Plan The Best Staycation Ever
Everyone needs a little time off, but sometimes factors like economic troubles and the hassle of travelling with small children make it easier to vacation in your home town instead of travelling afar.
Photo by jaynefury.
It might sound like blasphemy to suggest vacationing without going anywhere, but when the cost of airline tickets or fuel is factored in and the actual hassle of traveling—especially if you have young kids— is factored in, planning a staycation starts to look pretty appealing. What makes a staycation?
Consumer Reports interviewed Matt Wixon, the author of The Great American Staycation, to get the low down on the staycation phenomenon. Matt offers the following definition and bundle of advice about staycations:
A vacation in which the vacationer stays at home, or near home, while creating the environment of a traditional vacation. “Creating the environment of a traditional vacation” is the important part. It means getting out of the rut of your daily life. It means not planning a stay-at-home vacation that combines leisure time with cleaning out the garage, building bookshelves and a trip to get the car repaired. In my own experiences, and from the staycationers I talked to for the book, I learned that the best staycations come from people who treat a staycation like a real vacation by planning it ahead of time, taking care of as many household projects and chores before the staycation begins, and knowing how to feel like you are splurging even when you’re saving money.
You might protest the idea of taking a vacation without travelling to see new things, but you won’t hear a peep from me. While recently planning for an out-of-state visitor, I turned to the local visitors bureau to find some interesting things for my guest to do. I’ll fully confess to be being a tad embarrassed looking over the extensive and interesting list of museums, art galleries, vineyards, restaurants and other local treats I’ve never visited.
Check out the full interview with Matt for more information and a list of suggested—and frequently overlooked—activities for a fun staycation. Whether you love staycations or consider them an outrageous idea, we want to hear about it in the comments below.
Tips for the Best ‘Staycation’ Ever [Consumer Reports]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I've helped people have a "staycation" version of going out for a fancy restaurant experience. UH...would that be a resSTAYrant experience? ::rimshot::
families who want fine-dining at home hire me. Often, the adults are either not comfortable in the kitchen or not inclined to cook. I come to their home, cook exactly what they want, and clean up afterwards.
I've also done an in-home Bed & Breakfast experience: Instead of going to a Bed & Breakfast, sleep in your OWN bed, and enjoy a gourmet breakfast prepared from scratch by a professional chef. Kids love it too.
(This isn't really a shameless plug unless you live in Nashville. If you DO live in TN, though, call me!)
@pvtryan2: Vacation is leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure. Who (besides you) says you have to spend time radically different from your normal life? You presumably don't get shot at on your way to work, so why don't you spend time off and go to Beirut or Somalia?
Stick to worrying about your own time off work, and less about how others spend their time. Besides, if you work on land, then time on a ship would be "radically different" as you so claim.
gabegrote
@cyberbite: Airfare/Auto Wear and Tear/Fuel and hotel/motel are the most expensive parts of a vacation, and those are pretty much eliminated during a staycation.
What is this "vacation" you speak of? I've never heard of it.
You can you vacate something but stay there?! I hate that word.
idogis1
@pvtryan2: Some people have no clue that others don't share their opinion.
A vacation can mean a lot of different things to different people. I love seeing and doing new things on a vacation, but I also enjoy taking a cruise for the simple fact that I know that I can totally relax.
How nice that you saw a movie and now you have a whole new perspective on vacations. Are you always so influenced by what you see in movies?
baquwards
@Sopor42: me either - guess we're on some sort of permanent staycation?
c0dek
"you've got to fight the urge to call the office, make yourself available to the boss, or check e-mail and phone messages, activities that can turn your respite into an extension of work"
Well shoot... I don't have that urge anyway, so I'm good ;-)
Sopor42
@pvtryan2:
I have to vehemently disagree. What, pray tell, is your definition of a "vacation"? I don't think it has to necessarily be "radically new". Going on a cruise could easily be considered a vacation. Just as staying at home and watching movies with the family could also be a vacation. I'm still at university, so I have never had a full-time job. I went from school (for about 13 years) to university (for the last 2.5 years). My "vacations" were the time I was not at school/university, regardless of whether I did something new or not.
@Jwhite1979: I think he means for people who annually do that.
But I get what you're saying.
I've never really understood the allure of a cruise.
@adelossa: Geocache. It will allow you to rediscover your island. If there aren't many caches (which there are), create your own.
When your done with that, you can translate modern hip-hop lyrics from English to Pidgin (and then back if you're truly bored). Post the results here for our perusal
@pvtryan2: You're some lucky: I wish floating across the Atlantic was a part of my normal life.
Jwhite1979
Since I live in Hawaii, I've been doing just about everything a tourist does on my weekends/days off.
Where does one do in Hawaii without spending a lot of money if he's done it all here?
adelossa
I'm taking dibs on calling it a staycay!
Though this is a hot zone for vacationers (wine country, museums, racing, lakes) it's not stuff that interest me. Except the racing, but to make that a vacation experience would be a pretty good chunk of change (plus, I've got a promise to myself that would prevent me from doing it).
I guess the first step is broadening one's horizons. The second step is achieving a vacation feel while staying in your own house or somehow getting around the outrageous hotel prices b/c the ownership there is not going to give you an in-town rate.
jupiterthunder
Most people have no clue what a vacation is.
The whole point of a vacation is to try something radically new from your normal life. Going on a cruise is not a vacation.
After seeing the film, "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio I will never think of the word vacation as typical people do.
pvtryan2
Not much to staycation even in my own hometown. I would have to go to San Francisco or something, and then I end up spending lots of money.
pretsal
you'd be surprised how much fun it is to pretend that you're a tourist in your own city.
all the fun without the hassle of checking in and out, plus i'll bet that there are things that you have never done. there are two museums here that no one knows about, even the people who have those as their job specialty
Love the staycation. We are doing it this summer. Going camping at a site only 20 minutes away!
