Everyone loves holidays, right? Sometimes, I feel like holidays are the reason why I work! I spend 11 months thinking about a holiday, saving for a holiday, planning my holiday and then I go on holiday. I come back at the end of my holiday with no money, but great memories, and then the cycle repeats itself. Have you ever thought about what the difference between holiday and vacation is in English? How would you describe in English your last holiday? This blog will give you many different ways to talk about your next holiday in English.

Firstly, what is the difference between holiday and vacation?

Well to be honest, it’s a British English versus American English thing. In the UK and Australia, we use both holiday and vacation to talk about the same thing. A period of time when you don’t have to work or study.

However, in American English, vacation is used to describe a period of time that you don’t have to work or study. Holiday is used to talk about a day of celebration when the country does not have to work. In Australia, we’d call this a public holiday and in the UK, it would be called a bank holiday.

Here in Australia, when I think of holidays, there are two important words that come to my mind:

• Annual leave
• Public holidays

Annual leave is what we call our holidays from work. If you are a permanent full-time employee, you can take 4 weeks’ vacation every year. During this time, you receive your full pay plus something we call leave loading. This is a bonus of about 17.5% of your weekly wage.

Public holidays are days throughout the year that your culture celebrates, and you don’t work. For example, Australia Day, Labour Day, ANZAC Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are all public holidays here in Australia. You can click here for a list of public holidays in Australia for 2023.

GRAMMAR

Holiday is a countable noun in English. This means it can be singular (a holiday) or plural (holidays).

• I haven’t taken any overseas holidays in the last 5 years.
• I took a holiday to Sydney last month.

Holiday is also a verb in English. This is not as common as the noun, but it is still possible.

• She often holidays in Europe during the summer.
• We holidayed in Melbourne for a couple of weeks last year.

VOCABULARY

In English, we often use take, be on or go on when we are using holiday as a noun.

• He went on holiday with his family. (Go on holiday)
• We are on holiday at the moment. (Be on holiday)
• He took a holiday with his family. (Take a holiday)

USEFUL LANGUAGE

Types of holidays:

• An overseas trip              = Travel internationally
• A domestic holiday          = Travel inside your country
• A road trip (n)                  = a holiday where you drive a long distance in your car
• Backpack (v)                   = cheap holiday staying at hostels
• A cruise (n)                      = travel by boat
• A weekend get-away (n) = going and staying at a place for the weekend

DIALOGUE

Diana:             Hi Maria! How was your holiday?

Maria:             Hi Diana. It was great. We took a road trip to Melbourne. It took a week and we saw so much  of Australia.

Diana:            Wow that’s great. What an adventure! I’m also taking a holiday this year. I’ve got a few weeks of annual leave owing to me, so I’m going to travel overseas.

Maria:             Oh, how exciting! Are you going to backpack?

Diana:            No. I’m going to take a cruise around the Greek Islands. I’m so excited. However, it’s not until Christmas so I have a long time to wait.

Maria:             I can imagine how excited you are. Brayan and I are going on a weekend get-away next month. If you like, you could join us?

Diana:            That sounds fabulous. Let me think about it and I’ll get back to you.