Tomorrow we will be going on our annual summer holiday and this year we are breaking with tradition in that we’re not going abroad - a staycation as it’s known. There are certain traditions that I will miss about holidays abroad, like buying strange, unfathomable products by unknown brands in the local supermarket (okay, I know that’s what we have Lidl for) and trying to coax my teenager out into the light every now and then to go for lunch (he does hate the heat bless him).
The packing and getting away from home part of the experience may be a little less stressful than if we were going abroad. Of course there is the obligatory argument-about-nothing that I have with my partner as we’re getting in the car, the kids sniggering in the back as for once the roles are reversed and their parents, instead of themselves, are shouting at each other. I’m sure we can still fit that in before we go to Cornwall, but that extra frisson of tension, caused by the stress of trying to catch a plane, is what catalyses such bickerings and won’t be present for a trip down the M4. (We’re not so much lastminute.com as runningfortheplane.com!) However, some essential holiday experiences might still be available to us, depending on how rushed the packing has been, such as someone realising that they’ve packed no pants or only one flip flop. If it wasn’t for one of my sons realising, half way to Dover once, that he’d no shoes, I’d never have sampled the delights (?) of Bluewater shopping centre. (That’s a point. Perhaps I could accidentally forget all of my tops, dresses and skirts in case there’s a Seasalt or some such near our holiday home!)
When we do finally make it to Cornwall, there will be the beautiful Cornish coastline to enjoy and clotted cream in abundance. (I once bought a pair of skin tight trousers at the beginning of my holiday that I couldn’t fit into by the end of my holiday due to daily cream teas!) And for me, the hypnotic sound of windscreen wipers in full swing is enough to take me right back to childhood holidays in the UK and of eating fish and chips in the car whilst looking out at a steely grey sea. Staycation? What’s not to like!