6 Ways to Feel Like You’re on Vacation at Home

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You don’t have to leave the country or even the state to feel as relaxed and stress-free as you do while traveling. From recreating a beach getaway to getting that cozy cabin feeling, these six tricks will make you feel like you’re on vacation at home.

Pretend You’re On the Beach

Even if you can’t make it to the beach, you can still bring the beach to you, with a few key accessories to make your home feel like a tropical paradise.

A light therapy lamp can help you pretend you’re basking in the sunlight (but without those nasty UV-rays). These lights can help lift your mood and even sleep better, especially during those long dark winter days.

Infuse your house with a tropical-scented aromatherapy oil. The sense of smell is closely linked to memory, so inhaling a beachy fragrance can help you recall relaxing vacations past. The Opulence Essential Oil Diffuser is a waterless diffuser that will spread fragrance throughout your house without diluting the scent. Unlike many of the cheap diffusers on the market, this one is made without plastic—just a ceramic base and a glass reservoir.

Turn Your House into a Cozy Cabin

Rather pretend you’re away at a cozy cabin this winter? It’s easy to feel like you’re on a winter vacation at home with a few hygge-inspired items. This heated blanket will instantly turn your couch into a warm cocoon that you don’t want to leave. Make your bed into a holiday-like nest by upgrading your linens to Brooklyn Bedding’s Tencel Sateen Sheets, which are made from a super-soft TENCEL Lyocell fiber blend. These sheets absorb moisture quickly, so you’ll stay comfortable no matter how many blankets you pile on top. Top it off with a Pluto Pillow, a revolutionary pillow that is personalized to your preferences and assembled by hand to give you the most comfortable spot to rest your head.

Upgrade your morning routine to feel more like a vacation with a programmable coffee maker. It can’t bring you coffee in bed, but it can wake you up with a freshly brewed cup.

Make Your House Feel Like a Spa

Bring the spa home to you with Coleman’s inflatable four-person hot tub, which sets up quickly and heats up to 104 degrees while 60 air jets surround you in soothing bubbles. Rather just run a bath? A good bath pillow, tray, salts, and candle will elevate the experience into vacation-like luxury.

Set Yourself Up for Better Sleep

A good night’s sleep can help you feel like you’re on vacation every day. The Alen BreatheSmart HEPA air purifiers have been scientifically proven to improve sleep, as it cleans the air of mold, odors, and allergens, allowing users to breathe better and sleep more deeply.

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AcousticSheep SleepPhones can help light sleepers make it through the night uninterrupted, by playing white noise through a comfortable headband you can sleep on.

A good pair of blackout blinds will recreate that totally dark hotel room feel, letting you sleep in past sunrise on your staycation.

Completely Disconnect

If your favorite part about vacation is being unreachable, recreate it at home. Turn off your Wi-Fi, put your phone on airplane mode, and enjoy being off the internet. Put down your phone and pick up a book. The new Kindle Oasis is designed to be feel just like reading a real book, thanks to an adjustable warm light setting, page turn buttons, and e-ink technology.

Automate Your Cleaning

One of the best parts of staying at a hotel is having someone else do all the cleaning on a daily basis, but you can get (some of) the same effect at home without hiring a cleaner. A robot vacuum can keep your floors perfectly swept without you having to lift a finger, and some models even offer mopping features as well.

More from SmarterTravel:

• 5 Ways to Make Your Bedroom Feel like a Hotel Room
• 9 Travel Products That Take the Stress Out of Your Vacation
• 9 Travel Gadgets to Help You Sleep Away from Home

Caroline Morse Teel is a Principal Editor at SmarterTravel. Follow her on Instagram @travelwithcaroline.

Some review products are sent to us free of charge and with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions, positive and negative, and will never accept compensation to review a product.

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