Anna Faszcza There Is No Place Like Home. But How Does it Go With a Holiday?

A holiday is the time almost everybody longs for all year round. Some people plan it well in advance while, for others, city breaks are a blessingblessingblessing. The holiday offer is so wide that one can find their ideal destinations. Though, there are people who struggle withstruggle withstruggle with finances or whose family situation prevents them from going far. Others, simply are not great fans of travelling long distances. No matter the reason, we can still arrange and enjoy the rest with limited travel expenseslimited travel expenseslimited travel expenses.

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While travelling far involves a lot of planning, packing, preparations, booking hotels etc., staycationersstaycationers [staycationer]staycationers do not usually need to worry so much about that. They do make plans such as setting the dates of departuredeparturedeparture and return to keep the feel of a traditional vacation. During this period, families pay a visitpay a visitpay a visit to the museums and amusement parksamusement parks [amusement park]amusement parks or participate inparticipate inparticipate in local festivals or leisure activities within a day tripday tripday trip distance with no overnight accommodationno overnight accommodationno overnight accommodation. This form of travelling has become an option instead of travelling abroad and there are more and more people who prefer to avoid long driveslong drives [long drive]long drives.

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A staycation (a portmanteauportmanteauportmanteau of “stay” and „vacation”) is the time in which a person or family stays home and takes part in various activities in the local area within a day trip distance. It is said the earliest reference to “staycationstaycationstaycation” was first found in 1944 in the “Cincinnati Enquirer,” a morning daily newspaper in Ohio, U.S. Others found it in 2003, in Terry Massey’s article in “The Sun News.” According to the Connecticut travel blog, Canadian comedian Brent Butt used it first in one of the episodes in 2005. The term “staycation” was added to “Merriam‑Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary” in 2009 but gained huge popularity in the U.S. one year before when gas prices reached record highs. People had to learn to live on a tight budget at that time, which meant staying home for holidays and watching their home expenses, which was a cursecursecurse for some. For that reason they tended to choose local attractions while helping domestic tourismdomestic tourismdomestic tourism at the same time. The same situation happened in 2020 when people refrained fromrefrained from (refrain from)refrained from travelling far due to the COVID‑19 pandemic.

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First of all, it seems to be less costly than a long holiday. One does not have to drive faraway distances, which saves time and gas and, what is equally important, involves no lodging costsno lodging costsno lodging costs. While planning the whole trip on their own, staycationers are likely to avoid stressful situations on the way such as cancelled and delayed planescancelled and delayed planes [cancelled and delayed plane]cancelled and delayed planes, waitswaits [wait] (noun)waits at the station or airport, and even some health issues, for instance jet lagjet lagjet lag, which is a real nuisancenuisancenuisance for those who quickly travel across multiple time zonestime zones [time zone]time zones. It is a temporary sleep disordersleep disordersleep disorder after the flightflightflight and it usually takes a couple of days to adjustadjustadjust to the local timelocal timelocal time.

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The keynotekeynotekeynote of a staycation is to keep close to home, which certainly helps reduce the carbon footprintreduce carbon footprintreduce the carbon footprint, an ecological thread. The longer the distance is, the more carbon emissionscarbon emissions [carbon emission]carbon emissions are released into the atmosphere. Holidaymakers might be of economic benefit to local businesseseconomic benefit to local businesses [economic benefit to a local business]economic benefit to local businesses, too. Staying in local places, buying local foods, and promoting local landmarks results in supporting eco‑friendly ideas. This way we can kill two birds with one stonekill two birds with one stone (idiom)kill two birds with one stone.

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Some people find it hard to cut off from work completely. It gets even harder when you come back to your cosy house with access to the internet. Many cannot resistresistresist checking their mailbox to find out that something must be done for work. Taking a morning trip, visiting a chosen place, and coming back home every day might become monotonous at some point. There’s a risk of falling into a routine, which might prevent us from enjoying time as we expect. What should be also mentioned is the fact that even during a day trip it might be hard to control the expenses. Tourists are bombardedare bombarded with [be bombarded with]are bombarded with all “must‑havesmust‑haves [must‑have]must‑haves” such as souvenirs or postcards. Moreover, most of us find it pleasant to drink coffee and eat a piece of cake in a nice local cafe, which surely costs a bit. One needs to be extremely self‑disciplined and not to overspendoverspendoverspend.

Staycations gainedgained [gain]gained great popularity across the whole world, as it made people exploreexploreexplore local territory and appreciate nearby marvelsmarvels [marvel]marvels. It turned out that there is a vast number of wonders around us that are worth visiting. It is the perfect way to avoid the stress of long‑distance travelavoid the stress of long‑distance travelavoid the stress of long‑distance travel, because you know exactly what time you leave, where and when you take a break, what time you are likely to come back home for the night. You master your time, which is absolutely a wonderful feeling in this hastyhastyhasty world.

1 Źródło: Anna Faszcza, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.