subject: Discover The Fun Of Staycationing [print this page] Depending on your locale, home vacationing popularly referred to as Staycation is a wonderful alternative to a costly three or four week destination trip, especially when properly planned and treated with the same care as a destination vacation. We've done it several time as a family and the fun was worth the effort.
Commute costs and accommodation are the obvious savings from a Staycation, but they are not the only ones. Whether you want to eat out daily, you can still restrict that to dinners. Having breakfast at an exotic resort is not worth it. My point here is a little smart cost saving never ruins a vacation. A Staycation simply expands on the prudent and smart decisions you'd make on a destination vacation.
On our Staycation, we go cycling to the public pool when it opens in the afternoon, have fun for an hour or two before it becomes crowded, then return in the evening when crowd has reduced. As a matter of fact we found the town pool very nice for a whole day in August, with folks away. I happen to reside in a town with many bike trails and tennis courts, the town is also blessed with beautiful state and county parks suitable for fishing, sailing and canoeing. New Jersey is an hour's drive and offers plenty of historical sites such as:
* Absecon Lighthouse
* Allaire State Park
* Hancock House
* The Hermitage
Most of these are places that many people across America spend fortunes traveling long distances to witness yet they're right under our nose.
Matter-of-factly, not all communities offer such vacation style opportunities. But most folks live within easy reach of attractions they've never visited. Why not find them out during your Staycation? In my opinion, the prime objective of vacationing is to get a break from work and find time to enjoy with family. These can be done at home. Staycation also saves you from overspending.
It appears that the greatest obstacle to people fully enjoying Staycation is largely psychological; this is because we're conditioned to think of a vacation in terms of travel. A costly vacation helps us break even with the Harrison's and Whittekers!
Set your agenda!
Just like I said earlier, there are tricks to having a successful Staycation, first, treat it like a real vacation involving travel, and not as a poor alternative. This means preparing, paying the bills ahead of time, lawn mowing like you would before traveling and basically all the chores like you would when going on a trip.
Get local travel guides, similar to ones given to out of towners. It's easier to fall into patter at home and forget the attractions available. Schedule a list of activities just like you would when traveling to Greece or Barbados, otherwise you waste the days.
Create a budget; this will of course be less than you'd spend on a destination vacation but a little bit more than your ordinary home budget. Don't be too thrifty. Money saved from airfares and hotel accommodation can be splurged on meals and entertainment. Staycation can allow you save enough for a great trip the coming year.
