Are You Getting Away This Summer? What Kind of 'Cation' Will You Take?

By Jim Caroompas (Editor)

In 2007, someone or something broke the economy. What or who that was exactly we all have our own thoughts about, but the point is this: one of the most annoying things to come out of that mess (other than, you know, the massive loss of homes, jobs, that sort of thing) was the term “staycation.”  

Someone (who is wisely remaining anonymous) coined this term to no doubt put a little verbal sunshine on the fact that a very large slice of Americans could not, during this period, afford what we have come to call a “vacation.”  

“Oh, you can’t afford to go to Hawaii this year? Well, why not enjoy a staycation instead? See the wonders that abound in your own cities and towns,” went the line. Because, after all, why look at the tourist-infested sights of Maui, Lyon, or Crete when San Lorenzo is just a few miles down the road?   

The other day, an ad came on the radio for one of those Indian casinos, inviting us to take a “playcation.” And it scared me. If that’s going to be a trend, if advertisers and announcers are going to start playing with the term, it’s not going to be pretty. We’re soon going to be inundated with merciless plays on the term. And haven’t we suffered enough from the financial tsunami?   

In that spirit, I thought maybe if we push this thing far enough, it will go off the cliff. So here, for your edification, is a list of plays on the word ‘vacation.’ If I miss one, feel free to add your own.

• You’ll have to save this for next year, but if you plan your getaway for the fifth month of the year, you can take a ‘Maycation.’
   
• Let’s say you’re worried about your weight (and really, who isn’t?). Take your scale with you and have yourself a ‘weigh-cation.’ 

• If you drive a big rig for a living, mix business with pleasure and have a ‘weigh station-cation.’ 
  
•  Visit Seattle or Portland this year, where it’s cloudy, and have yourself a ‘gray-cation.’ 
  
  
•  How about a horseback-riding excursion? That would, of course, be a ‘neigh-cation.’ 
  
  
•  Hit the shores of Monterey, Carmel, San Francisco or the like, and have a ‘bay-cation.’ 
  
  
• Take a week-long pottery class, and take a ‘clay-cation.’ 
  
  
• Take your same sex partner on a trip and have a ‘gay-cation.’ 
  
  
• Go to a dude ranch for a really fun ‘hay-cation.’ 
  
  
• If you’re prone to being prone, take a ‘lay-cation.’ This could also be referred to as a ‘lazy-cation.’ 
  
  
• If you are a religious person and feel the need to have a long talk with your higher power, go ahead and take a ‘pray-cation.’ 
  
  
• A short trip for which you’ll be home by nightfall would, of course, be a ‘day-cation.’
     
• Escape the brutal heat of summer to somewhere snowy and have a ‘sleigh-cation.’ 
  
  
• Whatever you wind up doing this summer, I hope it’s the kind of time that causes you, at the end, to feel like you’re refreshed and ready once again to tackle life. This would be called a ‘yay-cation.’