Travelling Nostalgia: The New Trend

Posted on Aug 9 2013 - 1:15am by Theresa Harris

Traveler

The word ‘holiday’ conjures up certain images in most people’s minds. Depending on the person you could envision a beach with shimmering sands, a luxurious hotel or you could think of rainy car rides without your mums favourite Céline Dion song blasting out for umpteenth time.

They’re nostalgia holidays, taking the nightmare holidays you had when you were a child and reinventing them.

With the constant depressing headlines about the recession everyone is pinching pennies at the moment. This includes holidays unfortunately. There’s no reason why your cheap holiday has to be a disappointment though. Looking to your parents for inspiration you can steal some of their money saving ideas for holidays and change them to fit with your vision of how you want your holiday to be. There are a few ideas for holidays that are seeing resurgence in popularity; you can take a trip back in time but this time without Celine Dion.

Countryside retreats

If you weren’t dragged to a house in the middle of nowhere as a child, I deeply envy you. There was nothing wrong with these holidays but they weren’t for kids. Maybe they were for kids in the 60’s but when you were dragged away from your consoles and the internet to stay in a house with trees as your only source of entertainment, you were one unhappy camper. As adults these holidays sound wonderful. Going to a beautiful country house for a minuscule price, precisely because it is in the middle of nowhere, to drink under the stars and cook big dinners and laugh with your friends sounds like bliss. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of working life and technology is a welcome break for most people, just you know, not children.

Package Holidays

A package holiday sounded ominous to most people as children. They sounded like they were going to force you into group activities like Butlins, when really all it was committing to eat in the hotel every night or booking your hotel and flight together. Nowadays holidays can be incredibly cheap as long as you’re willing to be frugal, if you don’t mind staying in hostels and travelling on trains and buses. However package holidays aren’t bought by from a travel agent anymore, their bought on the internet bringing the cost down considerably. Companies like Groupon provide extremely cheap flights and hotels combos that mean you can still have a luxurious holiday but pay half the price.

Caravans

Caravans have seen a rise in popularity recently, although some people will remember them as a travelling argument more than a holiday, caravans are becoming unbelievably cool. Stopping where you like, travelling where you like without the restrictions of timetables or borders, they’re really the travelling method for the true adventurer. Renting a caravan is easier than you think; there are companies like Caravan Club where you can get a decent vehicle for a couple of weeks for a reasonable price. Some have argued that caravanning is one of the only true free holidays.

Car sharing

Like most people the idea of car sharing with total strangers sounds like a total nightmare. However car sharing is unbelievably cheap, most people don’t charge you anything to travel and they cover huge distances. If you want to travel Europe and don’t mind much where you go, car sharing can take you anywhere you like the look of and all the time not costing you anything! Combining that with hosteling around the country then you’ve got yourself a recession proof holiday.

Photo Credit: Flickr/JD Hancock

About the Author

Theresa Harris is a freelance journalist who writes features for a variety of different blogs and publications. Her writing covers travel, technology, health and happiness.