Homebodies are venturing out…but not too far
In the wake of the covid 19 pandemic and its rolling round of lockdowns, the south African tourism industry has changed dramatically.
Many South Africans, who were forced to stay within our boarders due to international travel restrictions, have been opting for more local travel, and even embraced the quiet comfort of the Staycation.
Traditional “Staycation”
A staycation, in short, is when you travel to any tourism or entertainment location that does not involve overnight stay. So basically, it’s going on day trips which are driving distance from your home, this means you can enjoy the fun of an outing but still have the comfort of sleeping at home…oh and you won’t have to stress about forgetting your toothbrush!
What if you don’t even want to drive?
Well, that’s still a staycation! A stay-at-home staycation! A type of upgraded low key staycation that saves even more money and promises even more comfort!
Reasons to give yourself a real stay-at-home staycation:
Your own Wi-Fi.
These days its unheard of for families not to have some sort of uncapped highspeed internet at their homes. Streaming instead of satellite tv, and remote working with Zoom and Teams meetings has made this non-negotiable. This means that should you choose NOT to go away for a holiday or even a long weekend you’ll have the benefit or your own Wi-Fi, instead of patchy Hotel Wi-Fi or (Shudder!) expensive mobile data.
Your own bed/shower and favourite mug
As we get older, we get more and more particular about certain things. Whether its our nighttime or our morning routine, our favourite pillow or mug or blanket – there are just certain home comforts that we can’t live without. Yes, you can be the fuddy duddy who takes their emotional support pillow with them on vacation…but do you really want to be THAT person?
Your own electricity solutions.
As more and more of us get on the solar-train to protect our homes against the worst of loadshedding we are once again getting used to having at least some form of continuous electricity solution. If you go on vacation and stay overnight somewhere, it isn’t a given that you’ll have this same luxury (Although many places do have their own back-up power by now.)
Having said this, there is another upside to staycationing…All the money you’ll be saving! Between fuel costs, overnight accommodation, road trip food and the inevitable holiday spending, you’ll probably be saving more than just a couple of thousand rand by NOT going on holiday. So what should you do with your extra cash?
Splurge worthy add-ons.
- Instead of paying for overpriced restaurant food, why not treat yourself to a meal delivery service? Let someone else stress about the meal prep and revel in the fact that you don’t have to pack lunchboxes (for now, at least)
- Upgrade your subscriptions – seeing as you won’t be paying extra for your mobile data or Wi-Fi needs, why not try a one month trial for one of the other streaming services we have available, apart form Netflix? Showmax, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ are all well worth a short time viewing stint, and you can cancel or suspend it afterwards, so you don’t keep on paying.
- Make the most of your back yard. Spend some money on proper inflatable pool toys, patio seating, or lounge chairs. If you don’t have a pool get silly and buy a water slide, a sprinkler flower or even just lots and lots of water guns…
- Upgrade your indoor seating by splurging on that large leather sofa or even splashing some cash on oversized beanbag chairs.
- Bring the tropics indoors by buying massive indoor palm trees and bright linens or simply buy picture frames and create an accent wall with all your favourite snaps from previous holidays.
Staycations shouldn’t be boring, and as much as they are often forced on us by financial constraints that doesn’t mean we still can’t make the most of it. Switch of your phone, tell everyone at work you won’t have cell signal, sleep late, stay in your pyjamas and make the most of your home.
