What I did on my summer staycation!
Every year after the summer break, the first assignment given in English class seems to always be a short essay entitled "What I did on my summer vacation." Well, maybe not this year. Instead of enthralling classmates with tales of visiting some far off exotic destinations and engaging in cooler than cool activities, some kids may have to be extra inventive with their verbiage in order to somehow convince their peers that their "staycation" spent driving around their hometown on rented Segways with their parents was somehow stoopid awesome.
Because of the rising cost of fuel and to a lesser extent, environmental concerns, lots of folks have turned their family vacations into staycations, what people used to call not going on vacation. In June alone, Americans traveled something like 12 billion fewer miles than the June before. Of course, the price of gas has gone down 50 cents since then and some people with short memories are out pricing SUVs again, but I digress. Companies are turning their marketing efforts to locals to make up the shortfall in visitor traffic. Case in point, is City Segway Tours in beautiful downtown Atlanta. This company is hoping to lure staycationers to come with them on guided tours of their fair city, featuring such hotspots as the Centennial Olympic Park, the Aquarium and, of course, the "World of Coke." Cynicism aside, staycations can be a great idea but we think it would be nice if you can get out of town at least far enough to hike a trail or paddle a canoe down a river. Enjoying a little bit of the natural environment might help to inspire efforts to save it.
[Source: City Segway Tours]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy 10:21PM (8/21/2008)
Why are Americans fat......heck if I can figure it out.
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Joce03 5:01AM (8/22/2008)
Take a walk. Ride a bike. Is that so hard?
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Pacman 8:27AM (8/22/2008)
Looks like the three have never been in the sun before and the girl in the back could stand to walk.
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killroy 11:11AM (8/22/2008)
I'm all for staycations, because there is tons to explore right in your back yard.
I always thought that Segways were neat and fun to try once, but they are really useless. It is gadget engineering. They reinvented the wheel that was already invented. They found a way to automate walking and suck up energy in the process when human power should be doing the work.
The bicycle is far more useful than a segway. You can ride it faster, through more varied terrain, its cheaper and it human powered.
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