Danielle Cooper is one of the alcohol-free people who has embarked on sober group holidays with travel firm We Love Lucid and returned hugely enthused about the idea
A formerly boozy Brit who gave up the sauce for a better and more fulfilling life now goes on alcohol-free holidays with groups of strangers.
Danielle Cooper is one of an increasing number of people in the UK who is teetotal. After alcohol consumption surged during the lockdowns, there has been a general decline in drinking. A sizeable 24% of 16 to 24-year-olds are now completely ABV-free.
The 39-year-old enjoyed a couple of dry stints before deciding to fully immerse herself in a post-plonk world for good two years ago. For Danielle, the disrupted sleep and gut problems even two glasses of wine would land her with was no longer worth it.
“When I give it up I’m full of beans, motivation, energy, when I do drink I have low level anxiety. I wasn’t going to do alcohol free life if it wasn’t fun,” she told the Mirror.
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Danielle’s way of ensuring she had as much fun as possible was to link up with other likeminded people who had also left the bottle behind. It was on Instagram that she first found such a crew of people that are “not alcoholics, but had just knocked it on the head.”
“The first social I went to with alcohol free people was a wild swim in Yorkshire. We just found our way in the social way without alcohol. We have nights out where we do everything we used to, we dance on the tables, we do everything short of throwing up,” Danielle explained.
The people manager and health coach first got interested in the idea of an alcohol free holiday when she saw an advert for We Love Lucid which organises group trips for sober people. Danielle decided to sign up for a trip to Tarfia in Spain – a country she had long associated with long days spent sipping cocktails around the pool.
“Every time I think of going to Spain I associate it with having a wine or a beer,” she added.
Rather than longing for a sangria in the midday sun, Lauren found the trip to be much more enjoyable thanks to the lack of alcohol. “The way alcohol free events differ to me, is that because you’re not drinking, you get to know people on a much deeper level much quicker,” she explained. “There is no guise of alcohol blurring the lines a bit. You get to have deep conversations with people, also the best laugh ever. I felt like I was on a high the whole time.
“All the people on the trip had their own journeys. We’re middle land drinkers, not caning it all the time. It wasn’t vodka on our cornflakes. But alcohol made us feel like utter c**p. To be with a group of people who’ve had a similar journey and want to have fun, these are the people that want to go out and do stuff.”
Without hangovers to shrug off, the group would rise early in the morning with ease to run into the cold Atlantic Ocean for a swim. They went on hikes and tours around the town, as well as a cookery course and yoga on the beach.
“I definitely will go on another. You do end up making friends for life,” Danielle said of the trips, which generally operate in groups of 12. When it comes for advice for others, the Buckinghamshire woman suggests people try life without drink.
“Alcohol is a depressant with no benefits for the body. If you can drink in moderation and you’re happy with that, great. If you’re drinking over the units recommended by the government, maybe look at it and wonder if you could drink a bit less.”
The woman behind the holidays is Lauren Burnison, who gave up drinking and partying when she was living in South Korea in 2016. She celebrates seven years without alcohol this week.
For her, it all came to a head after years of travelling around and living life fairly hard. She made a decision to quit, but did not want to wave goodbye to travelling. After a few years of post alcohol life, Lauren set up We Love Lucid.
“In the past couple of years sober travel has blown up. It is all about having an awesome time. The whole driving force behind it and they’re reason they’re life changing, is the connection people make,” she explained.
“(Giving up alcohol) can be an isolating thing to do. These trips are for people that are 100% stable in their decision not to drink, and I wouldn’t advise them for anyone who is teetering in their decision as we don’t avoid bars.”
Lauren believes that Britain’s drinking culture is on the way out and that “a lot of people are now looking for something more meaningful.”. She continued: “The sober travel movement is an arm of the wellness movement more generally. People are questioning whether there is a better way to live.”
- If you want to find out more about ways to help reduce your drinking or stop drinking completely, head to drinkaware.co.uk