We love traveling, being adventurous, trying new foods, and healthy activities. What is life, if you are not experiencing all it has to offer? Unfortunately, when we are in our traditional routine of school, jobs, and home life… getting away for a romantic weekend doesn’t happen as much as we’d like. With Valentine’s day approaching, we were thinking about ways couples can celebrate the romantic holiday while still filling their itch to travel. A romantic staycation is a perfect solution.
Staycation
If you’ve never heard of the term “staycation” – it’s the idea of having a vacation in your home-town/region. You stay near home and treat it like you would on a vacation.
We have friends who have staycations when they take their kids back-to-school shopping, they get a hotel room, map out their plan of attack on shopping, and spend the evenings swimming in the hotel pool.
I’m sure these hotel chains are replicated all over, but at home, there are a few hotels that have themed romantic suites and amenities. These are popular for anniversaries and Valentine’s day as well.
But what we have in mind is more of a vacation, it goes beyond where you decide to sleep. So, if you are in need of a romantic surprise this Valentine’s day – we will help you out with the best romantic plan ever.
Romantic Valentines Day Staycation
Food
The idea of vacations is to visit new places, try new things, change your perspective. Start with the food. Research restaurants and venues that offer great food that you’ve never visited before. Ask family and friends for suggestions. If you want to do the research on your own – check out Trip Advisor’s restaurant rankings and menus. Just to test it out again, I tried it for our home-town and instantly found 3 restaurants I either hadn’t heard of or hadn’t tried before that had amazing reviews. Done!
Mood
To set the mood, no matter where you are, make sure your playlist special for the occasion. Seriously. Nothing will set a mood quicker. We found a few popular romantic track lists from Pop Sugar. These were our favorite.
Activities
When people think of the cliche “romantic” activities, candlelit dinner, walks on the beach, and roses usually come to mind from some Hollywood flick. But I think most women would say those have been done, plenty. So here are some new ideas to help add romance to your Valentine’s day plans.
Photography – Schedule a couples photo shoot. Professional couple photos are not usually something plan on, but what a lasting and meaningful tradition or gift to start on Valentine’s Day
Visit a spa. Schedule a couples massage, pedicures, or a full-spa package.
Go to a live show. Whether it is a live band, a stage play, or even a comedy show – having live entertainment adds to the experience and in our opinion, is much more unique.
Nostalgic evening. If you have been with your valentine for years, plan a tour of the “first places” you met, kissed, married, repeat your first date. Celebrating the beginning of your relationship can be a great reminder of the roots of your love.
Try something new. Go dancing, take dancing classes, go hot-tubbing, visit a hot spring, take a cooking class, take an art class. Rather than attending an event, plan an activity that will allow you to do something together.
Tour – Research local tours of your area. This is a great way to learn unique facts and history about your area, and you get to go along-for-the-ride.
