One staycation idea that has had quite a bit of popularity is to enhance your local vacation experience by staying at a local hotel. In fact, I’ve mentioned before how hotels are providing discounts and coupons for local residents.

Now, I am a professional piot. As a professional pilot, I have stayed in A LOT of hotels. After a while, they all start to look the same. Same beds, same food and same pool. So when I get a break from professional traveling, and get to travel for fun, the last thing I want to do is go stay at just another boring hotel.

So why not trying stay at a bed and breakfast?

I remember when I was young, one of my most memorable vacations was staying at a Amish Bed and Breakfast in Berlin, Ohio. As a kid, I enjoyed the fact that it felt like you were visiting a long lost relative’s home. I loved meeting and talking to the owner’s of the house and also the other guests. It is a much warmer, friendly environment than a hotel chain.

Find a local Bed and Breakfast.

A great tool for finding a local Bed and Breakfast is to go to Bed and Breakfast.com. You can enter a destination, enter a date and do a search. You can also purchase Bed and Breakfast gift cards, what a great gift idea!

Here’s a good example of a recent local bed and breakfast staycation search. I’m in Indianapolis, Indiana on a business trip and did a search for a local Bed and Breakfast. I discovered the Wheeler House Bed and Breakfast. Located only 20 minutes south of Indianapolis,IN and 40 minutes north of Bloomington’s Indiana University. The Wheeler House is the boyhood home of well know Indiana Empressionist Artist, Clifton Wheeler. Thought to be his first mural, is panoramic view of the Mooresville countryside in the late1800’s/ early 1900’s. Other aminities in this restored 1895 Victorian Home are a Tea Room, Book Store, and Antique Store. All three B&B rooms are decorated with antiques, antique furniture, and collectibles. they each feature private baths and inroom movies. Included with your stay is a 50% dicount at the Silver Owl Teriputic Massage located on property. Massage services are also available in room at no extra charge. For your shopping pleasure, four other Antique Stores are only 2 blocks away.

See how easy that was? Find a local Bed and Breakfast near you for your staycation today!

When my wife and I go on vacation usually we have much different ideas about what makes a great vacation. On my ideal vacation, we do as much as physically and humanely possible in a single day. We visit every site, every attraction and take in as much as possible of our new location. My wife’s ideal vacation? Sit by the beach and read.

Although we won’t be able to sit by beach and read this summer, we will be able to sit in our backyard and read while on our staycation. I actually just finished a book by John Grisham and I highly recommend it, it was The Innocent Man and unlike a lot of the books by Grisham, this one was non-fiction!

Here’s a staycation idea.

I was on an extended business trip a few years ago and found myself in Orlando for a few weeks. During the first week we hit up all the usual bar-and-grill restaurants and began to grow tired of hamburgers & steak. One of my coworkers and I decided for the second week of our stay to have an international food week.  Each night of the week we would eat at a restaurant that had food from a different country or region. We had Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai and German! It was great. It was a good way to try some different restaurants we normally wouldn’t go to and provided a little variety for a otherwise boring trip.

So give it a shot at home! Go out and make a point to try some different cuisines in your neighborhood. Even better would be to pick a meal from a different region or country and cook it at home yourself. To help you get started cooking your own international meals I found a book on Amazon. It is entitled the The Best Recipes in the World. This is a book from legendary author Mark Bittman which is geared toward the home chef (perfect for me.)

Enjoy your international food week staycation!

Well, gas prices are high and you might not be able to travel in person to your favorite exotic destination, but you can still see your favorite place live…from a webcamera! I was traveling through the blogosphere when I stumbled upon this interesting post from Lifecruiser about seeing the world by webcamera. Not a bad staycation idea at all!

EarthCam - probably the best organized webcam site on the internet

OpenTopia - has a great directory of webcams from around the world and encyclopedia as well

Fisgonia.com - nice collection of beach webcams (*grab a Corona and your there*)

The Webcam-Network - very long list of webcams from…well, everywhere!

Thanks to Lifecrusier for the suggestion: See the world by webcamera

Here’s a staycation idea!

If you are having some guests over this summer, why not impress them with a Retro looking Hot Dog Roller! Nothing brings back memories of classic diners, ball games and family gatherings like gathering around a Hot Dog Roller. I enjoy the taste of hot dogs that have been cooked on a roller, much more than a grill!

Retro Series Hot Dog Roller

Wal-mart.com also has available a Retro Series Kettle Popcorn Maker and a Retro Series Kettle Popcorn Maker! How Cool!