Whether you're a college student or the parent of school-aged children or just a resident in a major (or not so major) city....it's Spring Break season!! For an entire week your children will be out of school. If you aren't careful an entire week will go by with them sleeping in and binge watching Netflix the entire week. On the other end it's common for a lot of parents to feel obligated to plan an expensive trip (just because that's what "everyone else" is doing). Money is spent on flights and hotels stays. Gas, food and entertainment are additional expenses. After adding it all up you will have spent probably a lot more than you had planned. Not only that but not everyone has the leave, money or flexibility to go on a vacation. Well I have the best idea ever! Tour your own city! Make the most of your own city this Spring Break and do it on a much smaller budget!
My husband and I are really good with introducing our children to the arts and living in the DC area makes it that much easier. The arts are at our fingertips! They have visited more than their share of the Smithsonian museums and monuments. And the National Zoo probably has us down as regulars by now. lol We love DC and all that it offers. During tourist season we often times see the red double-decker bus workers standing on the streets, pamphlets in hand trying to get those visiting our country’s capital to hop on the bus for a historical and very informative tour of DC. Everywhere you turn there are stands selling I LOVE DC t-shirts and Washington D.C hats in all colors and sizes. We usually don’t pay much any attention to them. I mean we're not tourists, we live here! Until one day the hubs gets an idea for us to do the “tourist” thing in DC. His exact words, "let's tour D.C!, Let's get the corny hats and t shirts and just hop on the bus!"
Now there are rules to touring your own city. For it to be official you definitely have to get a t-shirt and hat (maybe even the fanny packs they sale). You have to actually sign up for an official tour. When most people think of tours they think just the bus tours but depending on where you love there are many other options to choose from. For example, D.C. has water tours (food included), 'Free Tours by Foot', and Night Tours as well. They also have an "Off the Beaten Path" tour where you will experience such things as the first Lincoln Memorial dedicated 40 years before the more famous one. It was paid for entirely by former slaves as a tribute to President Lincoln. To find tours in your city, go to the city’s website. There you will find ‘Attractions’(you can often where the free attractions are), ‘Things to Do’, ‘Eat, Shop & Play’ and ‘Events’ just to name a few.
If you really want to embrace the idea of being a tourist book a hotel too! There are a lot of discount websites where you can find great hotel discounts for places in the heart of your city. You’ll be tempted to eat at familiar spots but if you were touring a new city there wouldn’t be any “familiar” place to eat so stick with our "tourists" theme and try something new! Be adventurous! One thing we've done is go to the 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives' website from Food network and looked up spots in our city. If you don't see your city on there you can just google "Best Places to eat in (enter you city)'.
I know for some people it may seem just silly but when I thought more about it I realized that we can learn a lot on the tours. I mean think about it, there is a tour guide whose sole purpose is to educate you on the rich history of your city. Participating in a tour will open your eyes to view your city in a whole new light. And not to mention you already have room and board taken care of (if you decide to return home instead of getting a hotel room).
You don’t have to go far for “vacation” to count. There is nothing at all wrong with a stay-cation. Just for added fun send out “wish you were here” postcards or let your social media followers join you via pics! You can play it up as much as you want. Whatever you decide to do I’m sure it’ll be fun! I’m excited for our adventure! I will take plenty of pictures and report back!!
P.S. if you don't have Spring Breakers this is such a cute idea for a date!
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