Reading. The first holidays (Elem)

The first holidays

In 1841, an Englishman called Thomas Cook had a really good idea. He asked the Midland Counties Railway to help him to organise a trip for a group of five hundred people. Everybody on the trip paid one shilling (five pence in modern British money) and the Railway Company gave them a ticket on the same train. It was good for the Railway Company because there were a lot of people on the train, and good for Mr Cook because some of the money from the tickets went to him. And the travellers were happy, too. Their tickets weren’t cheaper than the usual price, but they got free food on the journey and they didn’t have to worry about where to go and when, because Mr Cook was there to help them. They only travelled twenty kilometres, and came home on the same day, but their trip was historical. It was the first holiday organised by a travel company, and the start of the holiday industry.

Next, Thomas Cook started to plan sightseeing holidays to London and Edinburgh in spring and autumn, and trips to the British seaside in the summer. Railways were new, and a lot of people were excited about travelling for the first time, but they didn’t know where to stay or where to eat, so Cook’s holidays became more and more popular. It was a lot more expensive to travel with Cook’s company, but it was also safer and more relaxing for these early travellers. In the 1860s, Cook started ‘grand tours’ to Europe. More people had money to spend on holidays and they wanted to see the world. First, Cook took a group of people to Paris, then he organised trips to Switzerland and Italy. Later, there were even tours to Egypt and the United States.

In 1872, Cook started working with his son. He didn’t want to go on trips himself now. He was over sixty! He was more interested in planning trips to exciting places, and selling things people needed for travelling – bags and suitcases, walking shoes and guide books, for example. He and his son opened a shop in London, and became rich and famous.