The World’s Most Unfamiliar Travel Words

Travel is the general movement of individuals between different geographic locations. The history of travel is quite lengthy, dating all the way back to the stone age. Travel can usually be done with or without baggage, by foot, car, bike, train, plane, boat or other modes, and is one way or an round trip journey. Travel may be for pleasure or business. For some it is a form of escape, while for others it is a means to educate, inspire, bond, or even begin a family journey.

Many cultures have different ways of defining travel. In the United States, for example, when someone speaks of travelling, they are typically referencing tourism. But the travel meaning of the term has changed a great deal in recent years, especially when tourism is defined as visiting other countries. With the growth of air travel, and the development and improvement of shipping routes around the world, more people are beginning to define travel on a different level. When we refer to travelling, it no longer means going to see another place, but rather, it means meeting other people, seeing things, experiencing culture, gaining knowledge, enriching experiences, or just enjoying our travel experiences.

The verb of travel itself (to travel) has two parts, the first part being the action of moving, and the second part is the destination. We can break the travel word down even further by adding -ly to the end of the verb. Travel is a verb that can also come after -ing. So, to travel across the United States, we would say “I went across the U.S.” The word travel doesn’t have a final consonant, therefore it can’t end in -ly. While long ago the pronunciation of travel was ‘trah-ee-uh’, it has now been modernized to become more standard, where the pronunciation -uh is much more common.

Travel as a verb defines travel as “moving from one place to another”. The use of this verb when used in conjunction with destinations brings up questions as to why people would travel. Why would anyone want to travel? If you have never traveled, or if you don’t plan on travelling for some time in the future, let’s take a look at some of the common destinations that we define travel.

Let’s begin with the world’s largest city, Paris, France. Paris is probably the most well known travel destination in the world, and people often think of travelling to Paris when thinking about traveling to any major city around the globe. Let’s further define travel meaning for this famous city: “To go to Paris is to step into the footsteps of royalty, and to come out of it into the laps of literature, art and culture”.

Now let’s look at a very unlikely destination: Africa. If you do not travel to Africa, you are not a traveler. This word travel can also be defined as “To go to Africa or to see Africa”. So, going to Africa and seeing the pyramids is not the same as going to Africa and seeing the pyramids.