Summer is upon us, even if the Summer weather isn’t. As a blogger, and especially a travel blogger, I want to be traveling and experiencing a bunch of new things to tell you about. But, I’m not currently bankrolled with a bunch of complimentary trips and life happens where I don’t get to attend to my wanderlust as much as I would like. So that’s where a budget staycation comes into play perfectly.

What is a staycation? Well, some people argue over the smaller points (eye roll). But for me a staycation is a vacation, doesn’t matter how many days, where you are in you are in close proximity to your home. Since New York City is such a large area with five boroughs and so many options, you can take a staycation basically every weekend of the year, if you’re living that well. I’ll be keeping it real simple because my budget limits my choices in one of the most expensive cities in the world. And that ‘s why you’ll need to make the most of all the options given to you when planning. So here we go with my advice to a perfect budget staycation.

Are You Vacationing At Home Or Not?

To start planning for any vacation you have to know whether you want to staycation at home, or in a local B&B, Air BnB or at a proper hotel. These decisions will change your budget drastically. If you want to #treatyoself I would pick an Air BnB in another borough, when you are only spending a weekend or more it will keep your budget from going out of control. The range is typically from $30-75, for a bedroom to a whole apartment. So you’ll have to figure that amount into your budget.

Which Borough Do You Want To Explore?

Are there areas of the city that you’ve always wanted to know better? Do want to check out all the hottest speakeasies or live performances by your favorite band? Are you a foodie and your Yelp recommendations for brunch waiting for a visit? Do you want to visit all the art museums in Manhattan? Or have you wanted to spend a full afternoon exploring Williamsburg because you think it’s the coolest neighborhood? All of the answers to these questions will help you plan the things that will make your budget staycation awesome. Pinpointing a neighborhood or having an event to plan your staycation around will help you narrow your vision. Time your staycation by all the constant stream of events, here is a great list of local events here to help you plan and most are budget friendly.

Are You Staycationing Alone Or Is It A Group Thing?

The more the merrier, right?! Maybe this is your friend groups yearly get together? It would be perfect to rent a larger hotel or Air BnB than your own apartment to have everyone with you at the same time. Everyone is comfortable and happy. Also, it spreads out the cost when you are a budget to split your lodging multiple ways.

How Much Time Have You Got?

How many days can you string together for this time off? Of course, this is an important factor because the budget is per day and the events to plan for that will or won’t be gratis. Editing your staycation theme and of course your compadres coming in or leaving the trip. All of these little things being thought of in advance keep things running smoothly.

Check All Your Budget Friendly Apps For Great Local Experiences

Apps like Groupon, Yelp, Eventbrite, Goldstar, and TripAdvisor all offer reviews and deals on experiences offered in your city. And now Air BnB has started offering tours by locals. Isn’t that amazing? Tours are always offered in New York, many are free (keeping the budget in mind again) I even found a great photo walk offered by OutDoorFest for free in NYC and it was just because I happened to search through Eventbrite. So it is always possible, it just takes planning in advance.

There! I think that I have set you up lovely with planning your staycation and I hope that you get to enjoy your very personalized getaway at “home”. Do you ever staycation? Whether it be by at the next block over or in the next zip code over, did you enjoy yourself? What did your plans include? Let’s chat about it in the comments below!

Until our next rendezvous …

XOXO

Trudy