The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Make a break for it with our 12 escapes of Christmas
Want to try something different this festive season? There are still plenty of holiday options available, says James Stewart
Iskipped Christmas a while back. As Slade’s Noddy Holder yowled “It’s Chriiistmaaas!” on radios and the nation worked itself into a retail frenzy, I breezed through December without a moment of seasonal hysteria because I would be abroad on the big day. Best decision I’d made in years.
The thing about the Christmas break is that it arrives freighted with expectations. More than at any other time of year, Christmas is someone else’s idea of a good time: maybe the advertisers’ one of ostentatious giftgiving, or the television one of banal sentimentality. Even the standardissue one of precious family moments and perfect lunches is a hand-medown from the Victorians.
I’m sure all the above are possible. Heck, they may even be possible over one Christmas. But, gosh, they require a lot of effort, a lot of biting of tongues.
That doesn’t sound like a break to me.
The solution lay in these pages all the time. Avoid the hassle, go away. That’s why we’ve pulled together this themed list of trips that are still available over the festive period. The 12 escapes of Christmas, if you like.
Instead of watching Morecambe and Wise repeats (the best bits are on YouTube, anyway), adventurers could be in a desert camp, gazing at an inky firmament boiling with stars, while cruise aficionados could be sipping rum punches aboard a luxury yacht in the Caribbean. Instead of doing the dishes as Uncle Pete snores off lunch, snow bunnies could be skiing down empty powder in the fjords, before settling in for a traditional Norwegian feast, while families could be experiencing a second summer together in Peru.
Of course, you may rather like Christmas but fancy a change to a day that’s as ritualised as a Catholic Mass. Culture and beauty? Try an elegant cruise down the Danube. Christmas-mad family? Go the whole Hogmanay and visit Santa Claus in Lapland. He shouldn’t have much on after December 25.
What about the cost, you ask. Sure, some of these getaways are seasonal treats to yourself. Others, however, work out at about £150 a head per day. Consider the savings on food, booze and presents, not to mention your mental health amid winter’s gloom, and tell me that doesn’t appeal.
Because I expect you don’t dislike Christmas per se (well, the grinches may); it’s just that you want a Christmas that’s yours. A Christmas where you’ll still bond, still create treasured memories, but which meets your idea of a good time. In short: you want a break.
Who knows, you may return eager for a traditional day next year. I did.