Amidst the cost-of-living crisis, the once-attractive Mediterranean getaway has lost some of its lustre. Whilst Benidorm and Magaluf will continue to be quasi-British colonies, travelling within the UK is an increasingly respectable option again. But why did the staycation ever go away?
After the 1970s, when prime ministers would regularly holiday in the Scilly Isles, Thatcherite deregulation of the airline industry brought about the rise of the affordable international holiday. To stay in the UK was backward, boring, and sneered at as a mark of working-classness in a country where middle-class aesthetics were increasingly dominant. Remaining this side of the English Channel when there were cheap options abroad, fuelled by new short-haul airlines, was a mark of social inferiority in post-Big Bang Britain. Package holidays offered the allure of international travel without the prestige it once held when foreign travel was a more exclusive pastime.
But in a post-COVID world, the staycation is making a triumphant return, with interest piquing in options closer to home. For many Oxford students resident in the UK, their first thought would be London – it is their stomping ground, just 40 minutes away on the train. They’ve got knowledge of its fashionable boroughs to challenge a black cab driver’s. But ask about anywhere else in the UK, and you’d be confronted by blank faces. To them, the country is limited to a short radius around the M25, curving around areas more complicated than Notting Hill.
If you dare to venture outside of London, however, you will find that the four nations in the UK are diverse and culturally rich, teeming in activity and history. I visited Wales recently to discover the places where my father grew up. In the small town of Laugharne, on the south coast of Carmarthenshire, I found views that rival any you could discover after an hours-long flight. Wandering through narrow coastal paths, I discovered Dylan Thomas’ old writing cabin, his nearby house, and the pub he frequented in town, as well as seeing the place my grandparents first met. This story can be repeated all over these islands, almost all reachable by car, train, or ferry. From small alcoves, sheltered from the hectic mania of modern life, to exciting gems of activity, the UK has more than enough to offer for a lifetime of adventures.
If so much is available within the UK, what justification is there for an Oxford student to travel across the world to ‘discover’ a thin fragment of a country, devoid of context or history? The pressure of tourism has reached breaking point in many countries, with public push-back and official intervention attempting to stem the tide of travellers. Curious British tourists now emulate swarms of mosquitos, tearing through lovingly-preserved cities and draining them of cultural depth and, more importantly, housing. In search of some divine revelation to justify the exorbitant costs of such experiences, too often we imagine that whatever spiritual discoveries arrived at are the product of that environment. You could come to just as profound judgements in Kirkcaldy as in Kinshasa – travelling to the former just involves less cost, financial and environmental.
Yet, the staycation doesn’t need to involve travelling at all. There is plenty to do for most Oxford inmates over the long vac. Personally, I’d had a growing collection of books I intended to read, but failed to find time. This pile had grown so totteringly tall it had the structural integrity of the Titan submersible. I’ve been able to begin chipping away at this Babel-like tower of books while staying at home, which has given me the chance to nurture interests that I just wouldn’t have time for either at university or on a foreign holiday. Attempting to stuff all three stacks into a suitcase would’ve left me travelling dangerously light on clothes, and with a hefty excess baggage fine.
So, resist the allure of a foreign holiday. Organise something local instead, within the confines of a surprisingly full country. There is more in the UK than Heathrow and Gatwick can reasonably offer you on a two-week break, and for a lot less than the price of a flight to Malia.
