Your area may not have a nice stock photo beach like this one, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had near you. The “staycation” is taking America by storm as people save time and money by planning their dream trip for this summer… without the trip. Below are five staycation tips that’ll help you enjoy a getaway to your own backyard.
Plan With Your Family
To get your family (especially children) invested in the idea of a staycation, it’s convenient to bring them in to the planning process. Since you have some familiarity with your own area, it’s easy to fill a staycation itinerary with a variety of activities in order to engage everyone.
Take Cues from the Tourists
Just as hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers never visit the Statue of Liberty, there is probably a world-famous (or at least nationally-famous) attraction in your area that you’ve never seen. A staycation provides an opportunity to be a tourist in your own town– grab your favorite Hawaiian shirt and guidebook, then go mimic the photo-junkies from elsewhere.
Treat Yourself
You are already making a very financially responsible decision by foregoing travel for vacation. It’s important to give yourself a pat on the back for your frugality, and to not let it get obsessive. Staycations provide a perfect excuse to splurge on a five-star restaurant, a spa day, a pool/athletic club membership, etc. You don’t have to be in a resort town to pamper yourself.
Use Local Search Apps
Sticking around in the summer gives you the opportunity to explore your area more. With the advent of local search technology, finding previously-unknown restaurants, attractions, and businesses near you is as easy as opening an app. The most useful of these apps include Yelp, Google Maps, and (shameless plug) TalkLocal.
Get Vacation-Quality Service
Some hardcore staycationers go so far as to rent a local hotel room for the full experience. If that’s a little excessive for you, you can also purchase the kind of personal services hotels offer for your home. While you’re on your staycation, hire a cleaning service. Get nice meals delivered. Take taxis or Ubers. This way you can enjoy hotel-quality treatment without the steep hotel markup.
The ideal staycation involves a pretty simple goal: it’s about creating luxury out of what is familiar to you. Often, staycationers find an additional benefit to kicking back this way: without all the unknowns of a new place, planning a staycation is easy. If you want to make it even easier, use TalkLocal to get connected to cleaners, taxis, massage therapists, and other service professionals who can help you create your dream getaway in your own town.
