Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
MotherPiglet · 19/07/2020 20:10

Staycation is staying at home (or camping in the garden like we do). We had one last year with lots of days out throughout the week to local places and farms we dont regularly visit, it was fantastic and we did treat it like a holiday. Weve done 2 during lockdown. YANBU - I dont understand how just because you stay in the country it doesnt class as a holiday...

Original poster
IveSeenThings · 19/07/2020 20:18

Yes @EhUp, I hate when people say half term for end of term holiday too!

And yes- starvation is definitely should only be at home Grin

OP posts:
jcyclops · 19/07/2020 23:15

Is a vacation staying in Jersey, or Gibraltar a staycation? What about staying at home in London and visiting Paris/Lille/Brussels for day trips on Eurostar? I think a staycation is staying at home and doing holiday type activities. I would never call a holiday staying somewhere away from home in the UK a staycation.

ThisIsGonnaHurt · 19/07/2020 23:23

If i had booked a trip in the UK I wouldn't call it a staycation as its a stupid term IMO however I never say I'm going on holiday if its in the UK, I would just say I'm going away. To me a holiday is abroad and usually a week +.

TheSoapyFrog · 19/07/2020 23:34

I assumed it was staying at home. I remember when everybody started using it and the magazines etc had all sorts of ideas for things to do at home to make it feel like a holiday. A holiday in your own country is still a holiday.

copperoliver · 20/07/2020 01:35

It's a holiday in your own country. X

Miafey · 20/07/2020 02:34

Staycation means staying at home. There's no way that someone living in New York who goes away to Hawaii is on a 'staycation' ffs.

Shoppingwithmother · 20/07/2020 02:42

Yes you are right. I hate the word as used in the wrong context.

Miafey · 20/07/2020 02:51

I could take a 55 hour drive (quickest route) to stay somewhere where people speak another language, without leaving the country. You could drive from London to Baghdad in the same time.

Staycation means staying at home. Any confused use by Brits is due to the UK being such a small country.

tabulahrasa · 20/07/2020 02:56

I’ve only seen it as holidaying in your own country this year, up till then it’s always been staying at your own house, but doing local days out as if you were on holiday.

EggysMom · 20/07/2020 07:34

Surely you would call taking a holiday in your own home, 'taking time off work' just as using up your holiday allowance doesn't mean you're going anywhere

Taking time off work is when you have to take a few days off to decorate, to build flat-pack furniture, to have visitors. A staycation is where you take time off to do FUN things, like you would on a vacation.

Oysterbabe · 20/07/2020 07:37

I always took it to mean staying in your own country, not necessarily own home.

maddy68 · 20/07/2020 07:44

It's holidaying in your own country I believe

MyFartWillGoOn · 21/07/2020 11:04

Got this in my email today and thought it was timely given this post

So JL see it as holidaying in your own country...

to think Staycation means holidaying at home, not in your home country?
SnuggyBuggy · 21/07/2020 11:16

It means staying at home and doing day trips. I remember those awful staycation summer holidays and my DDad saying this like "we're on holiday this week" and me being like "no we're at home (and it's boring as fuck Grin)

CaptainMyCaptain · 21/07/2020 11:39

I always thought it meant staying at home - no holiday as such, maybe a few days out. It seems to have changed its meaning this year.

Rosieredapples · 21/07/2020 11:44

A staycation is being on holiday but staying in your own home, hence the stay part!

That said locally to me if you asked about someone's holiday plans they may also use the phrase "we're just having days out", so staying t home but doing zoo, park, theme park and museums etc.

I would genuinely call a trip to Edinburgh, Lake District, Birmingham or Cornwall a holiday or city break. I wouldn't call it a stay cation as I am not staying put.

MintCassis · 21/07/2020 11:49

A staycation is staying at home and doing day trips and touristy things in your own area. A holiday in your own country is still a holiday!

For a lot of the children I work with their annual family holiday is to a nearby caravan park. It may only be 30 minutes away but to them it most definitely is a holiday, and for many it is also the furthest from home they’ve ever been.

There was a TV show in 2005 called Holidays at Home which is my idea of a staycation - they stayed at home overnight and did holiday type activities in their local area during the day. Sorry, Wikipedia was the only link I could find!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holidays_at_Home

EllaAlright · 21/07/2020 11:57

yeah it just means staying at home around here too.

There’s no need to introduce all these twee little names.

‘Babymoon’ is another phrase that gets on my nerves!

shemadeit · 21/07/2020 12:00

I was howling at a new company that has been set up for Staycations in Scotland where they rent our camper vans and they sent an “influencer” out to test drive and they went to England Grin

England is a beautiful country but When promoting staycations in scotland You kinda think they’d have stayed in Scotland GrinGrin

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 21/07/2020 12:18

When I lived in Germany, we could go to Berlin for a few days, or go skiing in the mountains for a week, or go camping in summer... That's completely different to someone who lives in Edinburgh for exame, and taking a few day to visit the castle, climb Arthur's Seat, go to the theatre...

One is where you STAY at home, and other is going AWAY on a holiday.

PhoneLock · 21/07/2020 20:53

England is a beautiful country but When promoting staycations in scotland You kinda think they’d have stayed in Scotland

I would have assumed that they wouldn't have needed a camper van at all.

shemadeit · 22/07/2020 11:46

@PhoneLock

Sorry I’m not following? Not have needed a camper van to travel round?

PotholeParadise · 22/07/2020 16:33

Because lots of us thought a staycation meant staying at your actual home. No camper van needed for it!

AryaStarkWolf · 22/07/2020 16:40

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Yanbu! It's been bugging me too.
I looked it up and this is what it said :

staycation
/steɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/
Learn to pronounce
nounINFORMAL
a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.

www.lexico.com/definition/staycation