The Great American Staycation gets a look

A few recent mentions of The Great American Staycation ...

From a story in The (Penn.) Sentinel:

A staycation? Sounds a little lame, doesn’t it? But that’s just what Matt Wixon is trying to prove is NOT the case with his guide “The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family.”

First, Wixon attempts to explain exactly what a staycation is — and comes up with this definition: “A vacation in which the vactioner stays at home, or near home, while creating the environment of a traditional vacation. He also sets the No. 1 rule for staycations — near home means any location within 100 miles “because a 200-mile round trip seems to be a reasonable upper limit for a destination that can be traveled to and enjoyed in one day. Unless you routinely drive at more than 100 miles per hour, in which case you should proceed directly to the chapter on thrill rides. Or to jail.”

Oh, Wixon. You just crack me up. Actually, Wixon provides a great sense of humor throughout the book, serving up his own personal anecdotes as well (including a horrible “fake-cation” involving attempted sleep in a rented conversion van while staring at a neon McDonald’s sign).

After defining a staycation, Wixon proceeds to outline the basic rules of staycations — a staycation must be treated as a real vacation, create mental distance, treat yourself, etc. These are the basic guidelines he provides that will ensure a successful staycation.

Then we get to the good parts — lots of ideas for fun things to do without traveling far from home or spending a ton of money. Each chapter is broken into a category of vacations, including theme parks and thrill rides, educational, the pampered life, romantic and especially for kids. The chapters are also preceded by a fun little quiz to see if this kind of staycation is the best for you.

From the blog of Jim Byers, travel writer for The Star in Toronto:

Staycation, all I ever wanted
My apologies to the Go Go's for stealing their lyrics, but everyone's bombarding yours truly with stay-at-home vacation ideas. I even received a book today called The Great American Staycation by a cat called Matt Wixon. Not a bad idea, actually, as the author points out everything from how to plan ahead and how to maximize your home town (easier in some cities than others, of course). He also has useful chapters on theme parks and thrill rides, outdoor adventures, sports staycations, romantic staycations and educational staycations.

From Iammodern.com:

The Great American Staycation: How to Make a Vacation at Home Fun for the Whole Family is a great book put together by Matt Wixon that is full of ideas on how to make the most out of vacationing at or near home. This is a great little book this summer for families looking to stay home.