Make Your Next Day Trip Feel Like a Whole Vacation

The 10 best pumpkin patches in the US, sneakers for plantar fasciitis, and destinations without any Wi-Fi.

After launching paid memberships, I reached out to paid subscribers and asked: What kind of travel content do you want to see more of?

There was one answer I haven’t stopped thinking about.

A friend of mine is going through IVF—not for the first time—and Big Travel is not in their realm of possibility right now, given the exorbitant costs and the ongoing appointments. They specifically requested a piece on romanticizing the area you already live in, and how to approach your own city with a traveler’s attitude.

We should bring that energy to our everyday lives anyway. Life is short, fleeting—and the world is far too vast to think you’ve “seen it all” even in your own neighborhood. And frankly, there’s beauty in reframing how we approach Big Travel when we include experiences like day trips or a simple overnight staycation; it’s almost entirely in alignment with slow, quiet travel.

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There are, of course, casual ways to approach a day trip. You hear of a place, pack your day bag, and head out for a few hours. But there are a few ideas I have to make a day trip feel like something more intentional, more special, that are worth considering:

1. Save—and plan—for it like you would a bigger trip.

You don’t need to put aside thousands of dollars like you might for a bucket list trip to Argentina, but the anticipation of a trip has been directly correlated with feelings of happiness. Keeping that in mind, you can set aside $10, $20 every few weeks. This helps you from feeling bad spending on the day of, because you’ve already saved the money.

Planning could also mean: Investing time in scoping out new attractions or landmarks, wearing your favorite fancy outfit, putting on your vacation playlist on a drive, or packing your travel-sized perfume to spritz on when you’ve reached your destination.

2. Pick a new-to-you experience to try for the first time.

While you’re welcome to repeat experiences you’ve enjoyed before, the data shows travel memories are linked to better moods, and most often, those memories are new rather than redundant. Consider if there’s a place a few towns over with a mountain you’ve never hiked before, or a limited-run show you wouldn’t normally splurge for. Or try a new restaurant—bonus points if you formally grab a reservation.

3. Document your staycation or trip.

The memories you reflect on afterward are psychologically as important as when you’re actively traveling, so put the same amount of effort into documenting it as you would a larger excursion. For me, that’d mean bringing my film camera along for the day—maybe, for you, that’s keeping ticket stubs or Polaroids, or posting to Instagram and saving them as a highlight. You could even hire a professional, à la our old lives in Santa Barbara:

4. Don’t run errands, just because you’re nearby.

It’s easy to think, “Well, I’m already out and about, maybe I’ll just pop by Kroger to pick up some groceries,” or “I can stop by to get my dry-cleaning.” The same way you’d want to get out of your day-to-day life on a big trip, give yourself the space to really indulge and enjoy, without worrying or optimizing your time out of the house.

5. Hire a tour guide?

I’ve lived in major cities for my entire adult life: Jersey City/Manhattan, Santa Barbara, the Bay Area, and now Atlanta. Despite how often we’ve explored the neighborhoods in every city, there’s simply no way to know them all that intimately. Hiring a tour guide or going on a guided excursion is a thoughtful way to become familiar with the area, even if it’s only a few streets over from your current digs. Heck, check out the latest tours on Airbnb Experiences, Viator, TripAdvisor, Eventbrite, local papers—a recent search led me to a nearby goat farm open to the public that I never knew about.

6. Bridge the gap.

While your brain might’ve immediately gone to “mind the gap, please” for the London tube (just me?), what I really mean is: How can you take what you’ve newly experienced or learned about, and bridge it with your everyday? Maybe this means becoming a patron of the museum you visited, or joining a mutual aid network in the community you toured. This feels specific and unique to a nearby day trip, versus creating an ongoing relationship with a far-away destination (which, you could also do), but it’s an important consideration. Can you go a step further to keep the memories going, while also investing in your hometown?

How else do you romanticize a day trip slash staycation? I’d love to hear, especially for those times when the ol’ wallet can’t handle a new expense, or when you simply need to refresh yourself out of a rut.

• 🔌 Six destinations where Wi-Fi can’t find you. Unplug! (National Geographic)

• 👀 Psst, looks like AmEx Platinum’s new Lululemon $75 credit has already rolled out for this quarter—use it or lose it.

• 💌 Get Lost with Lonely Planet’s “love letter” to adult field trips made me smile—what was your most memorable field trip as a child? Mine was Medieval Times.

• 🎃 The 10 best pumpkin patches in the USA to check out this year. (USA Today)

• 👟 I’ve talked before about how plantar fasciitis often complicates my travel plans, and the “comfort” shoes out there aren’t exactly…cute. But I’m really digging these Mephistos that are my ideal blend of form and function. The quality is impressive, and the footbed is super supportive. No complaints from me!*

these make me feel like gen-z LOL (complimentary)

See y’all next week, where I’ll be interviewing an entrepreneur I deeply admire all about Indigenous travel.
—Henah x

weekend mood (iykyk) // credit