Whether funds are tight, your vacation days are limited at work, or you simply want to stay close to home and explore, a staycation is just for you! If you decide to rediscover your hometown (or a town close by), planning a staycation can be a little respite from your day-to-day routine.
A staycation is the perfect way to satisfy your wanderlust while still staying economically friendly to your wallet, cutting your carbon footprint by not hopping on a plane, and delving deeper into your hometown.
And let me interject right now and say that having a staycation is so much more than just sitting at home watching Netflix all day.
Of course, if that’s what you want to do, go for it.
But sometimes planning a staycation can be a little difficult at first. It seems different to plan out a trip for your hometown. I get it. Everything seems familiar…is there anything left to discover?
Fear not, fellow adventurer!
While there isn’t a secret formula to creating the perfect staycation, let me guide you along to create a SUCCESSFUL staycation.
One that you’ll remember. Enjoy. Think about long after it’s over. Because isn’t the point of a staycation to pamper yourself, in whatever form that takes?
Here are my 8 tips to creating a successful staycation!
#1: Get in the Staycation Mindset
Being a tourist in your hometown is a little weird, if I’m totally honest. You have to adopt a different type of mind-set, which allows you to look at your hometown with fresh eyes, as if you’re stepping foot into it for the very first time.
You have to make yourself a little vulnerable and ask questions that might seem weird at first, because hey, you’ve been living here for a number of years already. Shouldn’t you know when that building was first erected? Or know more about the local food scene?
Take some time before your first staycation to remember that people travel to your hometown. They flock to your city as their focal destination.
#2: Decide What You Want to Do
No matter where you travel to – across the world or around your hometown – you need to figure out what you want to do. Aimlessly wandering around and looking at buildings is great…for a little bit. But to make your staycation successful, give yourself a theme of sorts.
Are you looking for adventure? Thrilling excursions that get your blood pumping and might be a little pricy?
Do you want to spend time outdoors, discovering new hiking trails and scaling mountains? Mountain biking or skiing?
Love food? What about going on a walking culinary tour downtown? Check out a few new restaurants? Hit up all of the food trucks you can track down on social media?
Getting lost in art galleries and museums excite you? Going on a cultural journey around town will fill that bucket right up!
Can’t decide? Mix it up a bit. Check out the hot, new restaurant. Go see an awesome exhibit at the local museum. Wander around the great street art scene.
Deciding what theme you want to have for your staycation will give you direction. Trust me on this one.
Stuck? Check out our ADVENTURE RESOURCES!
#3: Find Adventure Friends
Solo travel can be liberating and a great way to reconnect with yourself. But when you’re planning a staycation, it might feel awkward at first to visit familiar places alone. Either way, you get to choose who you travel with – whether it’s you, yourself, and you…or a friend.
It’s difficult to find travel friends to jump on a plane to Iceland with you, but it’s infinitely easier to find a travel friend to explore your hometown with. Plus, exploring a familiar place will ease any apprehension your friends might be experiencing.
But be picky! Read about my eye-opening experience with taking 4 friends to San Francisco and why I’ll never do it again!
#4: Do Some Research
Now that you have an idea of what you’d like to do and who you’ll be with, it’s time to do some research for your staycation.
Look up your destination/hometown on TripAdvisor and Pinterest. Check Instagram to see who used your hometown attractions as their geotag (location identifier for pictures posted). Which hashtags did they use? What is the town’s claim to fame? Google the “Top 10 Things to Do in (the destination).”
Pull up the restaurant menus. Check ticket prices for ballgames and performances. Consult Groupon and AirBnB Experiences to see what deals are located close by. See what kinds of walking tours are offered in your area. Is there a hop-on hop-off-style bus around?
Are you going to be staying in a hotel? Using AirBnB? A cute B&B? Check around for deals and pricing online.
Most importantly, keep track of your research. Get some post-it notes, a notebook, use an Excel spreadsheet, however else you stay organized. You’ll want to have your research results handy.
#5: Set a Budget and STICK TO IT
Yes, you’ll be close to home and saving a ton of money already, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be penny-pinching the entire trip. But at the same time, having a budget will let you know up to how much you can spend. There’s nothing worse that coming home from a trip and checking in on an empty bank account, wondering what happened.
Set yourself a budget for food, adventures, and extras. Write down your priorities and what would make your staycation a success. Purchase tickets and pay for what you can ahead of time, giving you a buffer to pay off credit cards beforehand.
If your trip is going to be centered on trying different restaurants and food trucks around town, give yourself a reasonable food budget. Research the places you want to go so you have an idea of what the expected prices will be.
And once your budget is set, don’t be afraid to actually spend the money you’ve allotted. Trust me, this is something that I’m working on.
#6: Create a Loose Itinerary
While I don’t advocate planning out every minute of a trip (no matter where the trip is), having a loosely-set itinerary helps travelers stay focused and motivated. It offers structure.
When traveling at home during a staycation, it can be tempting to throw in a few errands and chores between activities. To have a successful staycation, create a loose itinerary to keep yourself in the staycation-mindset.
If possible, consider purchasing the “big-ticket items” ahead of time: sporting events, theater, concerts, etc. Having these adventures set will help shape the rest of your staycation.
If you need to, print out a map of the area you’ll be in and highlight what you’d like to see. Envision the route you’ll take. Have a running list of activities and points of interest to fill in any gaps you might have time-wise.
#7: Be Creative
Unless you’re super OCD, you’re going to have gaps in your loose itinerary. Spice things up a bit with an activity that you might have turned your nose up at. Not into art? Are you sure you won’t like that new exhibit about donuts? How do you know you don’t like public transportation if you’ve never ridden the local bus? Maybe that food item you can’t pronounce will become your new favorite.
Not sure if you want to stay in a hotel or AirBnB? The point of a staycation is to get you out of your daily routine, which includes where you sleep. Go back to your childhood and build a fort in your living room to sleep in. Stay overnight at a friend’s house. Kip in a hammock (I did this once and woke up covered in dew, basically on top of my sleeping friend).
You just might discover a hidden passion if you try something new. Yes, sometimes trying new things can be scary. But this close to home, you shouldn’t stress too much.
#8: Actually GO on Your Staycation
One of my favorite things to do is plan out vacations and staycations: researching activities, creating itineraries, and drooling over restaurant menus. But the most important part of a staycation is actually going on one.
I get it: planning can be fun! Figuring out where you want to go, what you want to see, etc. But I promise that actually doing those things trumps the planning stage.
No matter how creative you get, what your budget is, or how long you want your staycation to be, it’s your own. It’s personalized. Own it. And have fun!
Have you ever planned a successful staycation? What did you discover about yourself and your hometown? Were there any surprises?
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