Falling in love with Staycations

At the start of the year I was looking forward to enjoying paradise for 10 days in Jamaica, but, as many others experienced, myself and my boyfriend made the decision early into lock down to cancel the trip (silver lining: we were then able to put the money into renovating our shabby bathroom).

I have had the privilege of being able to travel from a young age and I love exploring different corners of the globe. Until a couple of years ago all I wanted to do was pack up my bags and see the world. But spending a month with mostly myself for company in South East Asia made me realise that I had a ‘grass is greener’ mentality and was running away from my problems. Since then I have become more settled – whilst I definitely still love travelling, I now choose to explore one part of the world as a two to three week holiday.

This year staycations have evolved from using your holiday to stay home and take day trips, to staying away from your home in the country you live in. We decided to only do holidays in the UK for the rest of the year and I have been surprised by how much there is still to discover on this small island. Whilst I can’t wait for the day when it’s easy to travel further again, there have turned out to be some pretty good benefits from holidaying close to home.

Stress Free Holidays

Yes, there are still concerns but they are minor compared to the worries that people braving to go overseas currently face. I’ve had friends who have gone abroad who had to change the destination three times because at the last minute it is no longer safe to travel, or had to quarantine when they got home. Gone are airport delays, getting another currency and jet lag. It’s also been nice not feeling like you have to cram everything you want to do into a short space of time; when you know that it’s easy to go back again and do the things you missed out on.

Road Trips

You may not have as far to travel but there are now later check-in times to contend with. So we thought we’d make a day of it, break up the journey and stop off at places that are too far away for a day trip. I recommend planning for no more than two big stops, interspersed with a couple of shorter or food based breaks.  Our most recent road trip on route to the Peak District took us to Kinver Edge and The Rock Houses, then Trentham Estate, where I was delighted to find a PieMinister (who knew you could get Pieminister that far north?!).

Something Special

Another bonus to staycations is that they save you money. You can either choose to put the money away for a rainy day or, do like we did and treat yourself, because let’s face it we all deserve something nice in 2020! I have been dreaming of staying at a Canopy & Stars (glamping and unique places) location for so long and this year we thought that as we were doing local and shorter holidays we would finally book one. They really are as wholesome as they look. Most recently we stayed in a hobbit house with a woodland cinema and we’ve already booked a lake house with a gorgeous outside bath for next June!