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Tired of recession and redundancies? Try some other R&R

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Lucy Phillips

12 Feb 2009 | 16:21

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There was finally some better news on the jobs front last week: holiday camp company Pontin’s is set to create 2,000 new posts. They join others – such as Subway and Asda – that are doing relatively well out of all this doom and gloom as people trade down on purchases. Pontin’s are hoping to capitalise on the fact that, with less money around and a bad Euro exchange rate, more people will choose to holiday at home this year. I wish them well, but I for one will not be holidaying in the UK.

Aside from the bad weather and the fact that Pontin’s isn’t really my thing, I had a pretty nasty, wallet-busting experience this weekend. I had decided to take my boyfriend to York for his birthday. I did my research and booked our trains and accommodation well in advance. I was even revelling in the fact that we could get to York for £6.65 each and that the ‘boutique’ hotel we stayed in was offering a special January discount that would otherwise have made it unaffordable.

And we had a lovely time. Until that was, we decided to come back earlier than planned because of the snow. As I was halfway through an article in one of the weekend travel supplements about “bargain Britain”, the ticket inspector came round. It turned out our tickets were not valid on this particular train provider even though I had booked them through their website. It was a genuine mistake on our part and it was not as though the ticket inspector was going to fine us. But after 10 minutes or so of him trying to work out our best option, it transpired that we would need to buy new tickets – at a cost of £111.50 each (our young person railcards were of course not valid on his machine).

Our other option – for £50 less - would have been to get off the train at the next stop, wait over an hour for another train, and then change again at a later point. In order not to completely obliterate the merits of a relaxing weekend away, we chose the former. It proved a very expensive journey home. It is also worth noting that the train was by no means full and even the ticket inspector felt bad for taking our money. And to top it all off – in true British style – the train arrived back in London late (and it hadn’t yet started to snow).

My point here is that, thanks to an utterly ridiculous transport network, perhaps holidaying in the UK isn’t so cheap after all. We could certainly have had a perfectly luxurious weekend in France or Italy for less than this particular trip north.

I hadn’t heard of “redundancy promotions” until recently but it seems some holiday firms have put these in place to try and tempt us abroad (you book your holiday now but get your money back if you lose your job). It seems pretty sensible to me as the benefits of a holiday and some sun shouldn’t be underestimated, not only on your work but your general well-being, and surely with all the economic gloom there’s never been more need for some serious R&R.

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