Page 6 | AIBU to think that a staycation involves actually staying at home?

Wanderlust20 · 06/02/2021 09:34

I'm another who wouldn't say holiday if I was staying in the UK, don't think it makes me a snob... I'd never judge anyone who does that, I just like traveling further afield. Plus when I'm staying in the UK, I'm most likely visiting family and that's definitely no holiday! So I just make a distinction between the two, nothing wrong with that. Agree the word staycation has become more popular because of Covid though.

Rewis · 06/02/2021 09:38

I've taken it to mean a holiday where you stay at home and treat it like holiday. Eating out, visiting museums etc. I've also expanded the meaning (to me) if you stay in a hotel in your home town.

Holidaying in the UK I would consider a domestic holiday. Not a staycation.

Chuckleknuckles · 06/02/2021 09:41

For me a staycation means not going abroad. On that basis, I don’t really do staycations!

raspberrymuffin · 06/02/2021 09:54

When used to describe a fortnight in a holiday cottage at the other end of the country it is meant to indicate that you're slumming it on purpose because obviously you would usually go half way round the world. It indicates that you're making a special choice, usually so you can smugly pretend you care about the environment by only taking one long haul flight a year rather than two. It's like the people who make a big deal out of sending their kids to a state school because obviously we looked at all the options but actually, raised eyebrows, surprised tone of voice, the local primary was rather good and we can always look at private if the grammar route doesn't work out. You're doing a normal thing but you want everyone to know you could have picked something fancier.

As it happens yes I do feel slightly resentful that the term has been co-opted in order to suggest that my annual camping trip is not a proper holiday because I didn't get on a plane first. I love my holidays but I don't love the weird patronising comments they generate from a certain subsection of people.

dottiedodah · 06/02/2021 10:02

I see what you mean and agree that it has been used for UK hols .When you go and stay at a hotel/cottage /caravan, rather than actually being at home and out for day trips. The media seem to think that holidays always mean going abroad .However a show I watched some while back, seemed to say less than half are going overseas and some people dont even have a passport!

SqeakyHindge · 06/02/2021 10:07

Mummy you remember our staycation? When this happened

Just no!

We have away in U.K. and abroad and they all holidays.

Staying at home is just that. No need to try jazz it up.

Iknowwhatudidlastsummer · 06/02/2021 10:11

es I do feel slightly resentful that the term has been co-opted in order to suggest that my annual camping trip is not a proper holiday

surely there's a context and different if people judge YOUR holidays or THEIRS.

In the better months, quite a few kids are picked up from my kids schools by their parents on Friday afternoon and driven straight to a camping spot for the weekend. (or a weekend away with family or friend or whatever).

When it's something done so regularly and out of annual leave, it's not negative not to call this a holiday.

I hate camping either way, so I would never call camping a holiday frankly, in the UK, a US national park or the Maldives, I am not judging anyone who likes it.

Lazypuppy · 06/02/2021 10:14

Everything people are describing for staycation when you stay at home -eating out, day trips out local etc -that is just normal life on evenings/weekends etc, and what i would do as well on a week off work. Its nice, i normally have 2 weeks off a year doing something similar, 2 weeks juat at home doing bits around the house, and a 2 week holiday either abroad or in UK

Zogstart · 06/02/2021 10:17

When I first heard the term it was definitely staying at home and having a week of annual leave and using it to do day trips and eating out - but sleeping at home.

If I hear the phrase now I assume it’s a U.K. break and I use the term myself to mean U.K. break. I think it’s just evolved as a phrase. I certainly don’t think people are snobby for using the term or they’re implying it’s not a real holiday. It’s just to distinguish that you’re not leaving the U.K.

WeAllHaveWings · 06/02/2021 10:24

To us and most people we know and in work a staycation is staying in home country, that is Scotland for us. A trip to England, Wales, NI or elsewhere abroad would be a holiday (vacation is too American for us).

Hameldaeme (Scottish) is a staying in your own house and/or having day trips/maybe an overnighter somewhere.

LApprentiSorcier · 06/02/2021 10:27

A staycation means staying at home, in your own house. People having been holidaying in the UK ever since the concept of holidays as in a 'vacation' came into being. UK holidays have not suddenly stopped counting as 'holidays'.

