* A once-in-a-lifetime experience refers to a very special and unique experience that is likely to happen only once in a person's life.
* An experience is a general term that refers to any event or activity that someone has lived through.
Here are some examples:
* "Visiting the Taj Mahal was a once-in-a-lifetime experience." (This implies that the experience was very special and unique.)
* "I had an experience at the grocery store yesterday." (This is a general statement about an event that happened.)
The choice of which phrase to use depends on the specific context and the intended meaning.