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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to plan a great staycation.

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Speaker 1: Travel can be awesome, but sometimes it's not the best

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Speaker 1: solution for your vacation days. Maybe you've been traveling a

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Speaker 1: lot for work and you have zero desire to sit

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Speaker 1: on a plane again. Maybe your budget is stretched, maybe

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Speaker 1: you live somewhere amazing in its own right, or there

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Speaker 1: can be other considerations. My family didn't travel over Christmas

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Speaker 1: this year because of our new baby's impending arrival in January.

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Speaker 1: In any case, a staycation can be a ton of fun.

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Speaker 1: The key is to make sure that it actually feels

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Speaker 1: like a vacation, which, like most things, involves a bit

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Speaker 1: of planning ahead. The first step is to figure out

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Speaker 1: your main intentions for the staycation. Is it to spend

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Speaker 1: time with your family, to explore your own city, to relax.

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Speaker 1: If it's to get caught up in all your house

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Speaker 1: projects from the past year, well, best to acknowledge that

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Speaker 1: and be honest about it. And yes, you can want

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Speaker 1: to do all these things, but they may suggest different approaches.

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Speaker 1: If you've got small kids, for instance, taking a few

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Speaker 1: days off work and then staying home with them gives

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Speaker 1: you the life that stay at home parents experience all

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Speaker 1: the time. Most of them don't describe this as relaxing,

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Speaker 1: so if relaxation is your goal for your staycation, you'll

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Speaker 1: need to trade off with your partner or use whatever

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Speaker 1: child care you've got for some of the time. As

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Speaker 1: with any vacation, I also suggest planning one anchor event

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Speaker 1: per day. This is something pleasurable or adventurous that will

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Speaker 1: give the day a bit of structure. Over Christmas, our

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Speaker 1: goal was to spend a lot of family time together

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Speaker 1: before our family became bigger, so we got tickets for

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Speaker 1: one event per day that we could all go to,

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Speaker 1: such as a light show at the zoo or else

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Speaker 1: we plan to go to one party or event. This

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Speaker 1: made us feel like we were celebrating the season and

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Speaker 1: seeing the major attractions in our area. It's still left

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Speaker 1: plenty of downtime. As for that downtime, the problem of

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Speaker 1: staying in your house on a staycation is that your

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Speaker 1: two dues can follow you around. Indeed, they can expand

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Speaker 1: to fill the available space. If you're at work and

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Speaker 1: the floor is dirty in the middle of the day

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Speaker 1: you don't see it. If you're home, you do, and

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Speaker 1: so you spend more time cleaning. This is why some

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Speaker 1: people actually rent an air b and b in their

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Speaker 1: hometown or stay in a hotel where they aren't going

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Speaker 1: to let you clean the kitchen. But I don't think

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Speaker 1: you have to be this extreme. The key is to

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Speaker 1: compress and minimize all have to do. Give yourself half

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Speaker 1: an hour to check email. Give yourself one hour for

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Speaker 1: any chores or errands. If it doesn't happen in that time,

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Speaker 1: it isn't that important. You can spend the rest of

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Speaker 1: your time in vacation mode. If you plan to get

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Speaker 1: through bigger house projects, make a list and pledge to

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Speaker 1: tackle a reasonable number, say three, in the course of

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Speaker 1: the week. If you've got more time and you've got

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Speaker 1: more energy, well great, But limiting your ambitions will keep

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Speaker 1: you from feeling like you're pulled in multiple directions when

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Speaker 1: you'd like to watch a movie with your family, but

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Speaker 1: you could theoretically be cleaning out the garage. Finally, if

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Speaker 1: you do want to be a hometown tourist, it might

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Speaker 1: help to get in the right frame of mind. Check

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Speaker 1: out a guidebook from the library or peruse a local

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Speaker 1: travel site. There's often all kinds of things that we

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Speaker 1: don't even know exist. The upside of travel is that

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Speaker 1: it can expand your mind, and so can a staycation.

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Speaker 1: But you might have to go looking for at least

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Speaker 1: some adventures. If you've taken a great staycation, I'd love

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Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can email me at Before

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Speaker 1: Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.

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Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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