Staycation- What would you do for 7 days with no plans?

A few weeks ago some of you may have noticed me asking about Travelzoo. I decided not to go with it. Furthermore, because of concerns about the economy and my obsessive saving goals, I decided to not travel at all.

Still, I have accrued a lot of vacation days that I have to burn. So, at the suggestion of a friend, I'm taking a staycation next week.

I'm making a list of things I am going to do. But I'm curious what some of you all would do if you had a week off with no plans. Alternatively, what would you do if you had a week in New York City with no agenda?

Sleep late, go to bed early, and take a nap in between.

Museums.

Wraithy's idea sounds good, too.

Camp with the anti-wall street people. :p

Drive your car to an apple farm somewhere north of you. Pick apples.
Find waterfalls to climb.
Go to the zoo.
Write poetry.
Visit your local library and check out at least one book you'd normally never touch.
Go to the biggest tourist trap bar you can find.
Practice being a mime.

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Originally Posted by littlelolligagged

Drive your car to an apple farm somewhere north of you. Pick apples.
[...]Go to the biggest tourist trap bar you can find.

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BOOM. On the list. I knew I wanted to drive somewhere but couldn't figure out where.

EDIT: Looks like the season is all over for apple picking. :( Or maybe not...a few places open per http://newyork.timeout.com/things-to...-new-york-city

And there definitely is an appeal to going to the biggest tourist trap bar I can find. Ideally with a friend. Or perhaps just as a creepy loner dispensing local advice to strangers.

Aww, I hope you can find a place. It's fun.
Definitely with a friend.

Burn the list. Sleep lots. Get some nature. Hang out in new places. Read as much as you possibly can. I can recommend The Black Swan, by Nassim Taleb (review forthcoming).

Or read through as many articles you can from the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy

http://plato.stanford.edu/

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Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

I have accrued a lot of vacation days that I have to burn. So, at the suggestion of a friend, I'm taking a staycation next week.

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For each of the last couple of years I've taken a week of holiday to work on the garden. It's not a big garden, but there were plenty of heavy jobs to do. Simple physical labour can be quite relaxing in small doses.

Other than that, we've used staycations to explore our area - there's plenty of good walking or cycling trails that we haven't tried yet.

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Originally Posted by Wraith

Sleep late, go to bed early, and take a nap in between.

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Maybe with some light drinking and fucking in between, but definitely this. Oh, and I'd have time for some serious video gaming too.

Just had a few days off to use up my floating holidays. Used it to take care of my personal stuff, doctor dentist and vision. Had both cars brought up to snuff and did some minor work on the house. We hit the theme parks too, including the new LEGOland.

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Originally Posted by Loki

Camp with the anti-wall street people. :p

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If I were in New York, I'd definitely drop by for a laugh :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littlelolligagged

Museums.

Wraithy's idea sounds good, too.

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Museums :up: And concerts, if there's good ones. And go hiking in nature, there's bound to be some near New York, right? Or cycling, IIRC you like cycling.

Light some fires and then save people from them, collect your reward

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Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

A few weeks ago some of you may have noticed me asking about Travelzoo. I decided not to go with it. Furthermore, because of concerns about the economy and my obsessive saving goals, I decided to not travel at all.

Still, I have accrued a lot of vacation days that I have to burn. So, at the suggestion of a friend, I'm taking a staycation next week.

I'm making a list of things I am going to do. But I'm curious what some of you all would do if you had a week off with no plans. Alternatively, what would you do if you had a week in New York City with no agenda?

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I'm not all that fond of traveling so when I do take a vacation it's often a "staycation" *what a ridiculous term. Like those nutters who say "Heaveno" rather than "Hello" because they're afraid linguistics summon the devil or something* Vacations are, for me, a chance for intense reading, too much gaming, or going through some new or favorite old season of a television show. Of course, NYC offers far more interesting options for casual activities than a cow-town turned bedroom-community.

I'd probably be very drunk the whole time

You won't like the next Monday though

Hm. I will be doing exactly this and for much the same reason in a couple of weeks time. Surely, I thought, surely living in the capital city would mean that filling time for a week would be easy?

So far on the list:
British Museum
Royal Academy of Arts
Drinking

...


:|

Could prob do those all day every day for a week, I suppose...

Work trip is over. I don't understand why it was colder in Tampa and Atlanta than NY. So I'm glad I'm staying in NY. LET THE GAMES BEGIN.

Weather down here has been fanfuckingtastic. :up: 50F at night 70F in the day. And it looks to stay that way for about another week.

We were laughing about it being colder down here earlier when the temps popped up on the PS3.

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Originally Posted by Aimless

Burn the list....

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Good advice. Dread, since you obviously live in a very structured environment, balancing Work and Play, I'd say damn The List. In fact, experiment with living day-to-day and moment-to-moment. No goals, no itinerary, no plans whatsoever. Freeee yourself, and make it up as you go along. Something you can't do in your Ordinary Work Life. It's harder than it sounds, but can have some great results in deflating stress and putting self-imposed expectations back into perspective. :)

Yeah, I was really being very serious about that piece of advice. I know few things ruin short vacations for me as much as lists, especially long and packed lists, and yet I make them almost every single time driven by some subconscious belief that if I don't make a list I'll waste my vacation. The best vacations are the ones where I make no plans and improvise every single day. I make decisions late at night cosy in my bed about to drift off to sleep, or late in the morning while I'm eating brekkie. Where do I want to walk? Who might I call on a whim to have an unplanned fika with?

....driven by some subconscious belief that if I don't make a list I'll waste my vacation.

:( Outcome-based behavior has a strong grip, held in its tightly clenched fist.

A whole week to reflect?

Dread, when was the last time you saw your navel?!

Dread has had more vacation time than any other American poster here (so far as I can tell, based on people posting about their vacation time). Most Americans feel fortunate to get two paid weeks off per year. For many US workers, vacation time means unpaid time off.

US Teachers are often cited as those who have "three months off" every year, but the truth is....most teachers take part-time jobs during the summer months. Bartending, life-guarding at pools, working at summer camps, academic tutoring, etc. Not because they want to, but because they have to get more income, especially if they have families and young children.

No offense to Dread, but the people I'd like to have time enough to navel-gaze and totally relax, are our public school educators. It's disturbing to me, to see our teachers working at Target or Home Depot during the summer months, or at Starbucks or department stores during holidays. :sour:

HEY

No ruining vacation joy :mad:

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Originally Posted by Aimless

HEY

No ruining vacation joy :mad:

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Hey! Dread has even more Vacation Joy options than he thinks! He doesn't have to use his vacation time to maintain an income!

See how that works as glass half-full? :p

Why can't you people get that the glass is always full?

Who are the "you people" supposedly seeing glasses as always full? Maybe some of us see glasses as corrective eyewear.

My glass is currently empty...this SUCKS!

*off to refill*

Also, I used to get a ton of vacation time...and had to take some at the end of the year on occasion or I would lose it. Good ol' government employee jobs....

:haha: oh, wait...as a full time mom you don't get ANY vacation time, Cat! I remember those times. My (now ex) spouse didn't understand that a "Family Vacation" was no vacation for me. :( I hope your husband (or you if he's slow on that angle) make time for time away from being mommy. Free of guilt or worry. You deserve it, you need it. :heart: