In defense of the "stay-cation"

I will agree that it is an irritating catchphrase.

This morning I read an article in 'Salon' deriding the term 'stay-cation' and the people who decide to stay close to home on their time off work.

In defense of the concept (if not the term), the stay-cation has always been my preferred use of time off. This for many reasons: it's cheaper, it's less stressful, it' beautiful, and I get to catch up on the things that I never have time for when I'm at work, at my own pace. It always drives me nuts when people at work say "how was your week off? Did you go anywhere?" I guess I'm guilty of asking the same question, but the answer I get is usually 'yes', whereas I always just say "nope!"

We do go on vacations sometimes; in the past six years we've been to the following places together on our time off:

- a road trip to Halifax for a wedding
- honeymoon in Fernie BC
- various camping trips
- road trip to a cottage in southern Ontario, 9 hours away
- two road trips to cottages in southern Ontario, 3 hours away
- a two-week trip to France, Germany and Austria
- a week in BC this past April.

We had a lot of fun on most of these trips. We travel well together, my hubby and I, and we generally have a good time when we're on the road. However when we get back I am always presented with the same problems: the work that I usually do while I'm home piles up and still has to be done, then the credit card bill has to be paid, and within a week the effects of the vacation have worn off and I'm back to my old routine. I will grant you that I'm still feeling the effects of the trip to Europe, which we took almost two years ago, but for the most part, I usually come home wondering why I left in the first place.

Not to mention that if we leave, we have to figure out what to do with the pets, which I always find stressful.

When I stay home for vacation, I wake up late, lazily make coffee, feed the animals, sit on my deck and watch the birds and bugs in the garden, then pick away at my daily tasks as I see fit. Some days I work like a sonofagun, so that at the end of the day I'm totally exhausted but feel like a million bucks, but some days I go shopping, make food, putz around the garden, spend quality time with the hammock - you get the picture. By the time I go back to work I'm satisfied that things are taken care of on the home front.

When we're on holiday it's generally go go go - there's a pressure to take in as much as possible and not waste your time (and money). The search for quality experiences puts an invisible gun to my head every time, so I feel like I have to fill every hour with some sort of genuine local-flavour-filled encounter.

Another factor in my defense of the stay-cation is that I am generally satisfied where I am. There are people out there who really get a kick out of travelling to new places and seeking thrilling experiences. I am not one of them. Don't get me wrong: some of my favourite moments were pulling off the highway somewhere in Austria to explore a deserted castle on a mountaintop, or driving through the 'desert' near Otterlo, in the Netherlands with my grandmother and her sister, or hiking the lizard's back trail in Fernie BC, or trying foie gras for the first time at a bistro in Paris. It's just that I love my home so much, love my community so much, that I take great pleasure in exploring the areas around me. I can spend hours looking at weeds. I can hike the same trails over and over and always find something new to look at. I can go into my town and catch up with old friends at the grocery store. I can walk the dog and meet new neighbors. I can share my home with friends, like we did the other night when we inadvertently served a 'local' dinner made of fresh-caught perch, home-grown potatoes and basil and tomatoes. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm really into the intensity of a local experience, to immersing myself in my community and my environment rather than striking out into foreign territory. It doesn't hurt that I live in what I consider one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I can't see my neighbors from my deck.

Also I'm afraid of planes.