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Journalist/Columnist: Joe HaakensonJoe Travel BelizeJoe Travel PhucketJoe Travel StaycationJoe Travel goes Joe Surf

"Staycation"Sounds nice. Has a ring to it. Makes sense from a financial point of view. It’s becoming more and more popular in this economically challenged age. But really, have you tried it?We’ve thought about it. We live in Huntington Beach, a couple miles from the beach. Instead of paying for transportation and accommodations, why not save all that money and just stay at home, take a week off work and give your family a nice, little “staycation”?You know, go to the beach, go out to dinner, go to a ballgame, maybe take in a movie. And out here in SoCal we have Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, etc., etc. You could have a lot of fun in a week’s time, so why not?Here’s why.A vacation is more than just what you do, but how you get there. A vacation is about “getting away from it all.” Not so much from a purely physical standpoint, but from a mental and emotional standpoint.When you truly “get away,” you get away emotionally from all the day-to-day things that cause stress in your life. If you still have to take out the trash, still have to pay the bills, still have to shop for groceries, still have to wash dishes, wash clothes, run errands, you don’t fully flip the switch to vacation mode.How can you honestly say you’re on vacation when you are in your backyard picking up dog poop?Let's not kid ourselves. A real vacation is all about TRAVEL. How many of you, when you find out you won’t have cell phone service or internet service, giggle at the idea deep down.“Hey, I don’t have a choice. You can’t reach me by phone, or by email. Get ahold of me in a week. See ya!”How great is that?And that is at the heart of a vacation. A staycation does not allow you to fully get away. You save money, but like they say, you get what you pay for.Now, having said all that, there is another form of the staycation that is doable, but there are some strict instructions.I’m down at the Huntington Beach Pier all the time, walking around and checking out the sites, and I can tell a lot of people are from out of town, out of state and even out of the country. Where are they staying?They could be staying anywhere, but there are a couple of big hotels nearby – the Hyatt and Hilton. They are big, luxury, vacation hotels. They are only a few miles from my house.So here’s my idea of an acceptable staycation, with a twist. We stay in Huntington Beach, but we leave the house and check in for a week at one of the luxury hotels on the beach.We’re saving money on transportation. No airline tickets, no train, no gas money. Sure, we have to pay for accommodations, but we are in a hotel where we might as well be half a world away.No trash, no dishes, no dog poop.But this staycation comes with one absolute rule. You are NOT allowed to “stop by the house and check on things.” If you have pets, you need to set it up with your neighbors for them to watch the house, take in the mail and feed the dogs just as if you went to Austrailia.Then there's the staycation that is just far enough to where you can't go home to check on the house and dogs. A couple-hour drive up the coast, or down the coast, or into the desert, is just about right. Not too far, but just far enough.Getting away means getting away, even if it’s all in your head.