Travelling feels like a hot commodity nowadays as the pandemic looms over everyone. It seems so much more expensive, unsafe and risky on more than one level once you get to your destination and once you get home to your folks. Staying home and making the best of a less ideal situation is most people's best bet. If you're staying safe but needing an escape, here's 6 steps to make your home feel like a vacation.

1. Take The Beach Home With You
   To do this, you're gonna need light, but not just any. A light therapy lamp will help you feel as though you're at the beach, laying on the sand with the cool breeze washing over you. The light helps improve your mood and helps you sleep for longer and deeper. Use diffusers or scented candles to emulate the smell of the tropics. Turn on some sounds of the beach straight from the internet. If you can fool your nose and ears, you're halfway to the beach.
2. Cozy Cabin Experience
   Grab a heated blanket and lower the lights, surround yourself with the fluffiest pillows possible and grab yourself a hot mug of coffee. If you've got a flat-screen TV or a computer or laptop screen, queue up a looped hour-long video of a crackling fireplace that will surely put you to sleep during the cold winter months.
3. In-Home Spa
   Most people have got tubs in their bathrooms, but in the case that you don't, portable pools and tubs are easily buyable off the internet. If you already do have one, start yourself a bubble bath and dim the lights. Grab a glass of wine and place scented candles around your tub. For an even more effective spa aesthetic, grab a diffuser for stronger aromatherapy.
4. Sleep Better
   Sometimes you only think you need a vacation just because you're missing a few nights of sleep. Buy an air purifier that scientifically helps improve your sleep quality. Another way to improve sleep is to use sleep earphones. These are earphones tucked comfortably into headbands that play white noise to help you sleep and covers your eyes to give you the effect of a pitch-black room.
5. Log Off Of Everything
   Maybe the reason you needed vacation is that you're barraged by work, but even if you went off to vacation, as long as you're still hooked and logged in, you're never getting that peace of mind you're so desperately looking for. Grab a book and a drink, play ambient sounds in the background and settle into the couch with a warm blanket. Leave your work life behind for now because you are on vacation.
6. Let Technology Do The Cleaning For You
   Gone are the days of manual labor, especially when it comes to maintaining your home. Let automated smart vacuums do the work for you. They move around your home sweeping and cleaning in the areas of your house you designated for them, and it's all through an app. Instead of mopping yourself this weekend, have robot vacuums take care of your messes for now. All you have to do is clean the robot later so it can do its job over again.