People attend a pop up Christmas market at Trafalgar Square
(Picture: Getty Images)As many as four million Londoners are planning a mass exodus of the capital to spend the Christmas holidays at a place they call “home home”, research reveals.
After a chaotic 2020 when Christmas was effectively cancelled, millions will head to the house where they grew up or where the parents now live with the temptation of home-cooked meals the top attraction.
Dr Simon Moore, psychologist and CEO of Innovation Bubble, which conducted research with home security company Ring, said: “Food and sensory experiences are an important part of feeling ‘home home’.
“This is because the strong psychological impact of taste and smell are a big trigger for nostalgia, especially those from our childhood home. Food represents a whole range of strong psychological needs in terms of security, comfort, nurturing and rewards.”
The research found the perfect time of a home trip is two weeks to make people feel relaxed.
But 1.1 million Londoners are not planning to go ‘home home’ during the holidays this year, despite wishing they could. Those in the psychological interviews echoed this despair, with the thought of being away described as “unbearable”.
Arielle Free, radio presenter and DJ said: “Despite leaving my childhood home many years ago, for me my home in Scotland is still “home home”.
“Home is the place where I feel most safe and myself, there’s no judgement and I feel secure surrounded by the people I love most. One of my favourite memories and feelings of home was the cinnamon candles we would put up every year on Christmas eve.
“I always go out my way to find cinnamon-scented candles to help me create that warm, secure and nostalgic feeling of Scotland and home home.”
