Use of けど in a dialogue

[thesuker]

I came across the following fragment of a dialogue in my textbook:

たけしくん、今度の休み、予定ある？
ううん。別に。どうして？
みちこさんの長野のうちにいこうと思ってるんだけど、一緒に行かない？

My book translates だけ as 'but...so...' I understand the sentence in general, but not the use of けど. The girl explains what she's going to do and offers an invitation to たけしくん, but I don't get the use of a contrasting conjunction (as I understand, from what the book says) before the offer. If possible, I'd like an explanation of it's use, rather than a literal translation. Thanks in advance.

 

[nekojita]

けど here isn't a contrastive. It can be used as a way of introducing the main subject, sort of prefacing the invitation with an explanation. (んですが would work the same, albeit in a different register).

 

[thesuker]

Is there any actual difference in removing けど from the sentence? Or is it just a stylistic option?

 

[Toritoribe]

The meaning is the same, but けど makes the flow of the sentences/clauses more natural.

 

[thesuker]

Thanks for both replies, they've been very useful