Travel/Go away for the weekend

[FrankyFourFingers]

Hi there!
The other day, while talking to a Canadian friend, I told her my girlfriend wasn't in town, because that weekend she was travelling.
She corrected me by saying you don't travel for a weekend, you go away for the weekend.
Is that right?
Thanks a lot.

 

[AngelEyes]

No offense to your friend, but it sounds rather nitpicking to me to correct you.

Did you actually say, "My girlfriend is traveling this weekend."
I see nothing wrong with that.

If you said, "My girlfriend is traveling for this weekend." then yes, that's not the standard way to say that. You don't use for.

It's true, I might have said - if it had been me - "...she went away for the weekend." or "...she's going away for the weekend."

But still, your way is totally understandable and acceptable, providing you don't use for.

AngelEyes

 

[ace02nc]

You can certainly travel during the weekend... If she was leaving on Friday and coming back Sunday, typically we say "leaving town for the weekend", "going on a weekend trip", "going away for the weekend", etc, but... it's still travelling! I think your friend may have been nitpicking a bit...

 

[bibliolept]

Personally, I don't object to "She's traveling this weekend," though I can see why your friend objected to the phrasing.

I do think that I'd probably say "She's out of town this weekend."

 

[kitenok]

I agree with others that "She was traveling" as you used it is no great sin, FFF, but I will also say that my own usage agrees with that of your Canadian friend. I can really only think of two senses when I would use a progressive tense of "to travel."

1. To talk about being in transit at a certain time: "You won't be able to reach me on Monday because I'll be traveling that day. On Tuesday I'll be in Sao Paulo and you can call me there."

2. To talk about going from place to place in a series of trips: "Oh yeah, I remember 1997 now! That's the year I was traveling around Europe in my VW Bus!"

 

[panjandrum]

... because that weekend she was travelling.
I understand that to mean she was on the move for most of the weekend, not simply that she was away for the weekend.

If someone said that to me I would probably ask "Where was she going?"

 

[FrankyFourFingers]

The conversation was something like:
-Is your girl coming along?
-Oh no, she's travelling this weekend. She's at her parents' beach house.

I meant she was already at the place where she would be for the rest of the weekend.

So, although I could use "travel", it wouldn't be a native's choice?

 

[Nymeria]

I think that in this case it depends on the native doing the speaking. Your friend could have meant that it is more accurate to say that she "went away" for the weekend since "travelling" could imply that she would be moving from place to place, or that she would be in transit. Instead she was in one location which "went away" would covey more clearly.

 

[AngelEyes]

The conversation was something like:
-Is your girl coming along?
-Oh no, she's travelling this weekend. She's at her parents' beach house.

Hi Franky,

If you had said this to me, I wouldn't have blinked an eye.

In my opinion, it's just style preference and nothing more. Besides, she's got to travel to get there and travel to get back home. What's that, if not traveling?

Anything else is nitpicking.

You're fine.

AngelEyes