Time for a holiday?
A holiday is not just an annual luxury but a biological neccessity, argues Peter Moore
‘You deserve a holiday’ is the title of P&O Ferries’ latest advertising campaign. They’re right, of course. Setting aside time for an annual holiday, one could argue, is almost as essential to our fundamental biology as going to sleep after a long day at the office. A holiday gives us an opportunity to relax, to think and to get perspective.
As a species we have had many of our greatest ideas whilst detached from the regimental order of daily life – a routine which leave little room for creativity. Much of Alexander Graham Bell’s early work which ended in the invention of the telephone happened at a remote Canadian farm that consisted of nothing more than a farmhouse, a stable, a pigsty and some outhouses.
At the close of the Second World War, George Orwell, one of the nation’s brightest thinkers, left London for Jura – an island off the western Scottish coast – and returned with the terrifyingly original dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. It is difficult to imagine that he could have created such a detached analysis of society from a city centre flat.
With the state of the global economy incredibly bleak, and the recession set to continue for some time yet, P&O Ferries have decided to encourage us all from our daily routines and take a holiday by visiting the continent. Their latest advertisment reads:
‘We’ve made sure that this year, despite everything, everyone can afford a holiday. Our low £30 price and onboard deals will help your money go that little bit further this summer.’
There is enough in those two sentences to tempt all of us. France? Belgium? The European countries that lie waiting behind? They offer us the release that we need at least once a year.
And whilst holidays remain horridly complex things: hurrying around airports, sweating on flights, being over charged for taxis and bothered in hotels, they don’t have to be.
Because with P&O all you have to do is pay £30 and the gate of Europe will swing effortlessly open. All you have to do is watch the cliffs disappear behind you.
image credit: per ola wiberg