Adam Olivero
Creating the environment of a traditional vacation might become expensive too...
cyberbite
Just got back from a back yard staycation. Tent, bonfire, dogs, and smores. It was a very nice relaxing time. Wouldn't be surprised if it happens more often!
Maybe we have the semantics wrong...most of the rest of the world goes on holiday.
Regardless, getting away from routine is the part about the break from not working that needs to be done.
karlawithak
@pvtryan2: I wouldn't call other people and their inclinations clueless if I were you. I suspect most know what they need far better than you could suggest for them, and they likely don't care for your pedestrian Hollywood visions of R&R.
omegakumar
You can staycation every weekend. Instead, just work the extra time that would vacation and save up for a real trip. If you're doing it right, you'll feel richer for the experience.
@adelossa: I'm not sure if you meant to say "What does one do..." or "Where does one go...", but if it's the latter, you've got a whole world directly to the west of you ripe for exploring on the cheap.
@ChefJoAnna: well marketed :) and i have to say, it's a fabulous concept!
@c0dek: amen to that. i ain't checking out anytime soon.
A vacation is anything you want it to be...different, the same, active, relaxing, whatever! I can't stand when people think others have to conform to their ideas of what "should" be. Do what you want, be who you want. It's all well and good to have romantic notions, but to say others are lesser than you because they don't hold those notions....gggrraahahagr. Makes me SO ANGRY!
Ericka Abraham
My staycation: Boot up X3:Reunion/TF2
@pvtryan2: By this definition, a vasectomy would make a great vacation.
I think I'd prefer something fun over doing something for the sake of it being new.
razordu30
@Ericka Abraham: I've used time off to knock out projects around the house, boat, and the like. Sometimes it's worth blowing a few days for your day to day to be a hell of a lot easier.
@tbone92: It's that thing you do with those PTO hours...
@pvtryan2: If a vacation requires any hassle what so ever it's not a vacation in my book. You took some time off work to try something new and go through a bunch of hassle, good job. When I take time off I relax.
Everyone here whines about not having money. Or not spending it. The two are one and the same.
@smcallah: Actually food/drinking is the most expensive part (generally speaking).
I love doing projects on days I have off. Feels like free time to catch up on things I've been putting off for some time.
living in NYC, staycation would mean going out every day and spending a ton of money.
We've done it once with a mobile home. We wanted to go a long distance but on the first day of the trip we met with someone just 60 km away from our home, spent the day there and went to a nearby camping site for the night. The campsite and mountain environment was so amazing, we just stayed there - why go on when you found a perfect place? When we had to wash clothes after a week or so, we thought about driving home, do the washing and come back - but we stayed consequent and went to a launderette. The important thing for a staycation: everyone has to believe you are gone!
RoccoIole
Alternatively, use BeWelcome, Couchsurfing of Hospitalityclub to get a cheap, interesting and fun vacation. No hassle finding the least expensive hotel, no grumpy porters or ignorant hotel managers, just friendly people with an actual interest and typically some local knowledge.
Fake51
If you don't already have one, I recommend getting a travel guide for your local area. In this age of the Internet a travel guide isn't a necessity, but it's fun to flip through and just pick something to do. People often have travel guides for exotic destinations, but rarely for their own towns or regions. We keep a couple of local area guide books in our guest room so visiting family and friends can plan their activities... but we probably refer to these guides at least once a month. We also have one in the car for those spontaneous urges when we just feel like doing something different.
Lately we have turned to the Yelp app on our iPhones. You can browse nearby "Active Life" entries based on your current location. Right now it is showing me parks, architecture, bowling alleys, a sight-seeing boat tour, yoga, and kiteboarding.
My wife and I are quite good at staycationing. We do like to travel great distances when we can afford to, but lack of funds and vacation leave has turned us into local loungers and daytrippers. Sometimes we just decide to have a staycation weekend and plan some fun activities that we don't normally do. We might plan to do some beer or wine tastings, have a nice dinner out, or get something special to cook at home while lounging on our deck. We will also look for local events in the paper or local entertainment magazine. On most weekends there are art exhibits, music, farmers markets, etc.
We like to stay local and avoid the car for staycations when we are exhausted and just looking to recharge our batteries. For weekends when we have more energy we might do a day trip or two. We are fortunate enough to live in a town that is a vacation destination, and that is only a short drive from Seattle, Vancouver, mountains, ocean, etc. It's not a bad place to get stuck ;-) But even if you live in a place where more people seldom stop for anything besides gas, there are probably some local or regional treasures within a short drive... or even a walk or bicycle ride. Just make sure you don't find excuses to mix work or chores into the staycation. When my wife and I both declare a weekend to be a staycation weekend, chores are off-limits unless it's something like loading the dishwasher (which we might need to do if we want to cook a nice meal). We decide to act as if we have visitors. That's always a good place to start.
sean000
Close all drapes, lock all doors, rent a tanning bed (yeah before you lock the doors). hide vehicles in garage, don't check the mail until after dark. Spend all week tanning and catching up on your favourite TV, then after the week is over, emerge from your staycation bautifully tanned and with a few extra pounds, voila, an American vacation
AronneBucco
@pvtryan2:
Most people have no clue what a vacation is.
The whole point of a vacation is to try something radically new from your normal life. Going on a cruise is not a vacation.
After seeing the film, "Friday the 13th" I will never think of the word vacation as typical people do.
Pavier
nice tips
adjohnson916