With the pandemic in the last year preventing travel abroad, domestic travel saw a dramatic increase and is continuing to rise with people preferring to stay near to home to save money or for general ease and safety. Generally, when you think of staycations, you often think of families heading to the coast in Cornwall or heading to Skegness, but have you ever thought of a boating staycation?
It provides the same enjoyment as your regular staycations, just with more flexibility and freedom.
What is a staycation?
The word “staycation” gained popularity during the pandemic with many Brits choosing to holiday within the UK, becoming one of the fastest growing holiday-related search terms in July 2020, along with other domestic travel options. It is defined as a holiday which you take within your home country, rather than travelling abroad.
You can explore more of the UK with ease
A boating staycation provides the freedom and advantage of being able to explore more of the UK coastline than your regular staycation. Just imagine avoiding traffic jams and finding a place to park, as long as you plan, you can just step off the docks and start exploring.
With a boat, you are given total flexibility to plan with no delays. Whether it’s a day, a weekend a week or if you are planning a longer vacation, you can get out onto the water and visit places you can’t reach as simply by car. Forget about having to worry about ferries, you have your own personal voyage.
The best part about the UK’s coastal harbours and towns is that they’re jam packed with history, museums, entertainment and tourist attractions for your enjoyment. Not to mention with boating, you have the opportunity to explore remote beaches and bays which can only be reached by boat, saving you time from queueing for ferries.
Benefits of boating
Boating has been scientifically proven to promote psychological benefits that help tackle anxiety, sleep, autism, addiction, fitness, attention/focus, stress, grief, PTSD, and much more. All these medical benefits just from simply going out onto the waters.
That is just one of the many benefits which come with boating. It is not as difficult as it is made out to be, if you are looking for a long-term investment for you and your family to enjoy, as long as you are prepared by doing the relevant research before you purchase your first boat and have some basic handy skills, it will come naturally and will get you out and enjoying life in a new light. And these trips can be beneficial to deepen family relationships, you will be learning new skills and work as part of a team to navigate your way to your next destination. With your trip will come newfound trust as you learn new things about each other.
As previously said, boating gives you complete control over your vacation, when you find yourself on the water, you are not always on a schedule or restricted, you can go where you want, when you want with no one telling you your time is up, you have the freedom to stay somewhere as long as you desire. Not only this, but while most people have the perception that only wealthy people own boats, that is far from the case as chartering a boat can cost a fraction of the price of a normal family vacation, especially when you consider accommodation and meals are covered for and you aren’t restricted to one destination, you can launch your boat from any location by towing on a road trailer to your chosen destination to explore different parts of the country.
What boat is suited most for a family staycation in the UK?
Thinking of UK boat holidays or living on a boat, our minds go straight to canal boats and while they are an option, you are not restricted to just a canal boat for a UK boating vacation. Depending on the kind of staycation you are wanting, the most common being canal style boats and cabin cruisers.
If you are on the lookout for a boat to buy for your next staycation, check out TheYachtMarket for boats for sale in the UK.
However, if you are wanting a cheaper alternative, canal boats, also known as narrowboats, are the brilliant British alternative for a family staycation. Though not as glamorous, their size and affordability make up for it, plus the UK is very accommodating to them with their vast number of canals and rivers you can travel through.
Alternative to buying
If buying or loaning is out of your price range, there is alternatives for a boating holiday. One of the main options slowly growing in interest is social sailing, this is sort of the equivalent of staying in a hostel but on the water. It works by giving you the chance to share your trip with groups of other travellers, while allowing you to have a more hands-on approach to a trip but minus the additional costs which come with chartering or owning a boat. So, if you’re the kind of traveller who befriends other tourists and locals, then social sailing could be the option for you.
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