Travel at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging. I mean, really challenging. People embraced the concept of a Stay-cation like never before. That’s the idea of finding things to do at home to replace the stress relief you normally get travelling on expensive vacations. Not long after COVID closed travel down I ran across the phenomenon of the “Fake-cation.” Who knew that was a thing? People downloaded pictures of exotic destinations, photoshopped themselves into the landscape, and then posted to their social media accounts as if they were traveling and enjoying the experience first-hand when they were actually staying home. What a strange thing for people to do, even when COVID-19 travel restrictions were at their highest. A “Fake-cation” is no replacement for the battery recharge you get on a proper VA-cation.
For most people COVID-19 is in the past. Things have improved greatly since the early days of the pandemic, and travel is definitely back. It doesn’t matter whether you go for a relaxing week on the beach, or if you take a more active approach and opt to trek up to the top of Mt. Fuji, a change of scenery is therapeutic. I considered a Mt. Fuji trek…briefly. When Rob and his family were transferred to Japan, I thought it would be a great opportunity. Until I remembered I don’t do well at altitude. We decided our time would better spent letting our grandkids tour us around their favorite Tokyo sites, and this past Christmas they did just that. I had visited Japan several times before, but this was my first time visiting a Ninja museum. Now that was fun!
You don’t have the leave the country to have a wonderful vacation…you don’t even need to leave the state…you can have a State-cation. Janet gave me a book of day trips to Maryland’s Tidewater for Father’s Day one year and I LOVE that gift. It gave me several years-worth of State-cations. International travel may not be in the cards for you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t travel locally and enjoy a State-cation.
My point in this post is simple. You don’t need a “Fake-cation” to enjoy a break from the stresses of life…you just need to understand your risk tolerance, plan accordingly, and maybe think a bit outside of the box.
(Originally posted on 6 Aug 2020)