How to Staycation During the Pandemic: Part 1

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, now is not the time to travel. But the past couple of months have given me the much-needed time to slow down, spend more time in personal reflection, and re-evaluate my priorities. Lockdown has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me personally. I’ve learned to truly appreciate the stillness and the quiet time that we get right now. I’ve also picked up a few new hobbies in the process – golf, tennis, and blogging! 👩🏻‍💻 That’s right, this blog was born out of COVID. I had been wanting to develop my own website, create content, and build my online presence for a while. I knew if I didn’t start blogging now, I wasn’t ever going to.

Being in lockdown has also taught me to expand on the meaning of the word vacation. Even though many of us are working from home and it might be difficult to distinguish between work and personal life these days, it’s still important to take time off for your own health and sanity. In the past, my idea of a vacation typically required traveling to another country and dropping a sizable portion of my savings for a two-week long trip. However, throughout the past couple of months I’ve realized that there are many alternative activities that could bring me a similar level of joy and excitement as my traditional way of vacationing. Introducing…staycation!

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of staycation is:

Staycation [stey-key-shuhn]
noun
1. a vacation spent at home or near home, doing enjoyable activities or visiting local attractions.

The key here is doing what’s enjoyable while staying home or nearby. In this two-part blog series, I want to share with you ideas for what I think would make an awesome staycation. Here we go!

1. Be a tourist in your own town. How many of us really know our cities? I’m talking history, fun facts, and landmarks. It’s often too easy for us to dismiss a restaurant or an attraction because it’s known to be “touristy.” Guess what? There’s a reason why some things are touristy. It’s because they’ve proven themselves over a long period of time. Try a new restaurant and stroll the landmarks and neighborhoods you haven’t been to before. You’d be surprised by the hidden gems you’ll find. If you’re in San Francisco, see my review of top SF attractions for some touristy inspirations.
2. Build your own website. If I can do it, you can do it. Whether you want to have a small business or to start a blog, building your own website is a fun and rewarding experience. Like I mentioned before, I did it because I wanted to learn the process and start a blog. In this day and age, having a website and an online presence is likely going to serve you well. The internet isn’t going anywhere and there’s enough internet real estate for anyone who wants a piece. The good news is, there’s a low barrier to entry because the startup and operating costs are so attractively low. It costs me less than $4 a month to maintain my site. Also, don’t worry if you don’t have the technical chops because I didn’t. There are many resources (often free!) and services online that guide you through the process and help you create a website in no time. For me, I used WordPress and Google’d my way through it all.
3. Take on an intimidating recipe. In my sushi post, I talked about why I was always intimidated by the idea of making sushi at home. Recently, I tackled sushi making head-on and my sushi ended up looking great and tasting delicious! Whatever the dish/recipe is for you, don’t be afraid to take it on.
4. Learn how to cook. What I mean by this is, don’t just follow a recipe every time, but actually learn the cooking fundamentals (i.e. methods of cooking, knife skills, and how flavors work together) because it’ll allow you to unlock so many delicious possibilities. You’ll be able to whip up a scrumptious meal using whatever you have on hand. You’ll even be able to tweak recipes to adjust them to your liking or to make them even better. How awesome of a skill is that to have!? If you’re starting out and are wondering how to stock up your kitchen, check out my list of best kitchen tools for home cooks.
5. …Or don’t cook for a day. Similar to how you would eat out a lot when you’re on vacations, splurge on ordering food on your staycation. You can order takeout from just about any place these days. How about starting the day with some takeout brunch, beating the afternoon slump with an afternoon snack like ice cream, and ending the night with dinner from a local favorite? I have suggestions if you’re looking for some amazing Thai food in the Bay Area. You’re also helping to support local businesses.

Stay tuned for part 2! 🍹

Don’t forget to subscribe on the right!