The Travel Tipping Point: UK Summer Staycations
Written by Jaillan Yehia
My last UK Summer Staycation in Ramsgate
New research shows that with the effects of Brexit – and the exchange rate for the Pound plummeting overseas – staying at home in the UK this summer is officially the new going abroad.
But once summer hits I’ve always been a fan of staying home – and my UK summer staycations season undoubtedly starts building from the beginning of Spring onwards, regardless of trends.
So let me tell you why I think the UK is THE place to be in the sun…
Nobody associates the UK with sunshine; as well as our bad teeth and love of tea, the omnipresent British rain is assumed to be the defining characteristic of the weather in the UK, even in the summer months.
This is why UK summer staycations aren’t on everybody’s list of ideal ways to spend their summer holidays, with a lot of Brits preferring to book their July and August beach breaks in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal and other popular European holiday hotspots, and most foreign visitors expecting that a visit to Blighty will always require a brolly.
I found these brollies in Brunei – in the Winter!
But as much as I love nipping off to the Continent at any time of year, I have always preferred to book the lion’s share of my European trips away in the Autumn and Winter, and save the summer largely for staying at home – because I wait all year for my own country to get warm, and my garden to be nice enough to sit in, and I simply can’t see why I’d want to fly off somewhere that’s warm all year round as soon as it actually does.
Why would I want to leave all this?
They say an Englishman’s home is his castle and that’s confirmed by a recent survey by Chill Insurance which showed that the Irish love staying home – and feeling lazy and the desire to save money were in the top three reasons polled.
I love staying at home!
Now further research is showing that British holidaymakers are re-considering a UK summer staycation en masse as a combination of the weak pound and uncertainty about Brexit, as well as political turmoil and travel restrictions in multiple other nations (The USA, The Gambia, Egypt, Turkey to name but a few) lead us to realise that what we have on our own doorstep is pretty awesome, as well as easier to get to, especially in the summer.
Travel to the US can be tricky
A UK summer staycation is clearly the answer; we can be a bit lazy which is what holidays should be about – with no long passport control queues, having to exchange money or learn a new language going on a break in the UK is undoubtedly easier.
It also saves us money; as well as the Pound now being worth more at home compared with its value in Europe, we have no visa fees or expensive cab rides to the airport to deal with if we stay home in the summer, and going to soak up the beautiful rural countryside we have right here using your own car and with a thrifty packed lunch in the boot has got to be a cheaper option.
Southwold Beach Huts
The opposite is also true – it turns out Brits are more likely to have visited Paris on a city break than made time to go to any other UK city, and for those who have a home in the Great British countryside a visit to London has got to be better than trekking off to any other city when you take into account what an enormous melting pot it is, so UK summer staycations really do offer something for everyone.
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