A “trip” is when you visit family. It could be for a family event (wedding, bar mitzvah, christening, graduation, birthday, etc) or just because you haven’t seen each other in a while. Business travel is also a trip.
A “vacation” is when you go somewhere because there is something you want to see or do: sightsee, sit on the beach, swim in the ocean, go to museums, learn about history, etc.
Can a trip and a vacation be combined? Absolutely! Why not? If you’re already spending the money to go on a trip why not add a few days, either before or after, and use that time for an added vacation?
Here’s a few examples of the combined travel we have done: when visiting Jeff’s daughter and her family in the San Jose California area we have gone to Napa and to Yosemite. When visiting my son in New Orleans (yes he really lived and worked there) we got to see much of the city as well as surrounding areas. My youngest son lives in London, which is definitely a trip with a built in vacation, but we’ve added Bath, Paris, Florence, and Barcelona on various trips across the Pond. The ultimate combination was when we visited my stepdaughter in Australia. She was living there for a year and we decided that was our cue to visit and see some of the enormous country.
So…