The dictionary at reference.com defines a vacation as: a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel.
The suspension of normal activities and the substitution of rest and doing fun things pretty much summarize what we are talking about. You have to break your normal routine to refresh your mind and body.
I think most of you have at least heard the term staycation, sometimes spelled as stay-cation, stacation or even as staykation * but what does it really mean? It is a combination of the words stay and vacation, essentially meaning to spend your vacation at home or very close to home. In my mind one should not confuse a staycation with working vacation. When one takes time off from work to get some projects done around the homestead that is called a working vacation. Both are great ways to spend some time off from your regular job but they are very different .
There actually is a third option for your time off that does not seem to have any catchy name but that I simply call 'unstructured time off'. That is time away from your regular duties and you do whatever strikes your fancy on a given day. That might involve elements of a working vacation and a staycation. This type of thing is fine if you are single and don't need planned future events to look forward to. It may not be so good for children and spouses. Children especially seem to enjoy the anticipation as much as the actual event.
When you make a commitment to a staycation you must resolve your will that you will not deviate from the intent and turn it into a working vacation or 'unstructured time off'.
Travel vacations are expensive whether you drive or fly to your destination. All meals and incidentals must be purchased on the road from people and places you don't really know. Motels can be really expensive; even the bargain places may be more than you care to spend.
Let's contrast that with what can do on a staycation. You stay in your own home and most likely eat one or two meals there. You can indulge yourself or the family by buying some favorite foods that you might not spurge for very often. All your sundries and laundry facilities are still there if you need them. You have just saved a bundle of cash on these mundane things.
Now spend some of that cash to do some fun things that you might not do during a regular work week or weekend. Do some day trips to nearby attractions, pack a picnic lunch or take the family out for the lunch meal. If it rains that day take in a movie or even two matinees are superb bargains.
We have already explained the benefits of a staycation above. We realized we needed to fork to article as the suggestions for a family would bore the adult only readers and the converse of that is also true, people with small children at home would not enjoy reading about adult activities.
The discussion continues in two additional articles: Staycation for Adults Staycation for a Family
*Source: Staycation