Since the start of this year alone, for personal or professional reasons, my husband and I have travelled six times. Our journeys have spanned three continents, six countries, and four states. Traveling and learning firsthand about the world is a passion project for my husband and me; we are anything but homebodies!

We’ve both had friends and family who never left their neighborhood or city, let alone crossed the county line or left their home state. We understand their desire to stay in their comfort zones, sometimes for pragmatic, financial reasons, sometimes due to age and waning energy levels, and sometimes because getting out and exploring the world just seems daunting. And their considerations to travel or not to travel – like many of ours – have little to do with ensuring access based on disability.

Despite having lived thus far in five different countries and having visited scores more, I still get the question, “But how do you travel?” I’ll answer that question today with why we chose to staycation!

My husband and I recently celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary, and both really wanted to get away for a week of precious time I had that may not come easily again due to my often-hectic day job! But after two back-to-back trips in May that had involved intense planning and coordination, I wasn’t up to planning another trip – even for fun.

When the trip is for work, there are several moving parts – meetings to arrange with contacts, locations to plan out, distances to measure between meetings and allow for cushion time for the Uber getting lost or needing a quick bathroom break, etc. Depending on whether the trip is domestic or international, the moving parts can multiply, with more cooks in the kitchen doing the planning.

Each work trip often requires what I call “the binder” – important resources I’ll need on hand, including flight schedules, hotel confirmations, daily schedules of meetings with locations and points of contact and their phone numbers, bios, and any substantive talking points or reference materials I will need during the meetings. With a sighted assistant, I create both a hard and soft copy of “the binder,” and it becomes our trip manifest. (My sister jokingly likens it to the infamous “book” from The Devil Wears Prada because of my obsession to ensure “the binder” is complete and total perfection!)

For personal trips, my planning and organization style is somewhat similar out of necessity – but without the hard copy of “the binder.” I’m usually not with a sighted assistant, so what’s the point of carrying the paper? But to maximize and enjoy personal time to the fullest, I still need to plan. My thought process can be broken up into several categories, listed below for your reading entertainment!

We begin with…

Choosing a Destination—and Getting There!

Where are we going? Are we flying, taking a train, or some other combination of transportation that doesn’t involve us self-driving? How much will it cost? Do we need to fill out paperwork for a visa, or is the destination (if international) a “visa-on-arrival” country for American passport holders? If we need to do visa paperwork, how will we make it accessible to us?

Followed by…

Lodging—and Logistics!

Where are we staying? Is breakfast included? Do the folks at the front desk speak English well and communicate well? How many restaurants are on the property or nearby? What is walkable, and how much do we need to Uber, taxi, or something else? Is there room service for those days we’re exhausted and don’t want to find our way anywhere? What do I need to pack, and how many basic toiletries is the place of accommodation providing? Is there a handheld bidet in the bathrooms? Do I need to pack my Happy Bottom? Is the hotel staff friendly, or do they seem unaccommodating?

A note on that last question—the last thing you want on vacation is someone making you feel like you’re a burden for asking them for specific directions somewhere, or to read an inaccessible menu. Unfortunately, it happens more often than you’d think!

But back to trip planning. Last, but not least, we have…

The Itinerary!

How far are we from attractions, places of interest, or people we may want to see? What excursions might we want to explore, and will there be a battle, or will the companies be open-minded and the excursions themselves accessible to us with little or no modifications?

Each of these questions involves research – getting on the phone, sometimes looking at inaccessible websites to figure out the answers, talking to a lot of people, spending a lot of time!

I admit packing is a little easier as a hijabi because all my hijabs basically have three pieces – a head covering, a blouse/shirt, and a long skirt with built-in slip. But I still have to pick materials based on weather and level of formality of the experience, still have to match socks, shoes, purses, and sometimes – much to my chagrin – light jewelry, and still have to think about contingencies like will I need to find or do laundry, or can I survive with just these outfits? I won’t get into my husband’s packing considerations except to say thank goodness he’s a minimalist!

As you read this, you might have thought a lot of these questions sound familiar. Or you might have thought, I don’t ask this many questions before I travel – I just go and figure it out! To an extent, we do too, but we don’t have the luxury of just landing and figuring everything out on the fly. We’ve got to plan ahead, and then have back-up plans for contingencies.

This time around, after several exhausting months with some significant ups and downs, my husband and I just wanted to chill. Neither of us had the time or energy to do extensive research, and neither of us relished the thought of getting on another train or plane when what we wanted was just a moment to relax. So, we decided to staycation – sleep when we wanted in our own bed, get up when we wanted, read a great book on Audible together, see friends, have down time at home with no set commitments…

And that’s exactly what we enjoyed over the last week, discovering some gems in Old Town Alexandria we hadn’t known of before! Sometimes, being a tourist in your own town is the best thing you can do for yourself, and we’re glad we took that opportunity before scooting off to another country for another upcoming adventure!

Tell me, are you Team Travel or Team Staycation? How much thought do you put into your personal and work trips? Let me know in the comments and on social media! Talk to you all next week!