How to Enjoy a Staycation [Video]

As avid travelers and adventures, the thought of staying around town usually doesn’t appeal to us. Since we returned from South Korea we’ve been nomads in every sense of the word. We tell everyone that we’re “living” in Seattle, but the truth is that we’ve been keeping our belongings (and sometimes ourselves) in the naval town of Bremerton, a short ferry away.

Sure, we do a lot of traveling, but most of it isn’t what we’d call a true vacation.  In fact, since becoming travel videographers our vacations really haven’t been the same. You’ll rarely find us sans cameras, we won’t touch our food until we take pictures first, and we wake up super early in an attempt to get good sunrise time-lapse footage.  We’re also budget travelers, so it’s hard for us to go anywhere if we can’t find cheap flights.  While I’m not complaining about being able to travel for work, it is nice (even essential) to have a work-free trip every now and then.

When the opportunity arose for us to enjoy a little staycation in the Hood Canal, we jumped on it.  Chris’s father decided to bless us with a little spring break retreat.  He brought over Chris’s two younger brothers from the Tri-Cities for a few days of fun and relaxation.

Not only was this trip our very first staycation, but it was also our very first home rental.  Being budget travelers, it’s rare that we get to have an entire property to ourselves.  The first few nights there were six of us in the house and there was still so much space!  The house had three levels, each with a full bath.  We were located right on the beach with two decks and stairs leading right to the water.  The property also had a fire pit, stocked wood shed, and cupboards full of board games.

It gets better.  After spending a few days with the family, Chris and I were left with the house to ourselves.  That’s right, two people and one HUGE house… for two days!  We didn’t know what to do with ourselves.  First things first, champagne!

We popped a bottle of bubbly and made an oath to not do any work.  The only time we jumped on the computer was to watch a few episodes of Game of Thrones (addicting) and The Big Bang Theory.  We left the house once to head down to the tiny general store and pick up a few necessary treats.  Other than that, we spent the two days nestled by the fire, sipping champagne, eating sour patch kids, taking long bubble baths, and enjoying each other’s company.

So, now that we’re obviously staycation professionals (ha!), we’re going to offer a little advice on how to enjoy your staycation.

Embrace it.

Sure, you might only be a few minutes from home but you are still on vacation.  Take this time to relax, catch up on some good reading, and do things for yourself.  Gorge yourself on cheese and wine.  Walk around sans clothes.  Do what makes you happy.  It makes it even better if it’s things that you can do at your own home.

Take full advantage of the amenities.

This is more for staycationers that are staying at a vacation rental like we did.  There was a full kitchen that Chris used to cook us a delicious steak dinner. You better believe that we filled the ginormous jetted tub with bubble bath and spent the evenings watching the sunset on the deck.

Make it memorable.

Regardless of where and how you spend your staycation, be sure to make it memorable.  We always do a “top 3” at the end of every vacation.  We chose the top 3 experiences or moments that we enjoyed the most.  Our top 3 on this trip included watching seals frolic in the water, making gooey s’mores by the fire pit, and going clamming along the shore.

Vacation rentals are quickly growing in popularity and we can see why. If you’re traveling with family, or any big group at all, it can actually be incredibly cost effective. You can find any number of companies in the specific country you’re looking to visit such as Sea Side Reservations in Mexico, or you can go to a bigger site such as Homeaway to find rentals all over. Just find what is right for you.

As for us, our staycation was a great experience.  It definitely opened our eyes to just how important some time away from work is- whether you travel across continents or just across town.  What about you?  Have you ever taken a staycation?  We’d love to hear about your experience in the comment sections below.  If you haven’t taken a staycation, is it something that you’d like to do in the future?  Why or why not?