RSS
When I look around the community where I’ve lived now for nearly 19 years, I often feel lucky. Not many people make their home in an area that is a worldwide vacation destination. I do. So for the fourth summer in a row, my girlfriend and I have booked a hotel room just a short drive from our homes. On August 9, we’ll check into a lovely hotel for one week on the Fort Lauderdale beach. We can hardly wait. Little did we know three years ago that we were a bit ahead of the summer vacation curve. This year, with fuel prices rising insanely, many people in South Florida and elsewhere are planning stay-at-home holidays in the next few months. Enough of us that someone has coined a term for this vacation choice: “Staycation.” I bumped into the word yesterday in the newspaper travel section. That told me something.
Since this seems to be a genuine phenomenon in 2008, I felt it might be worthwhile to offer a few thoughts based on my experiences. Because it still costs money to vacation in your own backyard, after all. And I don’t know about you, but I need to keep my expenses under control. So does my girlfriend. But there are solutions that allow us to get away and not drop a fortune.
One thing we always do is set aside a couple of days during our “staycation” to return home and work. We head our separate ways in the morning, put in more or less a full day’s work, then regroup in our hotel room at the cocktail hour. Of course, the work day shoots by because we’re looking forward to the evening. But we still don’t feel as if we’re writing off an entire week’s worth of work. We also eat out often, but eat in sometimes. We may grab yogurt and coffee for our room a couple of mornings. And we do one or two inexpensive dinners like bringing in some pizza. It’s fun and it saves on the final bill for the week. But then we’ll splurge on a couple really nice dinners too. The same thing with cocktails. We pack some vodka and wine, along with various appetizers. What’s better than sitting on a balcony overlooking the sea, having your own private cocktail party? But again, we don’t do this every night. Last year, for example, we went twice to the new St. Regis hotel for drinks. Mixing it all up this way really does cut expenses but allows us to have just as much fun. If you’re lucky enough to live in this beautiful place, but haven’t tried the staycation thing, this is a great year to give it a go. I think you may be amazed how far away from home you can feel – even when you’ve only traveled a few miles.
Since this seems to be a genuine phenomenon in 2008, I felt it might be worthwhile to offer a few thoughts based on my experiences. Because it still costs money to vacation in your own backyard, after all. And I don’t know about you, but I need to keep my expenses under control. So does my girlfriend. But there are solutions that allow us to get away and not drop a fortune.
One thing we always do is set aside a couple of days during our “staycation” to return home and work. We head our separate ways in the morning, put in more or less a full day’s work, then regroup in our hotel room at the cocktail hour. Of course, the work day shoots by because we’re looking forward to the evening. But we still don’t feel as if we’re writing off an entire week’s worth of work. We also eat out often, but eat in sometimes. We may grab yogurt and coffee for our room a couple of mornings. And we do one or two inexpensive dinners like bringing in some pizza. It’s fun and it saves on the final bill for the week. But then we’ll splurge on a couple really nice dinners too. The same thing with cocktails. We pack some vodka and wine, along with various appetizers. What’s better than sitting on a balcony overlooking the sea, having your own private cocktail party? But again, we don’t do this every night. Last year, for example, we went twice to the new St. Regis hotel for drinks. Mixing it all up this way really does cut expenses but allows us to have just as much fun. If you’re lucky enough to live in this beautiful place, but haven’t tried the staycation thing, this is a great year to give it a go. I think you may be amazed how far away from home you can feel – even when you’ve only traveled a few miles.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 2:17 PM
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home