Beach Break -Tales and Tips

Jonny and I are at the beach. It is a cloudless day and we are sitting side by side in low slung beach chairs. We have some shade from an oversized umbrella and our feet are partially buried in the white, clean sand. The sun is bathing us in its warmth and we are watching the waves tumble onto the shore as the Sandpipers hop away from the foamy puddles just in time.

If you feel as though you have read this before, you would be right.

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I wrote this at the beginning of the year on January 3rd when Jonny and I were dreaming about being Brits on the beach.                   (See Brainstorming -Warming up) We were nervous to look more than a few days ahead then. It was just seven weeks since  Jonny had had urgent MVD brain surgery (for trigeminal neuralgia) in November 2011 and a rocky recovery had followed. 


And now our dream is a blissful reality.

Since that post a number of very generous friends graciously offered us their homes near the sea or their beach retreats and we gratefully accepted one of them.  It has not escaped me how well Jonny is now in contrast to those unpredictable frigid days. He has so much energy, a broader smile, twice the jokes, a spring in his step and a drink in his hand. We drove for 6 hours to get here and we have found our heaven.It is most definitely in the exquisite home in which we are languishing, but it is also in the glistening diamond water, soft breeze and Jonny's eyes.They  have mirrored the intensity, length and agony of his illness and now reflect the  relative calm of his pain free days and exciting plans for the future. 

When we first came to live in The USA everyone talked about their summer plans.Many were renting a house and going to the beach.(See Anything But Routine.) We wondered what they did on the beach for a WHOLE week. Wouldn't it get tedious sitting watching the waves every day?  Wouldn't the children get restless after a few days of beach routine and the adults antsy that they were not taking opportunities to explore this enormous country? Well we can report with great confidence and experience that going to the beach with or without your children, separating from the fast pace of life and rigidness of routine is wonderful and a full memory making experience. Our children balk at the idea of a year with out the beach and as Brits, the guarantee of sunny, hot weather, beautiful driveable, beach homes for rent and family time is priceless and worth doing for a WHOLE week (or even two!)  

See below for ways we have found amazing beach homes for reasonable rent. These are, of course, subjective but what isn't these days?

•  Look for vacation rentals by owner because there is often no commission. Two well known sites we have had great success with are are vrbo.com and homeaway.com (rumor has it that these are now owned by the same group)
• Try to find houses that have multiple reviews (one review can often be by the owner's family)\
• Call/email the owner and ask lots of questions. The questions might be something you really want to know or they might be irrelevant. They test out the responsiveness and communication of the owner or the owner's representative.( questions about walking/driving distance from the beach / other attractions can be hard to get accurate answers about.)
• Consider going with another family, to share costs, have companionship for you and your children and possibly rent a house with more amenities you would enjoy eg swimming pool.
• This one is particularly subjective but houses away from the beachfront are significantly less expensive than their beachfront equivalents. It is possible to find beautiful homes in some of the communities near the beaches with amazing amenities BUT you have to drive or get the shuttle for a few minutes to the beach.This is not a deal breaker for us but would be for some of our friends.

Have other beach rental tips to share?-Please let me know.

Have a great trip.

Gilly

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