Trip, Journey, Travel or Voyage? Fix Your Travel English (B2–C1)

Quick test before we start. Is this sentence right or wrong?

He is away on a business journey this week.

Decide now. Out loud if you can, and don’t look it up. I’ll give you the answer later. It’s one of the most common mistakes in travel English, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that can cost you marks in a B2 or C1 exam.

This post is based on an episode of my podcast, Alex’s Adventures: The British English Pod, where we work through the travel unit of English Vocabulary in Use: Upper-Intermediate by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell, a book that’s great if you’re preparing for exams like FCE or aiming for a C1.

Road transport: British vs American English

• Lorry (UK) / truck (US): a large vehicle for carrying goods.
• Boot (UK) / trunk (US): the storage space at the back of a car.
• Coach: a comfortable bus for long trips. It also means a carriage on a train. Pronounce it like go or no: /kəʊtʃ/.
• Tram: an electric vehicle that runs on rails in the street.
• Chauffeur: a person paid to drive someone else’s car.

Break down vs a breakdown

This is a great stress pattern to learn:

• The phrasal verb stresses the particle: Our car broke DOWN.
• The noun stresses the first part: We called the BREAKdown service.

Many phrasal verbs become nouns this way: to check in → a check-in, to take off → a takeoff.

Rail and sea

• High-speed train: a very fast electric train.
• Express: a fast train that stops at only a few stations.
• Conductor: one stressed syllable, duck, with schwas on either side: /kənˈdʌktə/.
• Liner: a large passenger ship for long sea journeys.
• Ferry: a boat that carries passengers and cars across a short stretch of water.
• Yacht: a boat with sails, used for pleasure or racing. Silent ch! In the UK it’s /jɒt/.
• Gangway: a small bridge for walking on and off a ship.
• Cruise: a holiday on a ship that visits several places.
• Port: a town or harbour where ships stop. In the south of England you’ll hear no /r/; in other parts of the UK, like the north, you might hear it.

Stress in compound nouns

When two nouns form a unit, we usually stress the first one: SEA journeys, CREDit card, PHONE call. Change that stress only when you’re contrasting something: Not my debit card, my CREDIT card.

Air travel

• Aircraft: any vehicle that can fly. In southern British English you’ll hear a long /ɑː/ in craft.
• Jumbo jet: a very large passenger plane.
• Helicopter: an aircraft with large rotating blades on top.
• Aisle: the passage between rows of seats. The s is silent: /aɪl/, exactly like I’ll and isle.
• Cockpit: where the pilots sit.

The big one: travel, trip, journey or voyage?

• Travel is the general word, and usually a verb: I would love to travel around the world in a balloon. As a countable noun, don’t say “a travel”.
• Journey is getting from A to B, often long: a long journey by coach.
• Voyage is a long journey by sea (or space), and it’s quite formal: The Titanic sank on its very first voyage. A voyage of discovery.
• Trip is usually shorter: a visit somewhere and back. That’s why we say a business trip.

So the answer to our quick test? It’s wrong. We say: He’s away on a business trip this week.

Go on a trip vs take a trip

• Go on a trip suggests an organised, short excursion: Next week we’re going on an excursion to the coast.
• Take a trip is something you organise yourself: We took a trip to the beach last weekend.

Collocations for when things go wrong

• To be stuck: unable to move. I was stuck at the airport for three hours. We were stuck in traffic for over two hours.
• Put someone up: give someone a place to stay. The airline put me up in a hotel overnight. Sally offered to put me up for the night.
• On time: punctual. The train arrived right on time. (In time = early enough.)
• Turbulence: strong, sudden movements of a plane in the air. Starts with the vowel of church.
• A bumpy landing: a landing that wasn’t smooth. We had a bumpy landing in strong winds.
• Jet lag: tiredness caused by flying across time zones. I had terrible jet lag for days.
• Seasick / airsick: feeling sick because of the movement of a boat or plane.
• Sail: travel by boat. I’d always wanted to sail across the Mediterranean.
• Crew member: someone who works on a ship or plane.

Practice

Choose the best word.

1. The Titanic sank on its first (trip / voyage / flight).
2. I’d love to (travel / trip / journey) around South America.
3. The airline (set / put / got) us up in a hotel.
4. I get (seasick / jet-lagged / airsick) even on a short ferry ride.
5. My sister’s on a business (journey / trip / travel) in Madrid.

Listen to the full episode

The episode has many more gap-fill sentences and the full pronunciation of every word. Listen on the go, or watch it on YouTube with the slides.

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