I’m taking a holiday at home, but don’t you dare call it a staycation. If I didn’t want to spend time at home I wouldn’t live here.
I have one more week of work and then I’m taking four weeks of annual leave.
When I tell people they inevitably ask, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going home.”
“You’re not going away anywhere?”
“No.”
“Ah, you’re having a staycation.”
Let’s ignore for a minute how much I hate the word “staycation”. Let’s ignore the judgment that is always loaded into the statement.
I could go away, but I don’t want to.
Since when do we need a separate word for going on holiday at home?
I like my home. It’s away from the stress of work, it’s relaxing, and occasionally there are live mice running around the living room floor (fortunately not too often).
I can sit on the floor by the log burner (because His Royal Fluffiness took my seat on the couch) with my laptop on my knee and write my book.
I can look outside, hear birds nesting in the roof, and see wooded hills and green leaves.
I can walk into my library and have at my fingertips hundreds (thousands?) of books that I chose personally because I thought they were worth reading (or they had really pretty binding).
It’s warm, dry, and there’s tea and coffee in the pantry and a cosy bed in the bedroom.
And, of course, it’s where His Royal Fluffiness lives.
Isn’t this where I should want to go on holiday?
When I was at school, summer holidays were a magical time. My sister and I put the tent up in the orchard and slept in it for months. We swam in the pool or the water race, climbed trees, wrote books, jumped on the trampoline, and adventured.
Sure, we occasionally went away somewhere, but I never got bored of being at home.
As an adult, there seems to be an expectation that when I’m not working I will go away.
Where?
Probably to a vacation spot. That is, a noisy, tacky, crowded, expensive, overly hot location where His Royal Fluffiness is not.
Yes, when I go away from home on holiday I miss my cat. Don’t you?
Perhaps you’re curious what I’m going to do while I’m on holiday at home. (Maybe you’re not, but some people are weird.)
I have a lot of things I’d like to do, like murder the gorse and the rampant blackberries, finally prune the rose bush, weed between the paving stones, and finish unpacking. (Yes, I have lived here for more than two years–or has it been it three?–but you can’t rush some things.)
I probably won’t do many of those things.
I probably will spend a lot of time drinking tea and coffee, stoking the fire, reading books, and writing my book, and I might even go away somewhere overnight.
I’ve also had the wonderful idea that I might try to limit my time online (= on Twitter) to every other day. I’ll see how that works out.
So if you notice I’m not responding to your tweets when I normally would it might be that I didn’t see them. Or it might be that I don’t like you any more. It’s hard to say.
I’m kidding. I still like you very much.
Doesn’t that sound like a great holiday? I might even finish editing my book.
Did you know you can get my updates, which are almost as awesome as I am? All you have to do is put your soul in the box. Sorry, not soul. I meant email.
Or if you want to keep your soul, you can make me happy by sharing this post instead.
Sounds absolutely fabulous. I love vacationing at home. I love vacationing elsewhere too, but a crowbar is required to get me out of my comfy-zone. Have a wonderful stay… um.. vacation!
I’m not saying I don’t enjoy taking a holiday away from home, but when I get back I’m so tired I need a second holiday to recover. 🙂 Thank you, I’m sure I will!
Since it became known that there was money to be made by convincing people that a holiday was about being somewhere … else.
Darn capitalism!
I’ve stayed at home lots of times. Vacationing in the outside world can be stressful. You have to pack, drive or fly or boat somewhere, come home, unpack. I stayed home the last week of June. I did nothing but organize my house and read and it was wonderful. I can’t organize my house if I’m away! I might do it again in the fall. I would love to take a month off! So jealous!!
That does sound like a great holiday. I need to organise my house too. I probably won’t, but the possibility is there. 🙂
You might be a bit less jealous if you knew how stressed I’ve been recently trying to get everything done at work before I go away and how much unpaid leave I’m taking… but it will totally be worth it.
That sounds like such a nice holiday! I love travel but hate people, so holidaying is always a little complicated…
And yes, I always miss the little furry muse when I go away. I get whoever’s cat-sitting to take photos and send them to me. I am that cat person.
I’ve done some excellent holidaying in places with very few people, but I get your point.
Of course you miss your cat when you go away. What kind of person wouldn’t? And I feel so bad because I can’t explain that we’re not going away for long. What if he thinks we’ve deserted him? 🙁
Holidaying in places with very few people is amazing. South Island NZ and Lake District UK in the off season come to mind – although the weather isn’t exactly lovely…
And whoever figures out a way to communicate to cats that we’re coming back is going to be a terribly popular person. Until we realise that the cat’s reply is probably, “And I care?”
I can tell HRF cares. When I get back after leaving him for a while he doesn’t bite me for at least two days.
You’re right!! I spent so many vacation at home when I was a kid and loved it. There is so kind of expectation now that to have fun, you must travel.
I love travelling, but I also love staying home and enjoy the things I don’t normally have time to do. Hope you get to do everything you want including doing nothing 🙂
Enjoy your vacation at home!! 🙂
Exactly. There’s so much to do at home that you don’t usually get around to. Thank you, I’m sure I’ll enjoy my holiday very much. 🙂
If those pics are your actual house or what your actual home looks anything like, I don’t understand how you EVER bring yourself to leave it. Let alone the cat. Enjoy!
Haha. My house isn’t quite that exotic looking, but it does have the look of a pleasant country get-away, with a lot more chicken poo on the front doorstep.
Sounds like a great vacation to me! I too hate made up words like “staycation.” Enjoy your downtime!
Yes! It’s a horrible word. Thank you. 🙂 And I’m sure I will.
Rest, relax, enjoy, organize.
I love to organize. It’s my sickness. If there’s ever a cruise where everyone goes about and organizes things, I’m in.
Until that happens, can I come to your house for vacation?
You’re welcome at my house any time, as long as you do some organising and don’t expect me to come up with small talk.
Enjoy your staycation! 😀 I’m sorry…I find that word funny. I think this holiday at home sounds wonderful. I love traveling to other parts of the world but I always need a week at home to recover. I also love taking a vacation/holiday/break at home. Because. Cozy. And a break from the demands of online, etc.
Thank you! I’ll even forgive you for using the word “staycation” this time because you agree how awesome they are.