9/8 (Wed.) Staycation (Host：Timothy)

[Julian]

Dear YOYOs,

I happened to come over the term, “staycation” one day. It’s pretty inspiring to me, as some people tend to see themselves being trapped by the current poor economy or something else to stay home for their vacations. Staycation offers second thoughts for those who can’t make long distance travels to still have wonderful vacations without feeling bereft. A quality vacation is about its content and the doing but distance covered after all.
Have a nice discussion.

Best,
Tim

Is There Something I Can Do on a Staycation?
By Nocita Carter

Doug just ended his work week and is elated that he is ready to start his two week vacation. He is so excited because he has been looking forward to his vacation for the past three months. It seemed as though this last work day before his vacation would never come to an end, but now it's finally here. Doug thought to himself, that his wife Margie was also happy about him going on vacation. They had been planning for this much needed vacation for Doug for the past few months. Doug so badly needed this vacation because he hardly ever took any time off from his job. In fact, his last vacation was almost five years ago.

As Doug exited the parking lot of his job he was so happy that he was now officially on his vacation that he started singing to himself in his car the words "staycation here I come, oh yeah, staycation is for me here I come, I'm not going anywhere cause I'm on staycation my own vacation, yeah, yeah, yeah." Doug continued to sing these phrases all the way home.

Wow, it seems like Doug is so excited, but, what in the world is a staycation? Great question, a staycation is simply staying home for your vacation instead of traveling a long distance from your home.

These days due to our current economic times more and more people are deciding to stay home for their vacations instead of traveling out of town. Unfortunately the continued high cost to travel is making a lot of people take a second look at how and where they spend their vacations. After adding up the cost of travel tickets, baggage costs, fuel costs, hotel costs, dining costs, etc... some people are deciding it's cheaper to staycation.

So, if you're one of those people that have decided to enjoy your vacation in your home town with your family you may want to consider these tips on some of the things you can do while on your staycation:

Tip One:
Consider taking a trip to a local museum near you. That's right a visit to a museum can be fun and informative.

Tip Two:
Go to your local zoo or an amusement park for the day. Go ahead, take yourself, friend, spouse or other relatives with you. Try to make an entire day out of
this event and remember to enjoy yourself.

Tip Three:
Go to a beach or swimming pool near you. That's right take a cool and refreshing dip into that beautiful water, go for it!

Tip Four:
Put together a picnic basket for you and your family or significant other and head to a local park. Have a little fun in the sun.

Tip Five:
Sit back, relax and read a book that you think you will enjoy.

Tip Six:
How about that bike, motorcycle, scooter, skateboard or skates that are sitting around possibly collecting dust? Well, you may want to take a spin and get reacquainted with these modes of transportation and have some fun along the way.

Tip Seven:
Take a tour around your town and see something you've always wanted to see but never had the opportunity to do so. This is the perfect time for you to do this while you're on staycation.

Tip Eight:
Try out a new restaurant you've never gone to before. This is the good time for you to do this.

Tip Nine:
Consider having a function at your home for friends and family. You could have a party, barbeque, a movie viewing get-together, game night, etc... I think you get the picture.

Tip Ten:
Take in a movie matinee at your local theater to catch the latest movies at a cheaper price than paying the regular admission fee.

Tip Eleven:
Consider doing some home improvement projects that you really think you need to take care of while you're on your staycation. However, you may want to use a small percentage of your staycation time doing those home projects. Remember part of being on vacation is relaxing and enjoying yourself.

Staycations can be enjoyable, fun and relaxing. A staycation is really what you make it. You can also think of additional things you and your family can do for your staycation in addition to these tips. Just try to make your staycation a great vacation for you and your family to remember. Just because you're not traveling somewhere far away and spending lots of money doesn't mean that you can't have a great vacation. So, go ahead and start planning your staycation today you will be glad you did.


Questions:
Session1.
1.Have you ever heard of the term, “staycation”? What does it mean? What are your thoughts on it?
2.If you are going to take 7 days off from your job and plan for a wonderful staycation, what will you do while on your staycation?
3.There are numerous remarkable places, events and festivities for fun that are around the Taipei area, please come up with a few for discussion, and then rank “The Top 5 Taipei Attractions” for your group.

Session2.
1.If you’d like to travel on a budget for your vacation, how and what will you do to have a quality budget travel? Conversely, if budget is not an issue for you, what will you do while on your royal-like luxurious travel? (No matter where the destination is.)
2.There would be lots of ways that could work out stress besides traveling, please propose some of them to share with your group mates.
3. For the remaining time, let’s talk about Taiwan’s distinctively fabulous night market culture. Where is the number one night market for you to go? Why and how does it fascinate you that much? Frankly, Taiwan’s night markets still have big room for improvement, if you were in charge of the job, what would you do to improve it?


********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期三聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費： 80 元


注意事項：
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌，但與會者請務必自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。

[Sherry Liao]

Last summer my family took a trip to Guam. A few months after the trip I asked the kids what impressed them most when they were there. I expected some of them would say something about our exploration of the island; but to my surprise, all of them said they only remembered the water park, which for me was nothing more than "八仙樂園" in Taipei.

It made me start to wonder whether a domestic trip would give a better price/performance ratio...

[Julian]

Last summer my family took a trip to Guam. A few months after the trip I asked the kids what impressed them most when they were there. I expected some of them would say something about our exploration of the island; but to my surprise, all of them said they only remembered the water park, which for me was nothing more than "八仙樂園" in Taipei.

It made me start to wonder whether a domestic trip would give a better price/performance ratio...

Ha...It looks staycation is a good idea to save money, if you can sccessfully make your family members feel like touring at home.
Looking forward to you guys innovative ideas. ~See you soon.

[Julian]

*It is very kind of Meng-Chih for borrowing us the camera, would you please send me those photos for me posting. TKS!
*Special Thanks to Timothy and Kat, for bringing a fruitful meeting to us.

Host: Timothy

Participants:
Kat, Debby, Andy, Steve, Li-wen, Wayne, Claire, Michael, Meng-Chih, Julian, Bernd, Luis, Christine H.

New Comer:
Dorrie, Jessica, George

Total: 17

[Julian]