What is a “staycation”, you might ask? The term emerged around the beginning of the financial crisis of the late 2000s when the travel budgets were limited – if they existed at all. Staycation is a portmanteau of the words “stay” and “vacation”, used to describe a vacation spent at home. This doesn’t sound any different from a long weekend when you stay home, sleep in, and binge on your favourite series – there are enough of them to go around. But you can make it different – you can make it feel like a true vacation and save a lot of money in the process.
Tourist at home
Our lives today are fast and stressful – they involve long hours of work and not enough rest, and usually not enough time to visit the sights, landmarks, and entertainment options of our homes. A few beers with your friends at the pub might be a great way to wind down after a long day at the office but it’s not the most exciting pastime for a vacation. Instead, you can turn into a tourist in your home, exploring it just like a foreigner would.
Join a walking tour of the most important sights and landmarks – you will likely learn something new about your home’s history. Visit all the museums that you haven’t seen before. Try new restaurants, visit new pubs, see a play, check out the attractions – and at the end of the day, go home and rest in your own bed.
Indulge yourself
All the money you save by not flying across half the world during your vacation can serve you well at home. All the money you save can buy you experiences that you might not spend on otherwise. Don’t bother cooking for yourself – eat out as often as you wish. Visit your local casino or if there are none in the vicinity, dress up, open a bottle of wine, and check out one of the online gaming outlets listed at GamblingInsider.ca. Dive into the live-dealer games available at some of them – it will feel like sitting next to an actual blackjack or roulette table and you won’t have to deal with all the other players around you.
Me-time
Don’t tell your coworkers that you’re doing a staycation. If you are at home, and the folks at work know it, they will likely reach out to you whenever a work-related emergency arises – and you don’t want that, do you? And don’t let your friends drag you back into your usual weekend routine – it’s a vacation, after all, and it is supposed to be memorable. To make it feel even more like one, book a hotel room or a vacation rental instead of staying home, something entirely different from what you are used to. Or consider looking into the best window companies in Edmonton and doing some small renovations.
You can feel like being on a vacation even if you don’t step foot out of your hometown – it only depends on you.