SOS! IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO SAVE OUR SUMMERS
kinder to each other than ever.
If your family vacation to Portugal has evaporated, post a polite plea on Facebook, or even a local noticeboard. Be specific about what you’re after: say, four nights somewhere rural, for two adults and a child. If you’re up for pet-sitting, shout about it.
You never know, someone might come up with the goods; a spare yurt in their garden, or an empty home while they are visiting family.
Day tripper
If your Plan A, B and C holidays have fallen through and you’re resigned to staying at home, fret not.
Start looking into local attractions – anything under a 90-minute drive – and plan a week of individual day trips. The money you save on a hotel means you can splash out on meals, and you can tick off those nearby places that tourists rave about, but you’re embarrassed to admit you’ve never seen. You’ll get all the benefits of a domestic holiday, and amazingly enough, the bed you fall into every night will be precisely the sort of bed you love.
Farm it out
If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, there are all sorts of possibilities on farms, even city ones.
At one end of the spectrum there are posh farm stays, but if there are no rooms at the inn, sites like Wwoof (wwoof.net) offer one- to two-week working holidays, often at charming independent organic farms. Many are desperate for pickers right now, and you might strike gold. If you can’t quite handle a week as a farmhand, ask to volunteer at your local allotment, or look into pick-your-own places. Just remember to call it “agroturismo”; everything sounds fun in Italian.
House-swap
With thousands of European holidays in tatters, owners who’d cannily rented out their homes during their Spanish sojourn are now reneging on their guests, causing a secondary ripple of cancelled staycations. But swapping remains an option.
Spread the word through Whatsapp or neighbourhood groups, or check out a dedicated website like lovehomeswap.com or homeswapper.co.uk. And don’t dismiss keeping it simple and swapping homes with a family member or friend – a change of scene might be all it takes to lift your spirits.
Voluntourism
So you’re all dressed up, with a week off work, and nowhere to go?
Plenty of local organisations – community gardens, charities, historic attractions, museums – are struggling, and might be able to offer volunteers enjoyable work and good company.
OK, so volunteering at your local National Trust property isn’t quite the same thing as touring the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, but you might learn more and you can save your pennies, and good karma, for a cultural feast further down the line.