Going somewhere? Consider being a bit more specific about what type of experience you’re going to experience:
1. Adventure: a trip involving some risk
2. Boat trip: see cruise
3. Business trip: a trip to another location for the purpose of conducting business
4. Campaign: a trip involving stopping at more than one destination to achieve a larger goal; originally, referred to a military enterprise of this nature
5. Circuit: a trip undertaken regularly as part of an official schedule
6. Commutation: see commuting
7. Commute: a regular trip taken back and forth, especially from home to work and back
8. Crossing: a trip, generally over a large body of water or through challenging terrain
9. Cruise: a trip conducted on a vessel on one or more bodies of water
10. Drive: a trip taken in a motor vehicle, often for the purpose of enjoying scenery and/or traveling to a place for enjoyment
11. Entrada: see expedition
12. Errand: a usually short trip to conduct business for oneself or another; earlier, meant a diplomatic mission
13. Excursion: a short trip taken for pleasure; also can mean a deviation from a planned or expected course; see also expedition
14. Expedition: a trip conducted for a specific reason, such as exploration or scientific discovery or to achieve a military objective; also, a jocular way to refer to a meticulously planned personal, family, or group trip (can also refer to those undertaking the trip, and, as the noun form of expedite, means “speed”)
15. Field trip: an officially organized trip undertaken by students or a group for educational purposes
16. Flight: a trip undertaken by air
17. Foray: a trip, perhaps one taken outside expected parameters; also, an attack or invasion
18. Grand tour: an extended trip often for educational purposes; also, a traditional extended trip around Europe as part of a British gentleman’s education and personal development
19. Hajj: a required trip to Mecca undertaken by Moslems (see pilgrimage); also, generically refers to a secular trip
20. Hike: a walk, often in the wilderness or an area set aside for outdoor activities, taken for enjoyment and/or exercise
21. Hop: a short trip, especially by air
22. Jaunt: a pleasure trip; originally referred to an exhausting trip
23. Journey: a trip; originally referred to a day’s travel (ultimately from the Latin term diurnus, “day”)
24. Junket: an official trip made at someone else’s expense, often with limited justification
25. Long haul: an extended trip
26. Migration: a trip to another location, either to settle or, for animals, to avoid a period of adverse weather conditions
27. Mission: a trip undertaken for a strategic objective
28. Odyssey: a long, arduous trip involving perils and/or resulting in enlightenment
29. Outing: a short pleasure trip, especially to enjoy the outdoors; also an athletic performance or event, an appearance or performance by a writer or performing arts, or the identification by others of a public figure who had been concealing their homosexuality
30. Overnight: a trip involving participants staying at the destination until the next day
31. Passage: a trip usually by air or sea; also, accommodations during such a trip
32. Perambulation: a trip on foot
33. Peregrination: a trip, generally on foot
34. Pleasure trip: a trip taken for enjoyment rather than for a practical purpose
35. Pilgrimage: a journey to a sacred place or to a location that has significant personal meaning
36. Procession: a trip, often involving multiple travelers and complicated preparations, often of an official or ceremonial nature
37. Progress: see circuit, expedition, and procession
38. Quest: a trip with the objective of finding something or making a significant literal or figurative discovery
39. Ramble: an aimless or loosely organized trip
40. Ride: see drive; also, a similar trip on another type of vehicle or mounted on an animal
41. Road trip: a self-organized trip involving extensive travel in a motor vehicle
42. Round trip: a trip that culminates in a return to the starting point
43. Safari: from a Swahili word for “journey,” taken from Arabic; connotes a hunting trip, especially in Africa, though in many present-day safaris, the shooting is done with cameras, not guns
44. Sail: a trip on a sailboat or sailing ship
45. Shlep: an arduous trip; also means “a loser,” and as a verb means “to carry or drag”
46. Slog: see shlep
47. Spin: see drive
48. Survey: a trip undertaken to observe phenomena and/or record data
49. Tour: a trip involving stops at multiple destinations, often organized by a company or organization for paying participants; see also “grand tour”
50. Tramp: a walking trip; also used in the phrase “tramp steamer” to denote a freelance cargo ship
51. Transit: see crossing
52. Travel: generally used in plural form to describe one’s experiences going on trips
53. Traverse: see crossing
54. Trek: to take a trip or migrate, with a connotation of length and difficulty
55. Vacation: a trip taken for leisure as a respite from work or from normal life in general
56. Venture: see adventure
57. Visit: a trip undertaken to spend time with friends or family
58. Voyage: originally, any long trip, but now confined to those over a large body of water
59. Walkabout: a migratory trip in Australia
60. Weekend: a trip away from the usual environment between one workweek and the next
Just wanted to say thanks for providing this wonderful list of synonyms. I will attach this list to my writing projects’ folder for use along the way! I enjoy reading the various daily “tips” and appreciate your efforts. Thanks.
In mediaeval and early modern England, the word ‘progress’ also referred to the monarch’s habit of ‘visiting’ the estates of the nobility with an entourage and staying there for a more or less extended period. The purpose was twofold – firstly to gauge the noble’s loyalty, and secondly, because the noble had to entertain the monarch and entourage in lavish fashion, to hamper the noble’s ability to raise, equip and pay an army of rebellion (the more suspect the noble, the larger the entourage and the longer the stay).
The word ‘walkabout’ (or the phrase ‘to go walkabout’) should be used with caution, if at all, due to its racist overtones. Originally an attempt by Aborigines themselve to convey in English their obligation to travel to certain places for spiritual/ceremonial/social purposes, it acquired the offensive implication among rural employers that Aborigines as a group were lazy and unreliable workers who would stop work “for no reason” ans simply wander off aimlessly. The term/phrase carries the same connotations when used in reference to non-Aborigines.
One word is missing for ‘trip’. the word is ‘sojourn’
“Walkabout” doesn’t necessarily mean a migratory trip in Australia. It has significance for the indigenous population here, and generally refers to a rite of passage for young men who travel throughout their ancestors lands. Though it’s not widely practiced anymore. It’s also not a practice undertaken by non-indigenous Australians.
Wayfare is a journey.
Love this list — very helpful! Many of these hadn’t occurred to me. Thank you.
Sojourn.