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Yes, it is considered by most scholars as a type of metaphor. Such a phrase is believed by many to be motivated by a conceptual metaphor. The idea here is that an abstract concept, like ACHIEVEMENT, is being described through a concrete concept, such as a JOURNEY. There are numerous cases of this, where seemingly literal language is actually metaphorical. See Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) for more examples of conceptual metaphors.
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