t look it up. I’ll give you the answer further down. It’s one of the most common mistakes in travel English, and it’s exactly the kind of slip that costs marks in a B2 exam like the FCE.
This post goes with part 2 of my travel episode on Alex’s Adventures: The British English Podcast. We finish unit 31 (Travel) of English Vocabulary in Use: Upper-Intermediate by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell. Missed part 1? Read Trip, Journey, Travel or Voyage? Fix Your Travel English first.
▶ Practise this episode: player, interactive transcript and practice
Travel, journey or trip?
Learners mix these three up all the time. Here’s the short version:
- Travel is the general activity of going from one place to another. As a noun it’s uncountable, so never say a travel. Long-distance travel has become much cheaper.
- Journey is getting from A to B, usually a long way. It’s countable: a long journey by car, Did you have a good journey?
- Trip is one occasion when you go somewhere for a reason and come back. It’s countable too, and usually shorter than a journey: a business trip, a day trip, several trips.
So, the answer to our quick test? It’s wrong. We say: Have a nice trip!
Travel or travels?
Both exist, but they mean different things:
- Travel = the activity in general: My interests are travel and photography. Air travel is safer than ever.
- Travels (always plural) = someone’s journeys to many places: On her travels, she visited Egypt, Jordan and South Africa. She wrote a book about her travels in Asia.
On time or in time?
This pair confuses most of my students, but the difference is simple:
- On time = punctually, at the planned time, not late: The train arrived on time and I picked her up at the station. The meeting started on time.
- In time = early enough, before it’s too late: Luckily, the doctor arrived in time to save him. We got to the cinema in time for the film.
So when you mean punctually, don’t say the train arrived in time.
Travel vocabulary from the exercises
In the second half of the episode we read two travel blogs and fill in the gaps. These are the words worth keeping:
Flying
- Cancelled: the flight didn’t go at all. Our flight was cancelled because of the blizzard.
- Cabin crew: the people who look after passengers on the plane. The cabin crew were attentive and friendly.
- Landing: when the plane comes down. A landing can be smooth or bumpy, and you’ll often hear the plane made an emergency landing.
Pronunciation tip: cabin crew is a compound noun, so the stress falls on the first word: CAbin crew, TAKEoff, CREdit card. Compare the noun TAKEoff with the phrasal verb take OFF.
Trains
- On standby and a seat: They put me on standby and I got a seat on a later train. And a very useful question: Could I have a window seat, please?
- Sleeping car: a carriage with beds for overnight travel. In overnight travel, overnight is an adjective; in to travel overnight, it’s an adverb.
- Berth: a bed on a train or ship. We reserved two berths in the sleeping car. It sounds exactly like birth. They’re homophones, like sun and son.
- The early morning train: a train very early in the day. I caught the early morning train to work.
By sea
- Calm vs rough: the sea is calm when it’s flat and quiet, and rough when there are big waves. I hope the sea is calm.
- Set sail: start a journey by boat. The sea was completely calm when we set sail.
Spot the mistake
One sentence in each pair has a mistake. Which one is correct?
- (a) After we left the airport, we had a long journey by car. / (b) After we left the airport, we had a long travel by car.
- (a) My interests are travel and photography. / (b) My interests are travels and photography.
- (a) Did you have a good travel? / (b) Did you have a good journey?
- (a) They have made several trips to Europe. / (b) They have made several travels to Europe.
- (a) The concert started in time, at exactly 8 o’clock. / (b) The concert started on time, at exactly 8 o’clock.
Show the answers
- (a): a journey goes from A to B, and we can’t say a travel.
- (a): travel is the activity in general.
- (b): journey is countable, travel isn’t.
- (a): trip is countable, so several trips.
- (b): on time means punctually.
Over to you
Answer these in full sentences, then leave them in the comments on the YouTube video. I’ll correct them and give you feedback.
- Have you ever been on a high-speed train?
- Which do you prefer on a plane, a window or an aisle seat? Why?
- Do you usually visit the duty-free shop? What do you look for?
- What do you do before going through security?
Listen and read along
The episode page has the full interactive transcript: tap any word to jump to that moment in the video, look words up in the built-in dictionary, and test yourself with the practice quiz.
What’s your level?
Not sure if you’re B1, B2 or already C1? Take my free English placement test and see your level in a few minutes. If you’d like to fix mistakes like these in your own speaking, book a one-to-one lesson and we’ll work on them together.