Staycations have not been as fulfilling as vacations for me. The days drift by, but I don't have much to show at the end. Perhaps because I didn't make solid plans for activities around my city like you did.

I suppose I also take my home location for granted, I can do things around here 'later'.

I've had staycations, in that I had no $$$ and couldn't go anywhere, much less eat out or see movies. It's feast or famine when you do contract work.

I only flew overseas once (Sept. 2004). Since then I have restricted my travel to the US and Canada.
If it is too far to drive, I take Amtrak to a destination and stay in a city or rent a car to go see an attraction within a day's drive of where I got off the train.
Staying close to home and not driving saves gas and probably makes for more empty hotel rooms on weekdays.
The US and Canada have enough beautiful places to keep me traveling until I decide to head for Hawaii and Alaska which are the only states I have not visited.
For cheap travel in the US check on the USA Rail Pass which comes in 15, 30 and 45 day Passes.
Solo travelers can stay at a HI hostel for not much more than staying at home.

<<<So that is our plan for our week off...not to drive hours up the road to relax but to relax, with a twist in our home town and support our own tourism industry....>>>

The question is... can you relax at home? If I stay home, I see all the projects I could/should be working on (clean this, organize that, redo this, etc). Plus since I'm home, people want to come over or hang out somewhere. It's simply not relaxing and energizing for me the same way that visiting a new place is. After a single day or two I go a bit nutty.

Some people love staying home for vacation. It gives them a chance to spend time with their spouse, to read those books they've been meaning to, to just veg out, etc.

Depending on you, it might be great or it might be hell.

Personally I wouldn't do it. I'd rather save the money until I can go on a real trip.

A "staycation" for me wouldn't be very relaxing, as I would find all sorts of projects that needed to be completed (and would probably end up costing quite a bit of money to boot!). Like suze, I'd rather save up and go elsewhere, even if it's a long weekend in a town a few hours away. I'm more likely to relax!

It depends on your definition of "staycation". If you are looking to just relax at home, well that's no different than a weekend where you do nothing around the house. If you have the discipline to do that I'm sure it will work. If, on the other hand, you are like most of us and "see projects" like cutting the lawn, doing laundry, fixing tat leaky faucet, etc. your stay at home won't seem like much of a "vacation".

On the other hand, if you eat many of your meals out, visit place of interest around your home and partake of other "tourist type activities" you'll end up with the same feeling of satisfaction as you would if you traveled far and wide for a "real" vacation.

Lots of people, especially those who have stressful jobs, say they want to "just relax" while on vacation. But what is "just relaxing"? Do you really mean sitting in a lounge chair doing absolutely nothing? Or is it getting away from your employment and the tedium of everyday life and doing different things like playing golf, going fishing, spending a day at the beach, hiking in the woods, etc.???

So, if you are doing a staycation where you are going out and being active the only money you might be saving is the cost of a hotel room.

"If I stay home, I see all the projects I could/should be working on (clean this, organize that, redo this, etc). "

Yeah - me too. We have taken time off for the purpose of doing this kind of thing - we remodelled our bathroom over a holiday weekend with a couple days tacked onto either side. It was very satisfying, but not the least bit relaxing And even if we didn't tackle a big project, we'd do little ones, like organizing the pantry.

<Do you really mean sitting in a lounge chair doing absolutely nothing?>

Yup that is exactly what I mean, preferably on a sunny beach with a tropical cocktail in my hand.