Internal Trips and Safeguarding Tips
When oversees vacations were put on hold, many UK-residing folk felt marooned. However, more people are now finding that what they seek from island escapes lies just down the road. The British Isles are abundant in landscapes, history and culture. It is no wonder people are rerouting their time-off towards nearby exploration.
As it happened, leading up to post-Brexit life, the idea of vacating internally was growing. Marketing boosted the not-so-new neologism ‘staycation’, encouraging people to choose local as we geared up for an uncertain future. Post-COVID-19 saw its popularity rise alongside the reality.
One big positive impact of these new-travel trends is ecological. Even pre-pandemic travellers were increasingly making environmentally-friendlier plans. Hopefully, this curve will continue, or better steepen, once wider travel is again permitted.
If you are taking a staycation, playcation, daycation or any ‘cation’, we here want to help make it a safecation! Read on for tips on picking trips, preparing activities and protecting young ones throughout.
In an earlier post, we focused on family festivals and camping trips. For more UK-based ideas, here are some family-geared getaways, resorts suited to children with special needs and alternative ways to vacate.
Whilst safety always comes first, this time we will jump right into the fun stuff:
Seeking things to do by the seaside? Look no further; Mom Junction has you covered for hours with these beach games and activities.
Splashing into the pool? Here are a bunch of swimming games, alongside a list of historic outdoor pools and lidos in the UK to enjoy.
Where to take the wheels? These family-friendly cycle routes are waiting for you. Which wheels to take? Here are selection of cycles inclusive to all.
Now, swapping our sun-visors to safety, here are a few reminders of caution:
Beaches are buckets of joy! However, now that some restrictions have been eased, some are more crowded than ever, making tracking one another a little more challenging. To prepare, set up an obvious base (if lacking landmarks, raise a tall flag to head back to); select a fail-safe (a shorefront statue, info booth, lifeguard hut) to wait at and incorporate the RNLI’s advice in your youngster’s safety briefing.
Swimming pools are a holiday hallmark; children hardly want to get out of them! As with all water activities, there is an evident element of danger. A quick refresher of holiday-pool precautions from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents keeps all guardians on their very best guard.
Whilst still on the matter of water, hot summer temperatures tend to draw children to waterways—many unfit for swimming in. The safety advice from Canal & River Trust is to stay out of them! Please, teach you teenagers about these less-known dangers.
And finally, switching to cycles—the up-trending way to travel, secure your trip by equipping yourself with British Cycling’s safety tips for chaperoned cycling, taking Sustran’s simple maintenance steps and following Bikeability’s checklist for families just before you roll out.
Staycate safe!