By Emma Maggs
When big holidays feel harder to plan (and even harder to afford), families are discovering the magic of the short escape: a beautiful drive, a change of scenery, and 24 hours to reconnect.
For years, we’ve been conditioned to think travel needs to be a big thing. A major operation requiring months of planning, significant savings, annual leave negotiations and a spreadsheet detailed enough to rival a small business.
And while there’s nothing quite like an overseas adventure (I regularly dream of a European summer, I’ll admit), or a long-awaited family holiday, the reality for many Australian families is that those bigger trips are becoming harder to make happen. Between rising costs, busy schedules and the logistics of travelling with children, the idea of getting away can sometimes feel like it requires more energy than the holiday itself gives back.
Somewhere between packing snacks, remembering everyone’s chargers, finding someone to feed the dog and hearing “are we there yet?” approximately 47 times, it’s easy to wonder whether a holiday is meant to be relaxing or just another project to manage.
Perhaps the future of family travel looks a little different.
Maybe it’s not always about going further, but about finding somewhere close enough that you can actually enjoy the journey there.
Enter the 24-hour escape.
A night somewhere special where the scenery changes, the pace slows and everyone gets the chance to reconnect.
This is the growing appeal of the short escape: thoughtful getaways that fit into real life, without requiring a year of saving, months of planning or a complicated itinerary to make them worthwhile.
Because as much as we love our families, modern life can become incredibly repetitive. The school runs, the work deadlines, the meal planning, the laundry that somehow regenerates overnight. The routine can be comforting, but every now and then, we all need something that interrupts the pattern.
Not because we want to escape our lives, but because sometimes we need to experience them from a different perspective.
The case for closer-to-home travel
Just under two hours from Sydney, tucked into the rolling hills of the South Coast, The Berry View is a great example of why regional escapes are having their moment.
The drive itself becomes part of the experience. As the city fades behind you and the landscape opens up, there is a gradual shift that happens. Conversations become easier, the pace starts to slow and you begin to feel like you’ve properly stepped away from the familiar.
Arriving at The Berry View feels a little like discovering a slice of Palm Springs tucked into the lush surrounds of Berry, NSW. The design is considered without feeling overly precious, with warm interiors, thoughtful details and spaces that encourage you to stop rushing.
The pool overlooking the farmland is the kind of view that immediately makes you want to put your phone down. Mornings stretch out a little longer. Coffee tastes better because nobody is asking you to hurry. There is time to explore Berry’s local stores, discover the charm of the town and simply enjoy being somewhere new without a packed schedule.
One of the most unexpected luxuries of a closer-to-home getaway is the lack of urgency that comes with it.
Anyone who has travelled with children knows the feeling of checkout day. The countdown begins: the packing, the last-minute scramble, trying to remember what you’ve inevitably left behind, and the pressure to squeeze every last moment out of the stay before racing to a flight, a transfer or a long journey home. Suddenly, the relaxing holiday starts to feel like another logistical exercise.
Travel that fits real life
Motherhood has changed the way many of us travel, but it hasn’t changed the things we love about it.
We still want considered spaces, great food, slow mornings and experiences that remind us we are more than the person who organises everyone else’s lives. We don’t necessarily want to leave our families behind. We want to create memories with them while also remembering who we are within them.
At The Berry View, there was no need to rush. We could pack the car when we checked out and still linger a little longer. We could enjoy the final moments of the morning knowing home was only a couple of hours away.
There was space to take our time, and that, in itself, felt like a luxury.
Because that’s the real shift happening in family travel.
The luxury isn’t always the distance travelled. It’s the feeling that comes with removing friction.
For families looking for a weekend escape from Sydney, Berry offers that rare combination of accessibility and a genuine sense of being removed from everyday life, with beautiful countryside, local experiences and stays designed around slowing down rather than rushing through.
The beauty of a 24-hour escape is that it doesn’t require waiting for the perfect time, the perfect budget or the mythical stage of life where everyone is suddenly easy to travel with (if that exists, I’m yet to meet it).
Sometimes the most meaningful moments happen in the smaller pockets of time we make available.
The conversations in the car. The spontaneous stop along the way. The swim before breakfast. The extra coffee because no one is in a hurry.
Maybe the future of family travel isn’t about how far we can go, but about how intentionally we choose to change the scenery.
Meet Emma Maggs, an artist and founder of minibar, a travel platform exploring modern motherhood through a more considered, design-led lens.
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