For someone that’s never ever been abroad I find comfort in the simple pleasures and wish to share some tips, advice and guidelines to having a successful stay-cation. Others choose to go to different countries to escape the trouble and strive of live, and whilst I have dreamed of whisking myself off to the Caribbean the opportunity has never arisen and our family has opted for endless weekend breaks at home.
For those of you unknown to the concept of stay-cations, it implys a holiday taken at home and although this may not be for everyones tastes it is a cheap alternative to luxury accommodation and travel fares and provides a lot of positives.
My staycation of 4 months has involved a lot of lazy days, productive but very stationary. I wouldn’t advise you spend as long as 4 months being a hermit but it’s certainly nice having some me time for thoughts, inspiration and charging your batteries before heading back to a very hectic university course or workplace.
I’ve found it very important to spend all my time in the sun, lack of vitamin d causes depression and the benefits of the sun serve a lot of purposes to our bodies and general health, but always remember to wear an spf, sunglasses and perhaps a hat if you don’t have as much hair as I do!
Staycation: A holiday spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.
The first port of call when taking a staycation is to get into your comfiest pjs ever, I favour slob-wear a term I like to think I’ve coined being the queen of staycations, which usually involves a baggy band tee and some little cotton shorts, something with maximum freedom of movement and little restriction or if you dare to bare spend the duration of your staycation how you came to be on this planet, utterly nude, try it..it’s a very enlightening experience. A lot of these points are somewhat illustrated in this post here.
Always bare in mind, this is your time to do the things you do love to do on a lazy sunday, take some time off from doing the dishes, let them pile a bit, and no it’s not a crime to leave the coffee table a cluster of wrappers, bottles, books and nail varnish selections (I’m the worst for this). Eat odd combinations, who’s to judge the peanut butter smeared apple slices with a side of celery. This is not to say you should turn into Jabba The Hutt and turn your living space into a bomb site but ain’t nobody got time to be cleaning and tidying on a holiday, you can do that when you’re back on track, but for now, spread out a little, make it evident this time is for you as numero uno!
When given a vast amount of time spare I’m strung with the issue of deciding how to spend all my time, and become quite bored of having time to myself. I’ve found scheduling activities and cramming a bit of everything into your time is the best way to make use of the days and cover all grounds of interests.
My favourites often include drawing to very loud music, reading a book or magazine outside, blogging (woo) catching up on a good tv series, watching Youtube videos, cooking an delicious new meal, doing some gardening (not much though). Anything that puts a smile on your face is a big tick on the checklist.
Every person I have spoken to about staycations have similar scripts to the next, especially women, that is to scrap their hair off their face, throw on some joggers, get lazy to Sex And The City with a nice glass of wine, and as you’re reading this no doubt you’ve made an involuntary sigh wishing that was you, these are the things that please us women. I personally see myself as a bit of a workaholic, and the thought of having so much time can seem a tad distressing.
I almost forget how to wind down and switch off from work, and I condone switching off inspiration because the world is such an inspiring place full of possibilities, adventures and feel the need to keep my eyes open to new experiences and having some time to slow things down very much so improves the quality of experiences when sped up, stress is no more, reset to neutral default factory mode revving to work once again at 100% enthusiasm!
Kimono // Topshop (old)
Bikini // ASOS
Sunglasses // Urban Outfitters
Overall the point of this me-holiday is to refresh on another chapter of your life, taking some time to reflect on the fantastic things you have done, rewarding your hard efforts with the luxury of knowing you do not have to lift a finger for another soul. Realistically there’s no guide or rules to a perfect staycation, only you can discover this.
What would you do on a staycation?
