Holiday or Travel?

• "I am a travel enthusiast also and have been to 3 of the 7 continent so far. Reflection on my travels, I have questioned whether there is a difference between travelling and holidaying. When looking back at the places you've been, have you been travelling or holidaying? Do you think they're different, same or overlap!"

- Filipo

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This is a question I've asked myself many times!

I think there is a difference but I also think the terms "travel" and "holiday" can overlap on occasions.

For our continuous trip around the world I would call this travelling as we planned on-the-go and some of our main aims were to 'see the sights', visit the attractions and experience the cuisines that each location was famous for e.g. The Great Wall in China and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. In my opinion the term travelling/travel is associated with longer trips, trips where you're visiting several locations, and trips that involve being dynamic i.e. planning on the move and reacting to changes along the way.

On the other hand, I think "holidays/holidaying" are trips for leisure where the main goal is basically to relax and have fun. For example, when we visited Lanzarote in 2017 I would certainly call that a "holiday" as we weren't going to see sights or historic landmarks, rather we wanted to enjoy the sea, sand and sun!

Finally, I also do believe that the terms can be used together, and for this I use the examples of the short trips we've taken to various cities in Europe. For instance, when we visited Paris in 2018 this was for Rebecca's birthday and we booked a nice hotel and aimed to enjoy some of the restaurants and bakeries etc. that Paris is known for. Meanwhile, we also wanted to see all the sights, as you do while "travelling", and we were able to visit many great landmarks like the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre-Dame, and of course the Eiffel Tower. I would class Paris, along with our trips to Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest and Venice, as "holidaying/travelling"!