Plan Your Staycation this Summer

 

Relaxing Home Retreats

Staycations have become more popular as vacation savings shrink or dry up completely like so many have over the past few years. Granted for some of us travel that involves a plane ticket is a luxury any year.  The high price of gas might also mean this summer we stay even closer to home.

One alternative to feeling like a prisoner is to choose how you spend your vacation.  You can put all the same time and attention to detail, as you would a trip to London.  My sister has maps and books galore to look through before her European trip with my brother and mother.  Why not apply the same excited attention to your staycation?

Consider these tips:

1. Decide on a theme: you go to Paris and your time there is all things French.  Maybe you want a spa vacation at home. 
2. Prepare your home: you make a packing list for your suitcase, do the same at home. Plan what you want to have around you and clear out the clutter.
3. Unplug!  When you travel overseas you often cannot communicate with friends until you get home. Do the same here.
4. Bring a book:  You take your books & magazines on the plane or to the beach, do it here. Cut back (or keep off) the television and computer and have some fun reading material! If you are a member try Costco otherwise, check out your local library.
5. Favorite Foods: You go to new places to try their food and experience their culture.  Consider picking up some new and exotic meals or ingredients to make dishes you have always wanted to try. Be adventurous!

Don't forget that this should be a getaway even if you are at home.  We tell ourselves we won't call into work or check emails when we have spent all this money to take a plane somewhere, be good to yourself and make that pledge here. 

Relax and enjoy yourself this summer because I imagine time will fly and soon enough you will be day dreaming in your cubicle about next year.