Get creative if your staycation is a washout
THE current enthusiasm for staycations is like a trip down memory lane, to simpler times. Except that they weren’t called staycations then, just holidays. Farmers and others living in rural Ireland seldom went away. The holidays consisted of day trips or, as we called them, “drives” here and there – to the beach, to the relations in the city or the country, to a local historical site and so on. The wealthier people like doctors, accountants, and lawyers went to their summer homes. Those in Cork would have had properties in West Cork, or nearer the city in Myrtleville. Dubliners went to Wexford or Connemara and Galwegians were attracted to Clare and Donegal. Few had holiday homes abroad.
Then travel abroad opened up and the lure of Europe was especially strong for a nation living in a cloud-covered country and drenched to the skin for most of the year. Initially these holidays were for single people, but with the cost of flights dropping they also became accessible to families. For several decades, from the 1980s onwards, sun holidays and cultural trips to cities were availed of by tens of thousands of us, several times each year. All age groups and pockets were catered for. The good times were rolling.
Staycationing was first mentioned by a Canadian comedian Brent Butt in a TV show in 2005 but it was just a joke. Come 2008, when the recession hit, the prescience of the word became obvious and it entered our day-to-day vocabulary. Now it sounds almost exotic, as we have little option but to staycation. The word makes inevitability seem noble, something we are engaging in out of patriotic duty. In reality, the staycation is making a virtue out of necessity, unless we are cavalier about the risk associated with holidaying abroad at present. Most people with common sense will agree that the threat Covid-19 poses outweighs any desire we might have to travel to the Costa del Sol or elsewhere and so we have no option but to remain in this country.
The original meaning of the word was a mixture of staying at home and having a holiday. Literally, the person remained in their own home but combined this with breaks away that did not require accommodation. Without knowing it, most of us were having staycations before the term was invented. Our staycations were like the spokes of a wheel, radiating outwards from a centre point but always directed back to it again. Now to give it a little glamour, the term has widened to include holidays that require accommodation. If staycations happen as anticipated, they will assist the economy although they will not allow it to grow as the revenue from the thousands of tourists who visit every year will be absent. Yet we should have a feeling of national pride as we, the citizens, strive for the sake of our country.
A recent poll showed that almost 90pc of people were planning a staycation, double the number at the same time in 2019. Holidaying at home has been assertively promoted by the tourism industry and it is right that it should. The ads make one long for the great outdoors. The appeal of families camping together, of picnicking on a beach, of welcoming Granny and Granddad to our holiday rental is genuine. The accommodation options vary from the usual hotels, cottages and caravans, to tree houses, glamping and campervans
Yet there is a sting in the tail that is not apparent from the advertisements that are running at present. We Irish have a preoccupation with the weather and the reason is obvious. It may be treated as a joke by some but this year, more than ever, it could make or break the economy and our personal sense of wellbeing.
It has been a very difficult and demanding year for many. Some have lost loved ones to the coronavirus, some have been made redundant, others are on reduced hours, some are just managing to cope with the stress of working from home and/or home schooling and some are overwrought by their work, particularly those at the front line in dealing with Covid. So there is a justifiable feeling that a good holiday is needed.
My husband and I had a brief break for a few days recently and we came home early because, despite being in a lovely hotel, there was nothing to do once we left the building. The local towns were ghostlike, restaurants closed between 4pm and 6pm and sightseeing was out of the question in the pouring rain.
It is not surprising that newspapers are replete with advice on what to do during the staycation. But planning a holiday in Ireland needs to take account of the likelihood that birdwatching with the children, or walking the beach with loved ones, appealing though the images are, may not be possible if there is two inches of water under foot.
All of this shows just how wealthy Ireland has become that we no longer know how to adjust our holiday needs to the weather, so accustomed have we become to travelling to warmer climes, not just once but several times per year.
That is not in itself a bad thing, but we need to adjust our expectations for Irish holidays and be creative in our plans if we are to serve our country and reboot our psychological wellbeing.
The ads make one long for the great outdoors