Holiday`s - Who has the time

Do we live to work or do we work to live. In this crazy world why is it that we simply exist from day to day, seemingly in continuous pursuit of problem solving objectives, be they those of your employer, your family, a child’s demands, we seem to be on this hamster wheel that never stops turning. There is an old cliché that tells us to stop and smell the roses, perhaps this is the better way to go. A “crooner” many years ago had an album, yes, a ling playing record, remember those, this was tiled “Stop the World, I want to get off” – if we apply this to the purpose of this article, let’s stop the madness and squeeze in some holiday and travel time.

In www.staysa.co.za South Africa we are blessed, yes we might have experienced a little political turmoil but hey, so has Sri Lanka, the English parliamentarians haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory either, we are blessed with many destinations, many accommodation options and a climate that is often described as moderate in that day time temperatures in winter, yes winter, are on average more than 22 deg. C and rainfall, except perhaps in the Western Cape, is quite limited. Mist areas of Southern Africa experience light summer rains, often limited to afternoon shows and thundershowers particularly in the higher lying areas.

Our main south African Accommodation tourism destinations are the game reserves and the Western Cape, centred around Cape Town, one of the internationally acclaimed and mist sought after travel destinations in the world. Unfortunately for our family, this is a nine hour drive and an expensive flight from East London, but certainly a destination we often visit, there is a great web site, which includes a travel guide and general information on Cape Town and many other areas.

Think about this for a moment, we work approximately 260 days of each year, we work in order to be awarded 15 days leave, if we are normal, we dedicate some 5 or so of those to family functions and that leaves us about two calendar weeks, weekends included, to have a holiday. Subject to all other conditions being acceptable such as budget, children’s school and sport commitments, both adults being able to be on leave simultaneously, the car being on good order, the kennel available for the dogs, whew, it’s actually amazing that we ever manage to leave home at all!

What we try and do as a family is to escape on weekends, at least once per month, this being our objective anyway, we target short trips usually less than two hours from home. We are blessed in owning holiday accommodation in Port Alfred, approximately one and a half hours drive from home. We go there if we are short of a better plan or if it’s been a last minute travel decision. Other recent destinations that are worth recommending in the Eastern Cape are Storms River Mouth, the Baviaanskloof, Addo Elephant Park, Seagulls Hotel on the Wild Coast, all being great short stop travel destinations in South Africa.

The moral of this story, make it your business to hop of the hamster wheel now and again, work to live, don’t love to work, quality family time is more important than we think it is sometimes.

YOUR INPUT IS CRITICAL…….. Please send any travel tip or travel idea to info@staysa.co.za help fellow travellers to enjoy safe and happy travelling.

Alan Hawkins – CEO
www.staysa.co.za