Is holidaying at home the key to beating the recession blues?
With the credit crunch affecting us all, many people are trying to cut back on extravagances, including holidays. According to visitEngland, 1 in 5 people who holidayed abroad last year are choosing to holiday at home instead this year.
With this in mind, my boyfriend and I decided we’d take a well-deserved -and easy on the purse strings!- break after a stressful and costly few months of writing-off cars and attempting to get on the property ladder. We eventually decided on a special deal that was running at the Ballyliffin Lodge in Donegal.
Our wee holiday didn’t get off to the best of starts, with a road-closure in Derry adding an extra half hour onto the trip and resulting in a very grumpy driver (not me!). Should probably have used Frixo or similar type of website to find out about what was going on with the roads…
But once we arrived at our hotel, things soon improved. We were taken to our room; there was a stunning view of the beach from the balcony.
We spent the next few days frolicking in the pool and eating great food. I should note, I tasted the best enchiladas I’ve ever had at Mamie Pats’ bar! It was incredibly relaxing, which is what it was all about.
I was warned to take a lot of reading material with me, as there isn’t a great deal to do in the area. Although this is true – the village is tiny- there is still plenty to see and do if you have a car with you can venture further afield, or if you like golf! Apparently the golf course is one of the best in Ireland!
We had a great day driving along the coast, up to Malin Head, the most northerly point in Ireland, and admiring the beautiful scenery. I had never been to this part of the Republic of Ireland before, and the landscape was spectacular. We were fortunate enough to go on a dry, though EXTREMELY windy day, so the waves were huge. They reminded me of the famous Guinness advert where the waves were horses (this excited me no end and made me feel like I was really experiencing Ireland. I’m Scottish and get ’sadly’ excited about touristy things!).
From the big waves, we went to Ireland’s most northerly pub and experienced typical Irish hospitality!
Overall, I had a brilliant time on our mini-break and would thoroughly recommend a trip to this part of the world to everyone. The hotel was great – lovely location, brilliant room and staff, excellent spa and gym, great food… The only problem was that because of the Euro and our ‘we’re-on-holiday-let’s-treat-ourselves’ mentality, our credit-crunch busting holiday actually ended up costing more than a few days in the sun would have!!