Personal Health
Travel
How to Create the Staycation of Your Dreams
January 31, 2017
Luckily, you don't need to leave the comfort of your own home (or hometown) to create the luxurious-and budget friendly-"staycation" of your dreams with these simple tips.
AT HOME:
1. Clean and Declutter Your Home: Your home will never feel like a vacation if you're surrounded by dirty laundry and clutter. Give your place a good clean up and put away the "extras" (paperwork especially!) that sit around on your surfaces-even if just hidden away for the weekend. Having a clean home will make you feel so relaxed and free to enjoy your time. Plus, a 2012 UCLA study shows that women who live in a cluttered, messy home have higher stress hormones, such as cortisol, that lead to weight gain and health issues...AND NO ONE NEEDS THAT!
2. Create an At Home Spa: After you declutter your home and put away all the eyesores in your bathroom (I'm looking at you, sad and twisted toothpaste) create an at home spa. Light a relaxing smelling candle or put several around your bathtub. Give yourself a manicure, take a bubble bath, put on a facemask, and use that fancy lotion you've been saving for a special day.
3. Turn Your Bedroom into a Hotel Resort: Swap out any busy or colorful bedding for your neutral / solid colored linens or dress up your bed with your most luxurious sheets and blankets. Top with a fur or velvet throw for soft, rich texture.
Bonus Bedroom Tips:
- Put your pillows in the dryer for 15min on high to kill any dust-mites and fluff them up to hotel quality plushness.
- Lightly spritz your favorite room scent or light a candle that reminds you of a treasured memory or vacation. Your olfactory senses are closely tied to neural links in parts of your brain that house emotion and place memory (Boundless, 2016). Example: Smelling sunscreen reminds you of blissful beach vacations.
- Place a chocolate on your bed or beside to wait for you when you come back...it's stupid but seriously makes your room feel like you're on vacation.
4. Stock Up on Favorite Foods, Drinks, and Fresh Flowers: Think through how you want to dine during your mini-cation. Perhaps you want to brunch each day or maybe you'd rather have steak dinner? Figure out what makes you feel like you're living it up and don't just eat forgotten leftovers. I like to buy chocolate, speciality teas, strawberries, and avocados to indulge in along with my regular groceries. Sparkling water, a favorite coffee, and your staycation's chosen cocktail make each day feel special. Lastly, fresh flowers make any place feel bright and celebratory.
5. Have Breakfast in Bed: Even if you have to prepare it yourself, do it. Style a tray with a small bud vase and flowers, load it up with coffee and pastries, and just stay in bed reading and sipping away. You deserve it.
6. Find Your Fun: Whether it's a Netflix marathon, reading that book or magazine you've been meaning to, playing boardgames with your family, or having a DIY spa-retreat. Do whatever feels like you're pampering or recharging yourself.
7. Try Recipes: If baking or cooking is therapeutic for you, dog-ear recipes you've been meaning to try and finally make them! That dark chocolate bourbon mousse always looked so challenging, but you'll master it!
8. Get Your Creative Juices Flowing: Start writing that short story or get out your craft supplies or watercolors and work on one of those millions of DIY projects you spotted but never had time to do.
9. Have a Pincation: It's time to finally do some of things you've saved on Pinterest! Select something each day to do or try from your pins (recipes, outfits, beauty tutorials, crafts, local destinations, etc). Make it a themed and thrilling time to yourself.
10. Audiobook: Listen to a great story while vegging out or doing a favorite activity around the house like gardening. It's like you'll be transported on your staycation to whatever adventure your heroine is on.
NEARBY:
Staycation doesn't mean you have to stay home the whole time! Go do local activities you've had on your bucket list.
Staycation doesn't mean you have to stay home the whole time! Go do local activities you've had on your bucket list.
1. Museum: Take a couple hours to stroll through and take it all in.
2. The Movies: See the newest blockbuster or check out that small independent theatre's art film.
3. Go See a Show: Most likely there is an improv group, theatre performance, or comedian showing near you.
4. Get a Massage or Go to a Spa: You don't have to limit yourself to a DIY spa retreat. Indulge in a Swedish massage and facial or pedicure and feel 100% pampered.
5. Hiking: Sometimes connecting with nature and being quiet can really ground you and reset everything.
6. Be a Tourist in Your Own City: There are probably plenty of attractions that tourist go ga-ga for that you've actually never done. When I lived in New York I never actually went to the Statue of Liberty. Go find your Statue of Liberty and take as many selfies as you desire. Fanny packs not required.
7. Make a Reservation at a Special Restaurant: Try a new place that you've been curious to check out and go all out. Order a full course meal, drinks, and dessert.
8. Coffee Shop Bucket List: Find or make a list of top coffee shops in your area to try and make a point to go to a new one each day. Bring a book or magazine, order a coffee and maybe a biscotti"For Here," and just relax. When was the last time you saw someone at a coffee shop just to drink coffee and chill rather than work or meet with someone? It's a pretty big treat.
9. Bar Bucket List: Similar to the coffee shop list, get fancy with trying different bars. Dress up and go to those that have "Mixologists" and the right kind of pretentious atmosphere. It's cheaper than a fancy meal and since you live close by you can easily Uber home.
10. Pack a Picnic: Pack your favorite charcuterie and bottle of wine and lounge on a picnic blanket (or sheet) at your favorite park or beach. Listen to an audiobook, read a magazine, people watch, or take in nature.
Hopefully you're able to recharge and take some of your favorite activities back with you to "reality." Don't just wait until you need a vacation to relax.
Do you like the idea of staycations?
Have you ever tried one? How did it go?
Have you ever tried one? How did it go?
What tips and recommendations would you suggest to indulge in a minication like this?
Sources:
Sullivan, M. (2012) "Trouble in Paradise: UCLA Book Enumerates Challenges Faced by Middle-Class L.A. Families" UCLA Newsroom, 19 June 2012. Retrieved 31 Jan. 2017 from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/trouble-in-paradise-new-ucla-book
Boundless. “Olfaction: The Nasal Cavity and Smell.” Boundless Psychology Boundless, 20 Sep. 2016. Retrieved 31 Jan. 2017 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/sensory-processes-38/olfaction-the-nasal-cavity-and-smell-164-12699/
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