Serviced apartments and teenage tantrums
My last summer holiday with the family was in 1997. I was 17 at the time. For the most part, it was a lovely holiday touring various areas of the UK – the only snag was being cooped up in the same room as my parents for two weeks.
Hotels were clearly not the answer. The space was decidedly limited and impractical for our requirements. I was also a stroppy and opinionated teenager and, in hindsight, recognise I must have been a nightmare for my parents. The solution to create a more peaceful and less claustrophobic holiday would have been to stay in serviced apartments.
Serviced apartments are available in abundance in the UK’s major cities such as London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds. The benefits as a teenager would have included:
- Privacy within the serviced apartment
- Freedom to watch TV and play music in a separate room
- Facilities to cook my own vegetarian food (I was faddy at 17)
- A safe environment to chill out in if my parents wanted to escape me for a few hours
Keeping the costs down with serviced apartments
For my family, cost was also an issue. Serviced apartments are a smart choice when trying to watch the finances. They offer considerably more space, and are around 15-30% cheaper than a hotel room of comparable quality. The larger four-bed serviced apartments offer even greater value for money in this respect.
Maintaining a level of sanity within serviced apartments
I’ve recently taken several holidays with groups of friends in serviced apartments, and they’ve certainly encouraged harmony on holiday. If you’re a mother, father or independent teenager anticipating a UK family holiday in 2009, I’d highly recommended researching serviced apartments if you value your sanity.