We know you have been staying at home more than you ever have before, you’ve organized every corner of your home, you’ve sat on endless Zoom calls. All of this time spent inside may mean some much needed vacation time in in order. Even if you are not ready to hop on a plane and travel internationally, there are ways to still enjoy an at-home staycation.
1. Setting Boundaries
Staycations in the traditional sense can mean checking into a hotel in your city and exploring the local tourist attractions. During a coronavirus staycation, you’re still at home. That means there’s no waiter to clear your dishes or housekeeper to make your bed.
Prepare ahead of time to reduce any chores you need to finish. This is not the weekend to do laundry or mow your lawn.
Then again, you don’t want a pile of dishes accumulating in your sink, and an unmade bed might drive you crazy. While some work that you might not do on a traditional vacation is inevitable, make a plan with your family to establish the minimum amount of things that still need to be done, and define what traditional chores can be skipped.
2. Choose Your Destinations
The great thing about an at-home staycation is that you don’t have to pick only one destination. Maybe you spend the first part of the weekend searching for Icelandic fairies, then swan off to the Jersey Shore or your favorite spot on Lake Michigan. You could spend Saturday in San Francisco, be in Singapore by Sunday, and end up in Sydney on Monday. Plus, it doesn’t even need to be a real place: Why not drink a butterbeer in Hogsmeade, or munch on Sprinklicious doughnuts in Springfield?
3. Get Creative with Food
When traveling, odds are good that every meal you have is one you’ve never had before. Even familiar places can be much different abroad than in the US—have you seen howfancy McDonald’s can be in Europe?
During your weekend at home, order a meal you’ve never tried before from a favorite restaurant. Maybe you always get familiar dishes, like spring rolls from your favorite Vietnamese restaurant, but have you tried the shaking beef, bánh xèo (an eggy crepe), or che ba mau (a dessert made with coconut milk)? Now’s your time to branch out.
You can also make it a point to get takeout exclusively from restaurants you haven’t been to yet.
If you want to avoid takeout, or are trying to keep costs down, you can still try new food. If it’s safe for you to go grocery shopping, or you have a slot for online grocery delivery, pick only items you’ve never tried before. Visit an Asian supermarket to find fruits like rambutans, lychees, and longans. Order fresh tortillas at a Latino supermarket—they’re usually way better than the packaged ones. Even if you stick to your usual grocery store, pick up a new cereal or snag something new from the artisanal cheese section.
4. Unplug From the Internet (unless it’s part of your virtual vacation)
One of the best parts about vacation is blissful unawareness of what else is happening in the world.
Normally, you might turn on the local TV news as you make breakfast, read the newspaper while you’re on the train to work, check the news online when you sit down at your desk, and scroll through Twitter on your lunch break. But all of that news consumption isn’t exactly relaxing.
