Stylist is a free magazine which is handed out on Wednesdays in London and other large cities within the UK. Recently, it had a competition to write the perfect 100 word travel review, 100 words, are they having a fucking laugh in the office??? The following is what I actually submitted:
A good holiday isn't about the location, it’s about the people and choice of spirit you arrive with; a group of friends and I recently rented a place for my good friend’s 30th, which was perfect.
The open plan barn conversion, in Devon, which meant we ladies could dance and sing to our favourite “guilty pleasure” songs, while the guys entertained themselves between the makeshift cocktail bar, and the games room.
Along with muddy/wet walks, pebbly beaches and Cornwall, what more could be the perfect 2 night break from London’s rat race.
No jetlag and no currency converter required.
What I wanted to write was:
I love going on holiday within Britain, it's not all I know, but it's all I want as a weekend break. I mini holiday, while saving on jet leg, cash and the hopes being spared on good weather. I adore Britain.
I might sound crazy, but once you get past raised hopes, raised desires and the "idyllic holiday accommodation", all you're left with is the perfect place to holiday. Don't get me wrong, I'm not delirious, I'm a realistic and I love nothing more than an out of season let.
A proper good holiday, isn't dependent on the location alone, it's down to the location, people and choice of spirit.
To me, a group of good friends and some randoms, a great selection of all the bad foods and a cracking selection of booze, is all you need for a good holiday, and that is all located within the British borders and all 100% perfect for a fantastic holiday. Take my recent visit to Devon for my oldest friend (in numbers of years knowing me, not actual years of birth) birthday and you've the perfect setting for a truly fantastic weekend.
6 couples set off to the South-West, by 1am on the first night, all of us had arrived and were prepared to party. My friend's who's party it was, isn't "party party", she's "funtimes", so we were all edging that way...it was the perfect setting, a secluded barn, open plan so we were all together but at least 10-15 feet apart, so the "cosy couples" felt close, yet we were totally independent. Alone enough to sing in a stupid fashion, and our counterparts were happy enough to drink onwards, instead of wondering at which point to interject?!
The following day, after a 4am ac-cappella version of Damage's "Forever" being sung "like sopranos" (who look like 90s kids within the dance routine and sounded like trees falling within an overly populated, well hearing public forest", we all sprang from our beds to our un-suite showers, as if from a musical, honest we did!
After some minor dramatics and wearing of sunglasses at the breakfast table, where under cooked bacon turned my stomach personally, we started on our potter to the nearby beach, only 20 minutes walk away?! 20 minutes if you're galloping on horseback.
(To be honest, the walk was perfect, as all walks are when you feel like you've fairies junping on your belly/windpipe and trolls squeezing your stomach as if they're bagpipes), as in, there were moments when we all felt like we'd fall over in the mud, we were all startled of the pheasants flying from the bushes, we met random dog walkers* who were nothing but charming, yet once on the beach the guys started enjoying the old game of throwing a rock at a rock and we ladies enjoyed, well everything, being alive and it all being so beautiful, and the fog of our hangovers finally lifting, after much futile pray!
There is something crazily incredible about holidaying within Britain, you feel as if you're 1000 miles from your own door, yet you could be no more than 10 metres down the road, counts as a holiday to me. The best thing about holidaying within the UK is, in no particular order: knowing the currency, a huge bonus, no preparation required. The travelling most of the time being the same time (any car journey can be fun, it's all down to you the passengers!), yet no time difference. And being in a different climate to your everyday life; grey countryside, is hugely different to grey city, trust me!
*One of the greater things, which you won't believe, is that one of us lost their earring on the walk and accepted it was a no brainer, only to get a knock on the door later that day, to ask if the earring found on a walk earlier was ours? Seriously, it happened, now I'm not promising that to everyone, of course, if you're thinking about a 5 mile walk, don't wear 5 inch dangly earrings - simple, but yet....no where else!
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