Tips And Ideas For A Stay At Home Vacation

Gas prices have come down from their peak during the recession, but they're still high enough to deter some travelers. Airline baggage fees are nickel-and-diming passengers, company bonuses and over-time hours are being cut across the board and a number of Americans are still without work.

Although, the dire economic situation doesn't mean that people can continue working 40+ hour weeks all year round without stopping. Economics aside, a stay at home vacation "can be enormously restorative and transformative," says Seattle life coach, Kristie McLean. She adds that this type of cheap vacation "fits much, much better into a lot of people's schedules and logistics."

The trick is to plan your stay at home vacation like a regular vacation so you don't become sluggish, says Diane Brennan, life coach and president of the International Coach Federation.

"Decide up front what you want to have at the end of the vacation," Brennan says. If you want to do absolutely nothing all week long, that's okay -- but it should be a conscious decision.

Dr. Ilene Serlin of the San Francisco Psychological Association warns that having too much downtime can leave you feeling more lethargic, so you may want to remain refreshed by planning a few local activities that will make you feel more productive and satisfied by the week's end.

A stay at home vacation doesn't need to be cheap. Sometimes it can be everything a vacation is, but without all the hassle of long drives, plane trips and unfamiliar territory. One of the best staycation strategies is to plan one based around a visit from an out-of-town friend.

You can plan to visit fun tourist destinations that you may overlook because it's right in your backyard. According to Matt Wixon, author of The Great American Staycation, "You need to create the environment of a traditional vacation.

It means getting out of the rut of your daily life. It means not planning a stay-at-home vacation that combines leisure time with cleaning out the garage, building bookshelves, and a trip to get the car repaired.

That's not a vacation at all." Instead, you need to avoid cooking, cleaning and technology. Instead, keep your days full of fun and activities, share quality time with a friend, and leave your stress at work.

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