Random Ramblings

There was a day flight excursion to Victoria Falls once – but only because my mother didn’t want to be seen to be struggling financially when her sister came up from Cape Town to visit us. But, apart from that, I only got to fly for business purposes … ironically firstly in a helicopter as a soldier, and later as a journalist on scheduled and unscheduled flights. As “Dinks” (Double Income, No Kids) back in the ’80s, my wife and I treated ourselves to a European holiday (my first trip outside Africa). But our honeymoon had been by car and most other holiday travel had been by road.

Apart from flights to see family in SA when we lived in Namibia (it was a two-day journey from Windhoek to Joburg), we had our leisure breaks with a motoring flavour. After the arrival of kids, money was tight and travelling anywhere with a family of four by plane was out of the question. Yet, we still managed to see all provinces of South Africa, having a holiday and exposing the children to new experiences at the same time. After years of saving, we did take our first overseas holiday as a family – but the discomfort of flying “cattle class” through the airline industry sausage machine took a lot of pleasure out of the experience.

I then realised that “tourism” can be an exhausting process – so seeing the sights of Europe is anything but relaxing. It’s not a holiday. Travelling by car to a place, by contrast, is always something which entices me. There is definitely freedom on the open road; the joy of seeing the countryside unravel outside your windscreen and the anticipation of journey’s end.

 I wonder if the Covid crisis is going to drastically change our travelling habits. Already, our major airlines (SAA and the Comair group) are in the toilet financially and it seems as though only Safair is flying high and handsome. It seems inevitable that airfares will start to increase – after all the low-cost flying boom across the globe was fuelled by demand and economies of scale. People might not want to fly as much in future and the airlines – those which survive anyway – will want to recoup some of the money they lost when then world was locked down. Apart from the reality of higher prices, there is the problem of what do to for transport on the other side if you’re flying domestically for your holiday.

Car hire is likely to also shoot up in price. Hotel and accommodation prices may be affordable now – as hoteliers try to get bums in beds – but  will probably not last long. Some hotels will, inevitably, have to close, reducing the competition and, hence, putting more pressure on rates. Perhaps, though, we deserve this. We were too spoiled for too long by cheap flights and the prospect of spur-of-the-moment weekends in Cape Town or Durbs. Fly less, appreciate more. That
might just be the new normal.

Brendan Seery is The Citizen’s Deputy Editor. Seery has been in journalism for more than 30 years. He worked as a foreign correspondent in Africa for ten years and held senior editorial posts at a number of news organisations