Is it permissible to avail oneself of the dispensations of travel when going out to the countryside for a distance of one hundred kilometers?

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. We go out to the countryside or for a picnic a distance of one hundred kilometers, and we return on the same day, and sometimes we stay overnight. Is it permissible for us to combine and shorten the prayers? There is always a disagreement among us about this.

Answer:
If you intend the distance, meaning you intend a place that is eighty kilometers or more away, then it is permissible for you to shorten and combine the prayers on the way. But if you are resting and stopping, you pray every prayer in its time, shortened, without combining. However, if you go out and you do not shorten to a specific place, saying, "Whatever place we find suitable, we will stop there," this is not travel; because you did not intend the distance. You might stop at a place that is near, medium, or far. This does not permit you to shorten. Yes.