The benefits of travel are well-documented, but what do you do when you can’t get away on holiday? You plan a stay-at-home vacation, aka a staycation. It can be equally rewarding but much safer considering today’s world health concerns. It’s an affordable option that you can make a part of every year of your life, too, with a little planning in advance.

The Elements of a Relaxing Staycation

No one knows better than you what you find enjoyable and relaxing. That’s why planning a staycation is a personal process that involves time and thought. It’s something that you’ll find incredibly exciting to do, too.

One of the best ways to prepare for a staycation is to create an itinerary for your days off. It allows you to explore all the options you have available for you. Giving your days structure also keeps you from sleeping your homebound vacation away. You want to get the best out of your time off so that it feels like a real holiday.

Some elements of a relaxing staycation include:

• A clean and quiet environment where you’re welcome to explore your passions and interests without interruption. Fewer distractions mean more time to do the things that matter to you. You’re not worried about the pile of dishes in the sink or the bills that need you to pay them. Instead, you use your time off to enjoy yourself and to fully recharge your batteries. When you return to work, you have less to worry about because you took the time to engage in necessary self-care. Everyone benefits when you’re happy, healthy, and stress-free.
• Nourishing meals and self-care practices that refill your well and make you feel incredible. If you’re not used to cooking for yourself because of your busy schedule, now is the time to prepare a healthy meal from scratch. Even better is cooking several healthy meals at once. You can freeze your leftovers and enjoy them at a later date. It makes life much easier to grab something from the fridge and reheat it versus cooking it from scratch. Investing in a slow cooker or pressure cooker allows items to cook while you do something else beneficial to your health. You can give yourself a pedicure while waiting for the food that you’re making to finish cooking or relax with a wellness herbal tea that is designed to soothe the mind and improve your overall health.
• Time to rest without feeling the need to be busy or go somewhere. Don’t resist the urge to take a break whenever you need to sleep. Naps are highly beneficial because they allow you to recover when your energy reserves deplete. Rest is essential because it gives the body a chance to heal itself, too. As with any other healthy habits you get into, work to improve your sleep hygiene and quiet your mind when it tells you that you’re lazy and unproductive. You can’t be your best if you’re not willing to rest!
• A chance to let someone else do all the things that you normally do yourself. Go ahead and indulge. Hire someone to clean your house for the week. Pay someone to drive you places in the city. Have your groceries delivered? It is worth the investment to guard your time wisely. Your staycation will be over before you know it. Allow yourself to treat it like the holiday you would take away from home. Give yourself a budget and set aside time for you to do what you want to do, not what you feel you must do.
• Opportunities to stretch your mind and body. Do something you aren’t used to doing in your daily schedule. Push your limits so you can grow as a person. You may find yourself loving a new type of exercise, ethnic cuisine, or hobby. Vacations outside of the home often involve stepping outside your comfort zone.
• Comfort items in the form of soft PJs, warm blankets, good books, favourite TV series, and delicious, healthy snacks. Being comfortable is easier when you have some of your favourite things nearby. Just like you’d pack a bag for your holiday, gather the things that you want to use on your staycation. Having them close allows you to access them whenever you want to use them. That means less searching for the right thing and more time enjoying your time off.

Again, how you spend your time at home is entirely up to you. The ideas above are suggestions that could make your staycation even more memorable. They provide you with the opportunity to do the things that you don’t always have time to do in your day-to-day life. Some of the options may be something that you weren’t even aware you could often do by choosing to stay home instead of travel somewhere distant.

What You Shouldn’t Do While Having a Holiday at Home

As there aren’t any real rules for how you spend a staycation, there are things you shouldn’t do while enjoying your home-based holiday. The first is to treat it as an opportunity to catch up on housework or say yes to obligations that you’d rather not be a part of that day. Just because you have time off doesn’t mean someone else gets to decide how you’ll use it. Treat your staycation like you would any vacation by doing what you want to do each day.

Having things prepared in advance ensures that you can relax fully when you have a chance to take off from work. You’ll have shopped for groceries and prepared for meals before your first day of your homebound vacay. When it comes time to eat, you’ll need to do very little to prepare yourself for the occasion. Firing up the oven or heating a meal in the microwave takes no effort at all.

If you have special activities in mind that you want to engage in, you should gather the supplies needed before taking time off from your job. That way, you’re not spending half your staycation running to the art supply store or library to pick up what you need. Running around the entire time you’re supposed to be relaxing is a big no-no. You feel like you need a second staycation to recover from your first one.

Finally, this is not the time to work. If your job calls because it needs something from you, politely let the person on the other line know that you’re unavailable at the moment and direct emergencies to the appropriate person in charge. Once people get that you’re not going to mix business with pleasure, they’ll stop interrupting your time off. Self-proclaimed workaholics need to turn off their alerts and put their ringer on silent to escape the constant noise coming from their mobile phones.

A Staycation Offers a Relaxing Alternative to Stressful Airline Travel

Plan your next staycation on your terms. Skip the long lines, turbulent flights, and lost luggage in favour of something more appropriate and relaxing. You’ve got options and plenty of them when you opt to take your vacation at home. A homebound holiday can be more relaxing than a trip across the globe because you can spread it out over a longer time and even afford to do more with less money.