Travelogger

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.

Staycation for Family: Why Not?

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There is always the temptation to consider far-away places when a family thinks of having a vacation. This is quite understandable since distance is typically associated with novelty. Families often forget the fact that they may not have fully explored the place they are in. Somewhere in the place they call home or near it may lie the perfect staycation spot which will not require long-distance travel.

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What is a Staycation?

Staycation is a portmanteau of stay-at-home and vacation. By these word combination alone, it is easy to derive the meaning of staycation. It is essentially taking a vacation without leaving home.

Now home here can refer to a residential home or home country. A family who decides to go swimming in their own backyard and a family who opts to go to a local resort instead of one located in a foreign land are both technically staycationing.  The common factor between the two is the obvious preference for no travel or less travel. Staycationing releases the family from the stress of travel, packing, and beating schedules.

Staycationing Tips

Staycations need not be boring just because they are done at home or near home. Consider these tips:

1. Staycations are intended to make vacations simpler so vacationing family members should forego with complicated planning. This allows every member of the family to maximize relaxation. The usual person-in-charge of the family or the parents have the right to have fun too.

2. Homes may not be different but a different activity can always be done in it. Consider converting the garden into a spa and swim area where everyone including the children can be pampered. Hiring professionals to do massage or facial treatments can be paid for by the money saved on traveling expenses.

3. Leave work behind at least until the duration of the vacation. One of the disadvantages of staycations at home is the easy access to work and domestic problems. It might be a good idea to remain inaccessible to calls and other disruptions to truly enjoy the vacation.

4. Staycations can be as simple as being free from domestic work such as cleaning and cooking for three days. Hire somebody to do these for you while you get to do what you want such as pursue a hobby or spend time with family absolutely without guilt.

5. The main secret to staycations is to relax and have fun.

There is nothing wrong with travel. Sometimes, it’s just better to enjoy at home or near home. The respite will ensure that the traveler will be raring to travel once opportunity presents itself.

About the Author:

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information to offer to her readers. She currently maintains four personal blogs.

More Stay-cation Ideas

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Did the stay-cation ideas I presented the last time appeal to you? If not, here are several more which you can consider.

Book a night or two at a local hotel
This option may still cost you a bit of money but not as much as if you were to go on a vacation in a far away destination. What I like about staying in a hotel for a couple of nights, even if it’s in my home city, is that you can relax more than you can at home. You do not have to clean up and the amenities are really nice. You can frolic in the pool, exercise in the gym, soak in the tub, and so on. You can even use the day to walk around the city as if you were tourists – this can be so much fun!

Camp out
If hotels are out of your budget range, why not rough it out? If you have ample space in your backyard, that would do. Remember when you were kids and you used to do this? Remember just how much fun it was? You can go howling at the moon with the children for what its worth! If you are more adventurous and there is a nearby camp site, then you can go there and rough it out even more.

Have movie nights
Make a list of movies that everyone has been wanting to see and allot some nights for movie watching. Get a lot of popcorn or chips or whatever you like to munch on, dim the lights, and you’re all set!

Ideas For A Great Stay-cation

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In the previous post, we were introduced to the idea of a stay-cation – at least I was. Anyhow, I got into this whole stay-cation mode and did some thinking to come up with some ideas for a great stay-cation. Here are some of those things.

Create a home spa
If you have lots of girls in the home, then this would be a perfect thing to do. Trust me, even fathers would love the idea once they have experienced pampering. So anyway, you could set up a home spa in one room in the house. Build up the mood and ambiance by decorating the room. Get some cheap scented candles and oil burners, put on nice relaxing music. You can give each other foot scrubs and massages. Of course, you might want to take turns as it can be tiring after a while.

Have a Wii tournament
We are so into our Wii right now and we are loving it so much. We have had a couple of friends come over and play with us and everyone enjoyed the experience. If you are going on a stay-cation, why not organize a Wii tournament? With Wii Sports, you can have tennis tournaments – singles and doubles, bowling tournaments, and even boxing tournaments! At the end of the tournament, you can all go out for ice cream or some other similar treat.

Have a casual dinner party
If you have other friends who are stay-cationing, you can take turns holding a dinner party. You can have cocktails for the adults and something else for the kids. Prepare something simple for dinner or even better yet, make it potluck!

Finances Tight? Go On A Stay-cation

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Yes, you read that right – a staycation. This is the new buzzword that is going around in the hospitality and travel industry. So what is a staycation? I think the name is pretty much self-explanatory. To give you something “official,” though, here is the definition from the Urban Dictionary:

A vacation that is spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.
Even though I live and work in New York, I don’t always get to enjoy all it has to offer, what with my work commitments, but I sure did have an awesome time here during my spring staycation.

Clear enough? I know a lot of families who have opted to go on staycations this summer because of the crazy economic situation these days. And what’s wrong with that? I am quite sure that your town, city, or state has more to offer than you would think. Even staying at home and not spending a night at a hotel or inn has its perks.

But what could you do during a staycation? I have lots of ideas in mind:

-Play Cranium with the whole family. You can even invite friends over for more fun. Trust me, staying at home and playing Cranium (or maybe other board games) at night or in the afternoon is really fun.

-Polish up your bicycles and take rides around your town. Ask yourself, when was the last time you actually went around town just for the fun of it? You would be surprised to discover a lot of things that you never paid attention to during your working days.

Let’s look at more ideas for a staycation in the next post.