Getting the most out of your Staycation
We can’t go overseas at the moment, so we still have lots of time to explore Western Australia. One option to get those holiday feels is to have ‘staycation’. A staycation or ‘holistay’ is a holiday spent in one’s home city and country rather than overseas, or one spent at home and involving local attractions.
Just recently we took advantage of the WA state governments Stay, Save and Play offer. We did two staycations. One in Fremantle and the other in Perth CBD.
Getting the most out of a staycation is mindset. In order to make a staycation feel like a true getaway we have some tips from our recent Tale of Two Cities:
Don’t take your car:
For a couple of reasons. The parking will be astronomical and if you were in a city elsewhere in the world, you wouldn’t use a car. So, how do we get around? We walk so we see more or catch the free cat buses. We have also been known to hire a bike and do a city-based cycle trail.
Pick a theme:
We had two different themes. In Freo we had a convict theme. We stayed at the recently refurbished Warders Hotel. The prison warders live here in the 1850s onwards. Like the world heritage listed Freo Prison itself, the cottages are convict built. The restaurant next door, Emily Taylor, is named after one of the convict ships. We also headed to Darling Darling for a pre-dinner drink. This hole in the wall bar epitomized the insides of an old ship. Our Perth CBD staycation had a funky theme. The QT hotel definitely fits the bill. We found some funky bars, particularly roof top bars and we searched Perth for a few others.
Do something you would do in another city overseas:
If we are overseas in a city, we would probably go to a museum or gallery, so we took this opportunity to visit the new WA Museum Boola Bardip. The redesign definitely fits the funky description in places. Sometimes we explore other cities better than we know our own city.
Find a walk trail:
Most cities have walk trill to help explore. Perth has a Boom and Bust trail. Freo has heritage trails and Italian cuisine trails. Head to Trails WA website or app and hit trails near me.
Look up:
When we usually go to the city, we often do a hit and run trip. Looking at the footpath as we head to our destination and back. On a staycation, lookup. Most of the shops have fascinating architecture on the upper stories. And there is a juxtaposition of old and new building styles.
Here are some other ideas:
West End: the arty end of town.
Spring in the Valley
Swan Valley: Has to be spring and wine themed