If you are calling a holiday staying somewhere away from your home a 'staycation' then what are you supposed to call time you/your family have taken off from work/school without going away?

Casschops · 06/02/2021 10:28

I find it really odd when people say they've not been on holidays for years. When really they've been to Cornwall or Wales which are just normal holidays for me!

LApprentiSorcier · 06/02/2021 10:33

@Casschops

I find it really odd when people say they've not been on holidays for years. When really they've been to Cornwall or Wales which are just normal holidays for me!

Yes, exactly. And where would you draw the boundaries - how far do you have to go for it to be a 'holiday'. I'm in England - would it 'count' if I went to Scotland or Wales? Or would Northern Ireland count because I'd have to cross the sea? Or does it only count if where I go isn't the United Kingdom? What about Crown dependencies - would the Isle of Man count as a 'holiday'?

MumUndone · 06/02/2021 10:48

Agree the original meaning was staying in your own home whilst on annual leave, doing fun things to create a holiday feeling whilst saving money. Now the meaning has broadened out to mean holidaying in one's own country.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 06/02/2021 14:30

Staycation is meant to mean you stay at home but don’t do take time of from normal life like work and housework and you just chill out or go on days out and get take aways.

The fact that some people are now referring to holidaying in the uk as a staycation is but weird. You leave your house, drive a distance and stay somewhere different, this is what people have been doing for decades and it is a holiday.

2pinkginsplease · 06/02/2021 14:31

Ive always believed a staycation was a holiday in the UK.

morninglive · 06/02/2021 14:41

Yes, it means in your own country not your house

fireplaceburning · 06/02/2021 15:00

This annoys me! It always used to mean staying at home and going out for days. Not sure why I get so upset by people using the word incorrectly 🤷🏼‍♀️

Nanny0gg · 06/02/2021 15:03

@cheeseismydownfall

I have always thought that a staycation is when you take leave from work and stay at home, in your house, taking day trips and generally trying to create a holiday vibe by doing the sort of things that you might normally only do on holiday.

Recently though I have seen it used to mean any holiday in the UK. Surely this is just a regular holiday?!

Well, it was when I was a kid.

Nanny0gg · 06/02/2021 15:04

@2pinkginsplease

Ive always believed a staycation was a holiday in the UK.

Why? You're travelling to somewhere else that isn't your home for a period of time for recreation/relaxation.

That's a holiday.

2pinkginsplease · 06/02/2021 15:19

@Nanny0gg I call it a holiday but the media portrays it as a staycation. I dont think I've ever used the word staycation in real life.

As @WeAllHaveWings says staying at home for us Scots is Hameeldaeme.

CraftyGin · 06/02/2021 15:23

@cheeseismydownfall

I have always thought that a staycation is when you take leave from work and stay at home, in your house, taking day trips and generally trying to create a holiday vibe by doing the sort of things that you might normally only do on holiday.

Recently though I have seen it used to mean any holiday in the UK. Surely this is just a regular holiday?!

That’s my understanding. We called it “a day here and there”.

Foreign holidays were not a thing when I grew up, so a residential holiday would definitely be in the UK, and it would be called a holiday.

LynetteScavo · 06/02/2021 15:45

Vacation is an American word. How many Americans always go on holiday abroad? If someone from New York goes on vacation to Miami is that a staycation? No, then someone from London going to Cornwall goes on holiday, they don't have a staycation.

Someone who chooses not to leave their home, takes time off work, spends time relaxing and going on day trips and out for meals, etc is having a staycation. It's different from a holiday.

For some people, 5 days in a caravan by the sea is a holiday, and I think it's really rude to play it down when it's one of the highlights of their year. That is their holiday.

PurpleDaisies · 06/02/2021 15:50

For some people, 5 days in a caravan by the sea is a holiday, and I think it's really rude to play it down when it's one of the highlights of their year. That is their holiday.

Who is downplaying that? Staycation isn’t an insult.

CryingHelps · 06/02/2021 16:03

Staycation is a play on words of staying and vacation. So, it's obvious you would be going away but in the UK or where you live. A day trip isn't a holiday or vacation.