For your next vacation, you could book an expensive trip that involves endless hours at airports and on planes, figuring out how to get around a strange city in a rental car and plunking down tons of cash at tourist traps.
Or, you could opt for a staycation and spend a blissful long weekend in a nice hotel or resort in your own town – without ever having to get out your ID for a TSA agent.
If the latter choice sounds like the definite winner, but you have never planned a staycation before, no worries: the following tips can help you to enjoy a fun and relaxing vacation without leaving your city.
Ideas on What to Do
You might think that you have seen everything your town has to offer, but this might not be the case. As Fairygodboss notes, you can explore a local farmer’s market and enjoy fresh fruits and berries back in your hotel room, or you can make it a relaxing staycation with a full day at a local spa. If you have always wanted to take a cooking or art class, you can do so during your staycation; check online to see if your community center is offering anything or if the gourmet food store at the mall has a class planned. You can pretend you are a tourist and check out your city’s art museums, book a room at an amazing local resort and get tickets to see a play or musical. Also, since you are on vacation and you deserve a nice splurge, you can make reservations at that amazing seafood place you have always wanted to try but could never justify going to, or head to a fancy grocery shop and stock up on tasty snacks to enjoy while watching TV in your hotel room. Once you start looking around, you will probably find plenty of new things to try in your own city.
Splurge on Souvenirs
To really feel like you are on a “real” vacation, The Kitchn suggests buying some souvenirs. You can choose kitschy personalized coffee mugs from the gift shop at the museum, t-shirts with a local landmark printed on them from a store at the mall and/or send postcards to your friends and family who live out of town. They may be confused as to why you are sending them a picture of the river that flows through your city, but hey, this is your staycation and if you want to send postcards, then that is what you will do.
Make Sure Your Home Is Safe and Secure
Prior to leaving for your local resort, you want to be sure your home is safely locked up. Even though you’ll still be in town, ask your neighbor to pick up the newspaper from the driveway and be sure the windows and doors are all secured. If you find that you worry about what’s going on at home while you are away, you might consider investing in a home security camera system and install it prior to leaving. For instance, Lorex sells wire-free and wired-in systems that can monitor your property and give you peace of mind that everything is safe and secure during your much-needed time off.
Staycationing May Be Your New Vacation Tradition
By spending a bit of time researching and planning what you want to do and where you want to stay, you may wonder why you didn’t start staycationing years ago. The good news is that you don’t have to make this your only in-town vacation; now that you have the whole process down, you can make the staycation a regular option for future vacations.
