To think that this isnt a "road trip"?

PyongyangKipperbang · 2025-07-23T17:54:21+00:00

Colleague talking about how she is going on a road trip next month and will be gone two weeks. I ask which part of the UK she is travelling around and she is driving to South Devon, staying in a cottage for two weeks and driving back. Thats just going on holiday isnt it?! When did any long (or even not so long!) journey start being called a road trip?

Nourishinghandcream · 29/07/2025 09:17

Just listening to Heart Radio (not my station of choice but my OH fancied it for a change) and a caller said they are doing a roadtrip today, travelling from Cheshire to Eastbourne.
That is NOT a roadtrip...... it is a journey!!!!!😖

The NC500 is a roadtrip, driving for a few hours is not.

ViciousCurrentBun · 25/07/2025 02:25

I have had many holidays but only 2 road trips. One was driving round Northern US states for close to a month in a hired car stopping at hotels and motels. The other was a 3 week Motorhome trip round Devon and Cornwall, we stayed 1 night in most places but did do 3 nights in one place.

Next road trip is for maybe 6 weeks but we do plan a couple of 3 night stays.

Original poster

PyongyangKipperbang · 25/07/2025 00:40

Lisanne55 · 24/07/2025 21:08

Staycation first became commonly used in the US in 2008 during the financial crisis. People stayed at home and did day trips instead of going on holiday because it was cheaper. It re-emerged during covid when people couldn't go away on holiday.

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There was a Second World War campaign that started in 1939 and continued when the trains were struggling due to lack of fuel. People were encouraged to "Holiday at Home!!". Which was staying at home but doing holiday type stuff. So paddling pools, picnics etc. It saved money, saved fuel and the beaches were all fortified so wouldnt be any fun anyway!

OP posts:

Original poster

PyongyangKipperbang · 25/07/2025 00:33

SuburbanSprawl · 24/07/2025 23:28

Difficult to argue with that.

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I highly recommend listening to The Penny Dreadful's Present.... One of their plays is Robert Webb as Odysseus. Its brilliant! Originally on R4 but available on Audible, my favourite is Hadrians Beard.

OP posts:

SuburbanSprawl · 24/07/2025 23:29

Bollihobs · 24/07/2025 19:10

And yet here you are commenting........🤔😂

Seriously, do you only ever say something if it's of 'National Importance' or do you, like the rest of us, mull over small questions and thoughts during your day? 🙄

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I’m afraid your question is of insufficient consequence to merit my consideration.

SuburbanSprawl · 24/07/2025 23:28

outerspacepotato · 24/07/2025 20:14

Naw, the original Road Trip saga was The Odyssey.

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Difficult to argue with that.

CaptainMyCaptain · 24/07/2025 21:14

cobrakaieaglefang · 24/07/2025 20:57

Road trip- trip with overnight stays in multiple places on the route, moving on daily
Staycation- staying in your own home with day trips
Holiday- going away from home either within same country or going abroad for more than a couple of nights.

Exactly 💯

tuvamoodyson · 24/07/2025 21:12

gildurthegreen · 23/07/2025 19:00

Maybe she didn't know what else to call 'getting away from judgy colleagues' 😊

Going on holiday would’ve covered it.

Lisanne55 · 24/07/2025 21:08

Crushed23 · 24/07/2025 18:35

Presumably no one used the word “staycation” when you were a child either. It became popular when people started holidaying overseas to describe holidays that were not overseas, especially among people who had a combination of overseas and domestic holidays. Nothing to do with one being a poor substitute for the other. During the Covid years I had a number of fantastic staycations that I still rave about (particularly Scilly Isles).

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Staycation first became commonly used in the US in 2008 during the financial crisis. People stayed at home and did day trips instead of going on holiday because it was cheaper. It re-emerged during covid when people couldn't go away on holiday.

cobrakaieaglefang · 24/07/2025 20:57

Road trip- trip with overnight stays in multiple places on the route, moving on daily
Staycation- staying in your own home with day trips
Holiday- going away from home either within same country or going abroad for more than a couple of nights.

Catingle · 24/07/2025 20:55

Road trip: a journey by car or van split over multiple days where the journey itself is intrinsic to the experience and not simply a means to an end.

