Staycations Can be Fun
By Shawn Dell Joyce
Instead of making pricey travel plans this year that damage the environment as well as your bank account, consider a local vacation, or “staycation.” This is a chance to rediscover the beauty of your home region by taking the time to visit cultural attractions and natural places that you may be too busy to see in your daily routine.
A staycation does not mean staying home and doing yard work, or the list of jobs you’ve been putting off for the past year. “Instead,” suggests Pauline Frommer of Frommer’s Travel Guides, “become a tourist in your own hometown.” Plan to see tourist attractions and historic sites, take an art class, learn to swim. Or try small adventures you always wanted to do if you had the time.
A fringe benefit of staycations is that you develop a deeper connection to your community and hometown. People feel more connected to a place when they experience its history and natural beauty firsthand. Try to see something different each day; a different spectacular view, a different museum, a new restaurant. At the same time, you benefit your local community by pumping vacation money into the local economy.
Some staycationers go so far as to camp in a nearby campground to get away from the daily routine. If you are addicted to technology, and can’t imagine a day without email or internet, then consider leaving the house and staycationing in a local campground or bed and breakfast. You’ll still save gas money and travel expenses, but you’ll feel refreshed after being away from the computer for a few days.
Here are a few tips for a successful staycation:
- Explore the rail trails in your area by bicycle. Most communities have rail trail projects connecting larger cities by walking and biking paths. Explore your area by riding in five-mile sections each day. www.railtrails.org
- Go to the local tourism office or website for a list of historic sites and museums to visit.
- Spend a Saturday touring farms and farm markets in your region to find out what is grown locally, and get a fresh delicious taste of the local flavors. www.localharvest.org
- Pick a nearby town on the map, and spend the day walking through the whole town, antiquing, eating in local restaurants, and getting a real sense of the history and culture of the place.
- Take an art, music, or acting class. Do something you always said you would do if only you had the time.
If you really must go out of town, make your vacation as green as possible:
- Stay in a green hotel when possible. If you strive to be green at home, why not on vacation as well? www.greenhotels.com , www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com
- Travel with friends, and share the costs and carbon of each car trip. If you carpool andd share a vacation rental including meals, you form tighter friendship bonds, use less gas, and eat out less.
- Consider a working vacation and volunteer to work on an organic farm located in a place you wish to visit. Many countries also have programs for whole families to spend a vacation working as part of a relief effort. www.globeaware.org, www.globalvolunteers.org
- Offset the carbon emissions from your air travel by purchasing carbon offsets through the airline. www.carbonfund.org
Tags: Dell Joyce vacations
June 17th, 2011 at 11:44 am
Dear Shawn;
Swell column. You just gave the message Dorothy Szefc and I spent 10 years giving to OC residents. That’s how long I chaired and founded OC Day until we retired and gave it to OC Tourism. Our motto was “Be a Tourist In Your Own County”.
With deep affection;
Howie
June 17th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Dear Shawn: Wonderful article. Some years ago Hal & I were tied to a beeper and couldn’t go beyond a 40 mile radius of Goshen. We drew a circle on the map and had a great time for months visiting the areas within that boundry and got to experience much of the Hudson Valley’s pleasures. Always a pleasure to read you. Evie