long journey — extended trip
collocationB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
A trip or travel experience that takes a lot of time or covers a great distance.
Say it like a native
Textbook We undertook an extensive and protracted voyage.
Native It was a long journey.
'A long journey' is natural; 'protracted voyage' is archaic.
Pattern: a long journey (noun phrase)
In use
- After a long journey, we finally arrived at the hotel, exhausted but excited.travel
- I once took a long journey by bus across the country to visit my grandparents. It took almost twelve hours, but I enjoyed seeing the different landscapes along the way.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ We did a long journey.
✓ We had a long journey. / It was a long journey.
You HAVE a journey (BrE) — 'do a journey' sounds off; 'make a journey' is fine in formal use.
Common collocations
a long journey— have, ahead, tiring, make
Don't confuse it
Compare with 'short journey', which means a trip that does not take much time.