Have you ever wished you were on vacation? I do. All. The. Time. I’ve been itching to go to Florida – that’s my “vacation place.” When I go there, I feel like I’ve departed from the norm and I am really away from it all. Plus, it’s a magical place – just ask Mickey!
Well, today, I felt like I was on vacation. Here’s how you can go on vacation without actually going on one:
1. Go outside on a day where there is perfect weather. I live in Boston and we don’t get many of these days low humid sunny summer days. Today, the weather was sooooo perfect. Imagine July in Seattle – perfection at its best. Now bring that to Boston and you just need to drop everything, take the day off, and just go outside – all day long.
2. When you wake up, loll around a bit. Go out for breakfast. Eat something delicious and something that you wouldn’t normally eat every day. If you always eat cereal for breakfast, have some eggs and bacon. Try some Greek yogurt mixed with fresh berries and local raw honey.
3. Walk near water. Do you live in the middle of the United States? Find a lake or a pond. Take a moment and enjoy it. Don’t rush past, but stop and really take a look around. Today, we found a mini pirate ship, a little clam, got a close up look at barnacles, and discovered the different birds around the Boston harbor.
4. Sit in the sun. Just lay out or go sit on a bench. Soak up that vitamin D. Lay in some grass, too. It’s good for you.
5. Spend some time with good friends. The ones that recharge, refresh, and rejuvenate your soul. Laugh a lot.
6. Do what a tourist would do. How often do we explore our own cities? It took me nearly 10 years before I actually did the Freedom Trail. Today, we went to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market with Ninja – he met us after work. Usually, I have an intense dislike for being around tourists, but it wasn’t so bad to be in the midst of it. We got balloon animals, shopped at the shops, and strolled around like we were tourists.
7. Take fun pictures like you are on vacation. Ninja told me that Nintendo had set up all these cubes with the new WiiU consoles and they had a stuffed Yoshi that you could take a picture with. Well, we ran right over there to do that and got in line. We put on the hats and we held the props. We unashamedly asked a Nintendo rep to take our picture. Doesn’t it look like we went to some theme park? Just looking at the picture makes me feel like I was on vacation.
8. Eat somewhere new, but not necessarily at a tourist trap. Ninja took a look at Yelp when we were deciding where to eat dinner. We didn’t want to go to the usual tourist spots around there since we’ve been to those places before. I’m not so adventurous when it comes to eating – that’s Ninja’s thing. But I set that aside and tried this new place. It was SO yummy! We got a little bit of everything from their menu and can’t wait to go back again. (In case you want to try it – it’s called Saus. Try their Frikandel & waffles.)
9. Have dessert. In the middle of the day and after dinner. It’s even better if you have it at an outdoor food festival thing that you just stumble upon.
10. Follow the lead of your kid. I just decided to let the day flow at the pace of my kid. It was so nice and it helped me to be more patient. There was less whining and complaining despite the fact that she skipped her nap completely. We didn’t rush. There wasn’t anyone saying, “Hurry up.” We moved slow. It was hard sometimes, but Ninjette and I both purposely moved slower and enjoyed it.
I knew that this was like a vacation day because Ninjette completely conked out on the way back home and then she went straight to bed when we got home. She had a huge smile at the end of the night and so did I.
Vacation – Napkin Hoarder approved and highly recommended.