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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think Staycation means holidaying at home, not in your home country?

187 replies

IveSeenThings · 19/07/2020 14:29

I am seeing articles everywhere for the last few weeks - what to pack for a staycation Hmm, what to wear for a staycation, where to go for a staycation etc etc.
Staycation is a jokey euphemism for staying at home during your time off, surely? A bit like saying I'm going to Costa Back Garden, or Shaynoo etc
When did it become meaning having a holiday in Britain? (If you live in Britain!)
That's just called going on holiday... isn't it?

YABU- staycation means a holiday in the country you live in
YANBU- staycation DEFINITELY means staying at home not going somewhere

OP posts:
diddl · 19/07/2020 15:11

I always thought that it meant holidaying in the country that you live in.

But that would just be a holiday, wouldn't it & I'm sure it's a thing that lots of people do anyway.

Makes more sense that it's a holiday but you don't go away.

So just time off?

Original poster
IveSeenThings · 19/07/2020 15:12

I think I should have made the thread "the term staycation is intensely annoying" then it would have been 100% YANBU!

OP posts:
RaisinGhost · 19/07/2020 15:17

To me it means staying at home but being on holiday and acting like a tourist in your own city/area. So not just staying in watching TV or fixing up your house, but visiting local attractions, eating out, hiking/beach days etc.

SoMuchToBits · 19/07/2020 15:18

I think it means staying in your own home but maybe going for days out in your local area.

Standrewsschool · 19/07/2020 15:20

I always thought it was staying at home, and doing day trips out etc.

3cats · 19/07/2020 15:23

Well, we're staycationing at home this summer. We may do a few local days out in our city, but no plans to leave the city we live in. For me, a trip to another city would definitely be a vacation, but I think so many people have gotten used to holidaying abroad that they consider a holiday in the UK to be less than.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 19/07/2020 15:23

I’ve always though of “staycation” as a “holiday” where you spend nights in your own home and go for days out etc.

If a “staycation” is a holiday in your own country then I never had anything but “staycations” until I was 18 and my children only ever had “staycations” until fairly recently.

I’m in my fifties but if a “staycation” isn’t a proper holiday then in all that time I’ve had about 8 holidays - despite the fact that I think I have two or three holidays per year.

OddBoots · 19/07/2020 15:23

wordspy.com/index.php?word=staycation

Looks like the earliest usage in 2003 was staying at home and enjoying local places.

BritWifeinUSA · 19/07/2020 15:24

Here it means being off work but not going away, just relaxing at home, taking day trips, enjoying the garden, etc. Here “vacation” is not just used for going away but being off work also. So we say “I’m on vacation next week” to colleagues, meaning “I’m on annual leave next week”.

I could get on a plane here and fly six hours and still be in the same country. Not only that, I’d be in a totally different climate and landscape. It would look nothing like home. It would definitely be a holiday. We wouldn’t call going from Florida to Alaska a staycation here.

unicornparty · 19/07/2020 15:24

For me it means staying at home.

BreconBeBuggered · 19/07/2020 15:25

Whatever it means - and I lean towards OP's interpretation - it can fuck off. Staycation my arse. Nonsense marketing drivel.

Laaalaaaa · 19/07/2020 15:25

Staying in your own country/UK to vacation -= staycation

Lovewineandchocolate · 19/07/2020 15:29

I agree OP, it always used to mean staying at home...

"Where are you going for your holidays this year...?"

"Argate"

"Where's Argate"

"At the end of Argarden"

Smile Smile Smile

MsChanandlerBoing · 19/07/2020 15:29

I always thought it meant a holiday in your own country. I’ve never thought of it as a demeaning term though just an indication of where you went - just like “long haul” “short haul” would give an idea of whereabouts you went, staycations would indicate a holiday but within your home country.

Tbh it’s not a word I’ve ever heard anyone use in real life so I’ve just decided based on how it’s used in the media 🤷🏾‍♀️

DisgruntledGuineaPig · 19/07/2020 15:32

I always thought it meant taking time off, and staying at home, but doing days out then returning to your own house to sleep!

Staycation was more about taking your annual leave, to force yourself to have a break, but not going away.

We are planning a staycation. We aren't going away this Summer, but DH has to take some time off before the end of August so we're going to do a week of days out.

I wouldn't call a UK holiday a staycation.

zukiecat · 19/07/2020 15:33

I think it would mean either,

It's a word I cannot stand though, and I hate hearing it whether someone is going abroad, staying in the UK, or staying at home .

PumpkinPie2016 · 19/07/2020 15:38

To me, staycation means you stay at the home you normally live in. Maybe go for day trips/chill locally.

We often holiday in the UK and we are going in August to a place we have been before. I class that as a holiday-I am staying somewhere that isn't my home.

BackforGood · 19/07/2020 15:40

I'm amazed at the vote (at time I voted - 57:43 % saying it means stay at home in your house). What I mean is, I' amazed that is isn't that far off 1/2 people who think that "stay" means "go away". I mean, obviously it is a relatively recently invented word, but in terms of what it dis describing, it is clearly secribing staying at home.
How can 'going on holiday' be 'staying' ? Confused

Of course it means, sleeping in your own bed, but having time off work and doing "fun" or "relaxing" things - whatever that might mean to you. Otherwise you haven't 'stayed', you've 'gone away'.

Pobblebonk · 19/07/2020 15:41

It's certainly a holiday in your own home. We have holidays in places in the UK more than abroad, neither we nor anyone else I have ever come across suggested they were staycations.

DisgruntledGuineaPig · 19/07/2020 15:42

oh but I've also heard people use it to mean staying at their parents' house ! They see that as equally 'home' even though they've not lived there for a decade or two.

PhoneLock · 19/07/2020 15:46

Staying you own home. If you are holidaying elsewhere in the UK, you are still going somewhere.

MinorArcana · 19/07/2020 15:51

I’ve always considered a staycation to be a holiday that’s based at your home.

So staying at home at night, and going on day trips from your home.

Once there’s nights away from home, it stops being a staycation IMO

Aragog · 19/07/2020 15:52

My u see standing if a staycation is holidaying from your home, not just staying in the U.K.

It's having your home as your base and visiting local attractions each day.

CrowdedHouseinQuarantine · 19/07/2020 15:54

I understood it was staying in your own country

BarbaraofSeville · 19/07/2020 15:55

It means staying at home but having trips out, time off work, holiday style food and drink.

It does not mean a holiday in your own country, even though a lot of people think it does, but are wrong.

A holiday in your own country is 'a holiday'. Apart from passports there is nothing to differentiate it from a holiday abroad, it's not necessarily quicker, cheaper or not involving a plane.

A holiday in your own country could be more expensive than going abroad, you could fly or get a ferry to get there or it could take longer to get from say, northern England to Cornwall, than it would to fly to France or Spain.