Holiday at home

9 December 2010

Holidaying at home is fun, cheap and good for the environment too, says writer Pete May from London.

We live a couple of tube stops from King's Cross in London, so we can easily travel by train and help combat global warming by avoiding flying.

Flights abroad might seem cheap, but when you consider the taxes and cost of getting to the airport they're not.

What I like doing is booking Apex fares on the train, and using our family rail card, which saves money and guarantees seats.

There's nothing like value for money, and the joy of knowing you will have somewhere to sit however crowded the train.

On most trains our 2 daughters can rampage up and down the corridors and enjoy trips to the buffet.

Some train services even provide crayons for kids. Our eldest daughter is almost a train spotter - she actually learnt to crawl on the train.

If you book a cottage or a B&B in advance and shop around, it's no more expensive than a foreign hotel.

And though it rains, it's never ever spoilt our holiday: wet walks, board games, ping pong or just having the time to listen to raindrops drumming down can be fun - and certainly beats swatting mosquitoes and dabbing heat rash.

There are so many things to do at home.

Our children have had great holidays skimming stones on Lake Coniston, exploring ruined abbeys in Yorkshire and picnicking in glaciated valleys.

For pushy parents, staying in the UK is great for your kid's knowledge of history, too.

Europe's greatest wilderness is in the Scottish Highlands. A couple of years ago, we took the sleeper to Inverness and travelled on (in a rented car and then 2 boats) to the island of Taransay - where, on a summer's day, it looked like the South Pacific and we had a beach of beautiful white sand all to ourselves.

This is an extract from Save cash & save the planet.

A good place to start investigating where to holiday is Tourist Information. For a complete journey planner, visit Transport Direct.

Fancy Scotland? A guide to green holiday accommodation and tourist attractions is available from VisitScotland.