8.9.10

Let's talk about staycations. And about vacations. And about counting how many months it's been since you last took one. This topic seemed especially appropriate to me today because of the oddity of today's date. Did you notice? Yep, it's 8.9.10. The ninth day of the eighth month of 2010. I love those kinds of things. The way I figure it, we'll continue to get some of these calendar quirks from time to time over the next few years. Through 11.12.13 anyway. So ok, back to the topic I'd mentioned. This issue was raised in my mind just a few days ago when I caught a radio commercial. It was from one of those low-end motel chains, all about the idea of staycations. The announcer was saying something that I found a bit irritating, quite frankly.

He talked about the notion that staycations mean doing the same old thing. They're not really legitimate breaks from routine, the commercial argued. "Vacation means to vacate," the guy went on. Etc. etc. etc. Well, guess what? I beg to differ.

Remember, I was listening to this ad in South Florida. If I lived in Des Moines, say, or Tulsa or Raleigh or many other places in this country - well, I might think he had a point about getting away from home and going somewhere else. But when you live in an international vacation mecca, staycations aren't the same thing. Maybe it was just me or maybe I was in a feisty mood or whatever. But I thought this commercial was way off base for a South Florida market. I've done staycations every year for the past several years, usually in the summer but sometimes as late as the holiday season. I can tell you from experience: a good staycation around here is a good vacation. Because I do "vacate," after all. I vacate my home and my work and my usual routine and my daily worries and all the rest. I head to one of the Greater Fort Lauderdale beach hotels that people travel thousands of miles to stay in. Within 15-30 minutes, I've arrived. But you know what? By the time I've checked into my room, I feel as if I'm thousands of miles away myself. It's an odd feeling in some ways but it's been like this each time I do a staycation. I become a tourist in my own town. To me it's fun, relaxing and very low stress - no planes, trains, ships, baggage transfers or anything else to deal with. So on this 8.9.10, I'm suggesting to those South Floridians reading this blog that you might want to ask yourselves just how long it's been since your last real getaway. And I'm also suggesting that if you happen to hear this weird radio commercial about staycations, pay absolutely no attention. I don't know where that motel chain is based but it sure isn't on the Fort Lauderdale beach.