Nagginthenag · 24/07/2025 20:33

A road trip is a month travelling Route 66, or a week on the NC500, or spending a month doing the east coast of Australia, not 2 weeks in a holiday cottage in Devon - that's just your hollibobs and no, I don't usually use the term but it seems quite apt for 2 weeks in a cottage in Devon.

mathanxiety · 24/07/2025 20:23

I'm in the US, and to me a road trip is a vacation in and of itself, or a journey across country where your destination is a few days away, and you stay overnight (in a motel or whatever) one or more nights - a combined road trip and vacation.

Pineapplewaves · 24/07/2025 20:21

She’s going on holiday to Devon.

Reallywittyusername · 24/07/2025 20:17

Reallywittyusername · 24/07/2025 20:16

Speculating completely, but I imagine she said road trip because she is just driving there and not flying?

I think definition of a road trip is just a journey made by road (may have googled this 😂)

Reallywittyusername · 24/07/2025 20:16

Speculating completely, but I imagine she said road trip because she is just driving there and not flying?

outerspacepotato · 24/07/2025 20:14

SuburbanSprawl · 24/07/2025 13:04

Uh-oh.

Now you've introduced an different but entirely plausible definition of 'road trip'. That'll give rise to all sorts of debate about usage. There'll be screenshots from the OED and claims that the original US derivation of the phrase has been attenuated by its adoption as part of British English. People will cite Kerouac and 'The Road'. Someone'll suggest that The Canterbury Tales is a sort of mediaeval meta-roadtrip saga.

This could go on and on. Can't wait.

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Naw, the original Road Trip saga was The Odyssey.

sunnysiders · 24/07/2025 19:50

It’s one of those words that has moved on from original meaning.

I live in London, if my friends and I drive to Manchester we’d call it a road trip - even if it’s just motorway after motorway and a few stop offs at service stations. Think there’s a tongue in cheek element - no one thinks they are doing route 66.

Bollihobs · 24/07/2025 19:10

SuburbanSprawl · 24/07/2025 12:42

Glad I clicked on this thread because it really, really matters.

And yet here you are commenting........🤔😂

Seriously, do you only ever say something if it's of 'National Importance' or do you, like the rest of us, mull over small questions and thoughts during your day? 🙄

Crushed23 · 24/07/2025 18:35

CaptainMyCaptain · 24/07/2025 18:04

It makes it sound like a poor substitute for a real holiday. When I was a child it was very unusual for anyone I knew to go on a foreign holiday but it wasn't a 'staycation'. They just had a holiday in Devon or Yorkshire or wherever.

Edited

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Presumably no one used the word “staycation” when you were a child either. It became popular when people started holidaying overseas to describe holidays that were not overseas, especially among people who had a combination of overseas and domestic holidays. Nothing to do with one being a poor substitute for the other. During the Covid years I had a number of fantastic staycations that I still rave about (particularly Scilly Isles).

Tuningfork · 24/07/2025 18:34

Back in my day (because I'm a dinosaur), that would have been called 'going to Devon'

Foreverm0re · 24/07/2025 18:28

She’s going on holiday. Not a road trip.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 24/07/2025 18:25

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 23/07/2025 19:01

YANBU. It's a bit like people saying they are having a "staycation" when they are actuallly going on holiday in the UK. A staycation is staying at home - clue in the name - and having day trips out. A road trip is definitely stopping at different places. Getting there is a journey.

Exactly this!

I don’t know why it’s so grating when people misuse these terms but it is! According to some people, therefore, this colleague’s trip would be both a staycation and a road trip - when it is neither!

I agree OP - a road trip has to involve a certain amount of driving from location to location- staying at different places on the way. Otherwise as you say it’s just a holiday!

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 24/07/2025 18:13

Those of you grumbling about "staycation". Oxford English Dictionary online actually defines it both ways, as a holiday in your own home OR in your home country.

CaptainMyCaptain · 24/07/2025 18:04

Crushed23 · 24/07/2025 15:23

This is not how I or anyone I know uses the word “staycation”. It definitely means holidaying in one’s own country to us.

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It makes it sound like a poor substitute for a real holiday. When I was a child it was very unusual for anyone I knew to go on a foreign holiday but it wasn't a 'staycation'. They just had a holiday in Devon or Yorkshire or wherever.