Destination B2 - Unit 2: Travel and Transport

Vocabulary Reference — Travel and Transport

Choose words by meaning, structure and context. Study the guide, then help a volunteer team plan a journey by rail and river.

Read for meaning first: is the sentence naming a journey, a transport price, a travel pass, or a place reached? Then check the word pattern around the gap.

How to Form It

Trip, journey, travel and voyage

Trip is a planned visit or outing: We took a day trip to the river port.
Journey is the process or experience of travelling between places: The train journey took an hour.
Travel names the general activity and is usually uncountable: Rail travel reduces traffic.
Voyage is a long journey by sea or through space: The research vessel began its voyage.

Countability: say a trip and a journey, but usually some travel, not a travel.

Fare, fee and ticket

Fare is money paid for transport: The ferry fare includes a bicycle.
Fee is money charged for a service, entry or membership: The museum charges an entry fee.
Ticket is the pass or proof that permits travel: Keep your ticket until the end of the journey.

You pay a fare and show a ticket; an organisation may charge a fee.

Clue Words & Patterns

Clue chips

specific place → arrive attown or country → arrive inarrive here / there: no prepositionreach + direct objecttransport price → fareservice charge → feetravel pass → ticketlong sea crossing → voyage

We arrived at the terminal at noon. / We arrived in Bristol before dark. The type of place guides the preposition. We reached the terminal takes no preposition before the place.

Patterns worth learning as a phrase

interested in + noun/-ing: She is interested in restoring the station.
agree to + verb: They agreed to share the minibus.
apologise for + noun/-ing: The operator apologised for cancelling the service.
arrange for someone to + verb: We arranged for the crew to travel together.
similar to, differ from, responsible for, insist on + -ing.

Also notice word families: arrive → arrival, connect → connection, rely → reliable, wide → widen. The sentence role tells you which form is needed. A negative prefix can also be necessary: recognise → unrecognisable. Check plural nouns such as directions.

Why do we say “reach the platform” but “arrive at the platform”?

Reach takes a direct object, so no preposition goes before the platform. Arrive normally uses at with a specific place.

Travel phrasal verbs

set off: begin a journey; check in: register on arrival; make for: head towards a place; get back: return.

pull out: leave a station; pull over: stop a vehicle at the roadside; take off: leave the ground; turn round / around: reverse direction.

Position and pace

Catch up with: reach someone who is ahead. Keep up with: stay at their pace. We ran to catch up with the guide; then we walked faster to keep up with her.

Pick someone up: collect them; drop someone off: leave them at a destination; see someone off: say goodbye at their departure point.

Collocations to carry with you

speed limitscenic routein advanceoff the top of my headlose your wayfield tripstraight aheadleft-hand sidetake a detourgive directionson timereturn ticketwaiting time

We planned the scenic route in advance, but roadworks forced us to take a detour. Learn the whole phrase; a word that fits the general topic may still form an unnatural combination.

Watch Out & Common Mistakes

Keep particles with the verb

Separable: pick up the group / pick the group up. With a pronoun, say pick them up.

Wrong: ~~pick up them~~
Better: pick them up
When this phrasal verb has a pronoun object, the pronoun goes between the verb and particle.

Check the full collocation

Wrong: ~~show the fare to the inspector~~
Better: show the ticket to the inspector
A ticket is proof of travel entitlement; a fare is the transport price, which you pay.

Wrong: ~~arrive to the station~~
Better: arrive at the station
Use at for a specific point and in for a town or country.

Wrong: ~~discuss about the route~~
Better: discuss the route
Discuss takes its topic directly, without about.

Wrong: ~~interested to restoring the path~~
Better: interested in restoring the path
The pattern is interested in plus a noun or -ing form.

Which phrase is natural: “a travel” or “a journey”?

A journey. Journey is countable. Travel usually names the general activity: Travel by rail is convenient.

Complete the pattern: “The volunteer insisted ___ checking the route.”

On. The pattern is insist on followed by a noun or an -ing form.

Before answering: identify the meaning; decide whether the gap needs a price, pass, activity or destination word; check the preposition or particle; then reread the whole sentence.