20 Ways to Feel Like a Tourist While on a Staycation

The first rule of staycation is to stay (ahem) off email. Your out-of-office notification is just as valid if you’re two miles from your office or 2,000 miles away.

Let someone else show you the magic of your own city. Historical tours, architectural tours and garden tours give you the chance to see your own city anew, in an intimate, street-level way.

If you live in a larger metropolis, like an LA, New York or London, you’ve probably rolled your eyes at the open-air or double-decker tour buses plodding down the street. But you know what? It’s a whole new view up there.

Speaking of views, find the highest public perch in your town — and go there. Sure, there’s probably better drone footage online somewhere, but experiencing anything that approximates a bird’s-eye view gives you a whole new perspective.

You probably have your favorite watering hole, filled with locals. A hotel bar is filled with out-of-towners you might never see again, with their new and different stories to tell. Talk to them about what they’re doing in your hometown to get ideas.

Nothing says vacation more than an over-the-top cocktail or sophisticated spritzer in the middle of the day on a Wednesday.

You might feel as if you’ve "been there, done that" with the cultural institutions in your town, whether it’s a world-class art museum or a quirky local organization. But exhibits change — and the people-watching is different from day to day.

When’s the last time you took a stroll? Walked down a street with no purpose? Browsed in stores without a mission to check things off your list of errands? That’s more or less what tourists do on a daily basis — walk and look. Give it a whirl, and let serendipity take the reins.

If you’re lucky enough to live near hills, mountains or a rambling park, and you’ve gotten busy with work and marriage and children, it’s probably been a long time since you’ve taken a good hike. You’ve done that trail before, maybe. Or you think it’s too crowded. Set the excuses aside, and try to remember what the hubbub is all about.

On weekends filled with errands, soccer games, farmers markets and to-do lists, it’s all too easy to forget the restorative power of being near water — and, as the The New York Times advises, doing nothing.

If the first rule of staycations is about email (and avoiding it), the second rule is about getting as much sleep as you want or need. Pull those blackout shades tight, and put your phone in "Do Not Disturb" mode.

For people who drive back and forth to work five days a week, sometimes just not driving is vacation enough. Take the bus. Take the metro. See your city from a new angle — the passenger seat!

Not to be all cheesy, but … take the long way. And treat the journey as the destination.

Who says you can’t book a hotel room during a staycation? A new home base can change everything. (Plus, there’s someone to make your bed for you. And room service.)

Especially if you have a nice hotel room, there can be nothing more luxurious and vacation-esque than sleeping in the afternoon on clean, crisp, high-thread-count sheets.

Say "yes" to the dumb souvenir. Order dessert — and don’t share. Stretch your budget just enough to embrace the experience while not breaking the bank. Vacations and staycations are about experiences and mementos, and often you have to spend a little more than normal to have both.

If you live somewhere dense enough and old enough, there’s probably a historic neighborhood with terribly awesome (or awesomely terrible) trinket shops and restaurants. Go. Get the cannoli. Purchase some pottery. Buy into the fantasy of America’s great melting pot.

Even if your hometown is not so big, chances are there’s a neighborhood you’ve somehow never been to. Now is your chance to check it out. You never know what potential memento or Instagram wall you might find.

Ride the duck boat in Boston. Rent the surrey by the beach. Ride the cable car. Chances are, you'll probably have a fun — or, at least, memorable — time.

That way, you can bore your friends and neighbors with the nearby adventures that gave you a new way of looking at the place you call home.