I should remove the quotation marks sandwiching staycation.
Staycation, which means “a vacation spent at home or nearby,” is now part of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary’s 11th edition 2009 update.
According to dear old Wikipedia:
A staycation (or stay-cation, or stacation) is a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions. Staycations have achieved high popularity in current hard economic times in which unemployment levels and gas prices are high.
Common activities of a staycation include:
1. use of the backyard pool
2. visits to local parks and museums
3. attendance at local festivals
Some staycationers also like to follow a set of rules, such as setting a start and end date, planning ahead, and avoiding routine, with the goal of creating the feel of a traditional vacation.
The bloggers at Frugal Pinoy are the only ones I’ve read so far who have used the word locally. They suggest a bunch of ideas on where to spend a staycation. (And who better to use the word than someone who advocates frugality. I’m now a fan.)
So travel writers, get those ideas cranking and work on a staycation article. Manila or your local neighborhood is a great place to spend your staycation, even when it’s raining.
