GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL – BY STAYING HOME
Though the country is still in its economic boom, normal families can face tight budgets on occasion. Limitations on dollars and time can make you think you don't have the ability to take a trip this year. But there are alternatives to expensive hotels and hundreds of dollars in plane fares. In fact, you can take your family on a great vacation without spending a cent on lodging or transportation. How? By taking a mini-vacation.
Mini-vacations are "trips" you and your family can take without leaving home. By acting like tourists in your own home town, you can have a great holiday without incurring the expense of a full-blown getaway.
Almost all of us have resources within a short drive of our homes that we can use to plan a terrific vacation, without cleaning out our savings accounts. The goal of a mini-vacation is to leverage these resources by changing your mindset. Follow me while we explore how to take a vacation - without leaving home.
1. Think like a tourist. It may be hard to believe, but if your town has at least one hotel, motel, inn or Bed & Breakfast, people are coming to your town as tourists. You may think you live in the most uninteresting place in the world, but that's only because you are too close to it. So the first step is to change the eyes with which you view your city and the surrounding area.
If you were going to visit a new locale, you'd probably do some research. You'd buy a guide book and a few maps, you'd look at a site or two on the Web, and maybe contact the Chamber of Commerce or Tourists' Bureau. Not only does all this research help you identify sites you'd like to see, it also begins to build excitement about your trip. So don't skip the research on your hometown. Get a free guidebook from the Triple A, if you're a member. Check the library for books on local history. Do a search on the Internet for any related sites. You'll find out a lot about your town that you never knew before. Maybe the world's largest manufacturer of tennis balls is located only twenty miles away - and they give free tours! Or there's a fully-stocked trout pond within city limits, just waiting for your line. Start making lists of these attractions - and get excited!
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