A big misconception about vacations is that you have to leave your own city to have one. Indeed, sometimes some R & R at home can be even better than taking a trip somewhere. Even if you don’t think so, you probably need a staycation. Here’s why.
You take your city for granted
Why do we let visitors enjoy the best parts of the city where we live? No matter how dedicated you are to enjoying life, it’s dangerously easy to fall into a pattern of work, home, and grocery store. We never see the most beautiful views our city has to offer, the outdoor spaces, the museums. We get so busy living in our city that we forget to live in our city. Exploring our city takes a lot less effort than a regular vacation and can be just as fun.
Think about all the people that save up to come visit your city to enjoy the things that you simply ignore for the majority of the year. Doesn’t that make you feel silly?
It’s less stressful than a vacation
If you do a staycation right (if you don’t sneak errands into it), a staycation is the least stressful thing you can do with your time off. It eliminates the hectic and exhausting parts of vacations, which include flying, travel delays, packing, unpacking, and the hassle of transporting your stuff around a new city and checking into hotels.
It’s cheaper than a vacation
You know what sucks? Coming home after a trip and realizing you’re broke and you need to work your ass off to recoup. But a staycation doesn’t cost a lot, especially if you take advantage of free things to do in your city. When you take a week off and don’t have to worry about the cost of hotels, expensive flights and tours, you give yourself a break without spending much.
It’s actually relaxing
As much as I love travel, I could definitely do without the long transport times and setting alarms every morning so you don’t miss whatever 12-hour tour you have scheduled. I’ve gone to many places, but hardly ever taken a trip that didn’t leave me completely exhausted.
But on a staycation at home, you can really kick back. You can wake up whenever you want. Go out to eat instead of worrying about cooking. Take a long bubble bath. But most of all, you can explore your city at your leisure. Since you live in your city, you’re not on a time crunch to do absolutely anything.
There are no unpleasant surprises
No matter how well you plan a trip or how much you’re looking forward to it, sometimes there’s no avoiding a really unpleasant experience. Like getting scammed by someone because you’re not from around there, staying in a filthy room, or ending up in a city you hate. The benefit of staycationing at home is that you know home. You’re not gonna get roped into a tourist scam and your hotel is as clean as you left it yourself.
You don’t have enough variety in your life
The best part about a well-planned staycation is that it forces you to do different activities. Because let’s face it, we all tend to do a lot of the same stuff in our free time. Maybe there’s a restaurant you’ve been wanting to try, but it’s kinda far and parking in that area is kind of a mission, so you put it off. Maybe you heard about a new exhibit at a local museum, but you had such a rough week, you just wanna stay home and watch Netflix.
If you commit to having a real staycation, it can force you out of your comfort zone and off your damn couch. Netflix will be there when you get back to work next week.
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