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Christmas... On the Beach?

By Gap 360

Last updated: 12th November 2014

Not sure whether you want to spend Christmas in the UK this year? Let us introduce you to Sam, our Product Exec, who spent last Christmas in scorchin' Australia! (We're not sure our turkey leftovers will ever look the same again...)

I'd planned to spend the whole year working and living in Australia, so I always knew that I would have to spend a Christmas away from home. After 25 years of tradition (all of the extended family packed into my parent’s house for a day of eating, drinking, presents and board games) I was actually quite emotional thinking about missing out on all of the fun!
 
So many different questions kept running through my mind…. What do you do on Christmas day when its sunny and 30 degrees? What do you eat? Will it even feel like Christmas? The typical roast turkey and sitting in your PJ’s in front of the fire just wasn’t going to work. In my mind, my Christmas day away from home was going to be rubbish. Simple as that.
 
I was lucky enough to have my brother and some friends all in Australia on a working visa at the same time, so we all made a pact to be together on the big day. We woke up on Christmas morning, put on our festive hats, exchanged cards (Santa must have forgotten we’d moved) and HIT THE BEACH!!
 
There was hardly anybody else there, so we spread our blankets out on the sand and set up the BBQ (Yep – BBQ for Christmas dinner!)
 
We spent the whole day sunbathing, paddle boarding, snorkelling, playing frisbee and laughing non-stop. The evening was spent eating too much BBQ food, drinking and quickly skyping our parents….. ('quickly' because we were having too much fun).
 
Sadly the day had to come to an end, and when it did, we were all sat together on the sand, beer in hand, watching a beautiful sunset over the sea. At that moment I was blissfully happy and couldn’t have wished for a better way to spend Christmas day. It’s one that I will remember for the rest of my life and a day that I ALWAYS bring up when swapping stories about favourite travel moments (just ask everyone at Gap 360 HQ who have heard about it a million times now, yawn!) 
 
I’m still a huge fan of traditional English festivities and already very excited to spend this year with my family, but will definitely have a Christmas away again. It’s one of my happiest memories and I’m so pleased that I experienced something that I wasn’t used to doing… Sunbathing and BBQ’ing on Christmas day is definitely something I won't forget!

Luckily for you lovely lot, we have an East Coast tour of Australia leaving on the 20th December. Christmas on the beach? Yes please! If you'd rather stick in Sydney or head to Melbourne, get yourself a working holiday visa like Sam, gather your mates and have a BBQ on the beach!

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