I wouldn’t use the staycation word, it’s just a little too American, involving the misuse of the vacation word.
Vacation is not the holiday but the act of vacating/leaving your position/job before going off …
The staycation word was a bit of fun while it lasted, used tongue-in-cheek by most.
A horrible word in my opinion…:(…
Yes, I think it is an American word, and one of the best definitions for a time off of work, to play with family, to go to the beach, without have having to plan an itinerary, pack, buy clothes, spend hundreds of dollars, etc. To relax for a week or so to regroup.
As for the british holiday, I think that word misrepresents time away from work or home.
A holiday is a nationally declared day to celebrate a person or an event, to mark it in history.
Brits go on holiday when there is no holiday at all. It’s simply a vacation ( What is the real meaning of vacation?)
noun. a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday
Well essentially a holy day was time off.
I’m not sure if a pilgrimage was considered a holy day?
No doubt things became quite Merrie and ribald, they knew how to let their hair down in those days.
That’s what an American English dictionary says.
But not “staycation”
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
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stay·ca·tion
/ˌstāˈkāSH(ə)n/
INFORMAL
noun
a vacation spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.
verb
take a vacation in one’s home country rather than abroad, or at home with day trips to local attractions.
“we have been busy sourcing the best spots to staycation this summer”
The Oxford Languages suit you brits?
I’m sorry, but my passport is not valid past the Watford Gap 
It’s an awful word.Shakespeare come back!
Most interesting, thanks to all.
It was not a word I had come across before but I knew from context that it was something to do with a holiday though, as someone pointed out, being retired means every day is a holiday.
I suppose my last trip was a staycation even though I crossed a time zone, several quarantine zones, different climatic conditions and travelled nearly 7000km but that’s the problem with having a continent to yourself. 
Mine neither. I cannot go south of that terrible service station, even if I wanted to.
Its for all those folks on curfews. 
it’s an interesting question because according to wiki the term was originally coined by a Candadian comedian and referred to a holiday where you take day trips from your own home. They now have a special “UK” definition which means domestic leisure travel within the British Isles (possibly excluding Eire).
To me a staycation means leisure travel where no passports are required. I guess that definition would not make much sense in North America or Australia. In the US you could technically have a staycation in Alaska or Hawaii.
…or Tasmania (though you do have to get through their quarantine checks before they let you in)
Nor would it in the EU where you don’t need one either and could have a staycation in Norway, Cyprus, or Portugal.
Ah, well, we use a different term to signify a nationally declared day to celebrate a national event - we call them Bank Holidays.
That’s the official name given to them under an Act of Parliament dating back to 1871, so Brits understand the difference between a holiday, which can be taken by an individual at any time, and a Bank Holiday, which is a celebration of a national event.
I find the history and development of language interesting.
I can see why Brits call it a holiday when they take days off work - because in the old days, the only days they could take off work were a couple of the main “holy days” in the Christian calendar. When workers started being granted more time off work, they just continued using the same word.
There is some organisations in the UK which have a history of using the word Vacation in relation to taking a break from work, though - these tend to be organisations which have a long history of closing down operations for a fixed period of time each year and literally “vacating” the building.
Universities used to refer to the periods in between term times as “Vacations” and some Universities and private schools still do - although some now use “holidays” or “breaks”
The Law Courts still refer to the breaks between their sitting dates as “vacations” - I think the longest one is the Summer Vacation for the whole of August.
Thank you for taking the time to share this info with me! Very informative, and helps me to understand the differences in our same language!
Unless you live in the UK. Thanks a bunch, Brexiters.
You’re welcome . 
I find it interesting to compare the language differences in American and British usage.
I often discover that terms which some Brits disparage as “Americanisms” actually originated in England or some other part of Europe and were commonly used in Britain in previous centuries.
It shows how language continues to change and develop over time.
Vacation is a good example of that.
It’s an Anglo-French word, used in Britain in the Middle Ages and derived from Latin:
vacātiō - meaning “exemption from service, respite from work,” and traces back to “vacāre”, “to be empty, be free, have leisure.”
Chaucer used the word Vacation in The Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400, describing a reader who had “leisure and vacation from other worldly occupation”
I must admit, the origins of the word “vacation” describes our modern leisure time off work more aptly than the origins of “holiday” does - but I still like “holidays” - we get used to the language and terms we grow up with and become familiar with - and I like those quirks of language that crop up -
“ vive la différence!”
Tasmania is on my bucket list. This is after reading “Prelude” as a child. (based on the early life of concert pianist Eileen Joyce)
Edited to add that I didn’t realise she played the piano in the original Rachmaninov score for the classic film Brief Encounter. Do you know I’ve never googled her until today. The book was very inspiring for me at the time. A true rags to riches story of a barefoot child who ran wild in the beautiful Tasmanian wilderness and then through her amazing talent, matured to grace concert halls around the world.
