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BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Staycation
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2009
 
Kate: Hello, I'm Kate Colin and today I'm joined by Jackie Dalton. Hi Jackie.
Jackie: Hi Kate
Kate: Jackie, I believe you've just got back from holiday haven't you. How was it?
Jackie: It was great thank you - I had a very relaxing time. I did lots of reading andsome skiing.
Kate: Sounds wonderful, but these days more and more of us are consideringwhether we can actually justify the cost of a holiday abroad and the idea ofgoing absolutely nowhere is actually becoming quite appealing. A 'staycation'is a new phrase which is combination of the expressions 'stay' (at home)' and'vacation'.
Jackie: Well, yes I have heard of staycations, but to be honest I can't say it is something that really appeals to me because I like going on holiday to seeother cultures, to listen to new languages and eat different food. Just to getaway from my normal day to day life once in a while. I think that's whatholidays are about.
Kate: Well to some people it is, but before we go any further, I'm going to ask myquestion for this week. Which country is the top European location for British people to go on holiday at the moment?
a) Spain
b) France
c) Turkey
Jackie: answers
Kate: Good answer; we'll check if you're correct in a few minutes. But first here’s alady who really likes staycations. Why does she prefer to stay at home?
Clip 1
If you take your 2 weeks off and just stay at home and do what you like, it's so much moreliberating than going away somewhere new and not having your own things around andhaving the pressure to explore all this new stuff. It's just a winner; I don’t understand whymore people don't do it.
Jackie: She said that staying at home is much more liberating than going away. Ifsomething is 'liberating' it makes you feel free and able to do what you like. Shegoes on to say that going on holiday means that you don't have your own thingsaround you and there's lots of pressure to explore. She says that staying at home isa 'winner' (which means a very good thing) and she can't understand why morepeople don't do it!
Kate: Now we're going to hear from someone with the opposite point of view. She usesthe phrase 'contradiction in terms' which means to say a combination of thingswhich don't make sense as they often have opposite meanings. She also uses theterm 'same old, same old' which you often hear when people talk about alwaysdoing the same thing. Listen out for it in the following extract…
Clip 2
Well to me, holidaying at home is a complete contradiction in terms. When you stay athome you know it's the same old, same old and it just underpins the whole beauty of havingthat energizing break and doing something entirely different. 
Jackie: Well, she said that she thinks holidaying at home is a contradiction in terms –it doesn't make sense. She thinks that taking a holiday is about getting awayfrom your usual routine of being at home which she describes as 'the same old,same old'. I suppose she's referring to the everyday jobs of housework andshopping and things like that. She says this underpins the whole beauty ofgoing away. Underpins means to give strength or support to something, sohere the fact that there's always so much to do when you stay at home, supportsor underpins her argument that we need to go away on holiday once in a while.
Kate: Let's go back to the first lady we heard from. Here she gives some otherreasons why she prefers not to go away. She uses the term 'peace of mind'.What does this mean?
Jackie: 'peace of mind' is when you can relax because you don’t have to worry aboutanything.
Clip 3
On the rare occasions that I have gone on a proper holiday, the amount of work you have todo to go away and enjoy peace of mind, totally negates the benefit of the holiday to me.
Jackie: She says that all the effort you have to go to make sure you can enjoy peaceof mind, negates the benefit of the holiday. I suppose she means that shespends a lot of time making sure her house is locked properly and things tomake sure that she won't have to worry about anything going wrong whileshe's away. She says this negates the benefit of a holiday. To negate meansto cancel out the effect of something, so all the worry related to going onholiday negates the good things about holidays.
Kate: Let's hear what the second lady has to say in reply…she uses the word'anticipation'. What does this mean? 
Jackie: 'anticipation' means to look forward to something. You'll also hear theexpression 'Groundhog Day'. In this context, this is a term which wesometimes use when referring to doing the same thing over and over again.It comes from a film called 'Groundhog Day' starring Bill Murray and AndieMacDowell, and the film features a man who finds himself living the same
day over and over again. Now the expression has made its way into theEnglish language to describe something which is the same everyday. So ifyou had a job where it seems you're doing the same thing day after day, youcould say it was like 'Groundhog Day'.
Clip 4
It's like anything in life you either approach it positively or negatively. I think part of thebeauty of a holiday is the anticipation. I know it's stressful preparing for a holiday but it'squite exciting too and I think we need it because when we do the same things day after day,life becomes like Groundhog Day and one of the great beauties underpinning that is to goon holiday.
Kate: What do you think Jackie? Are you tempted to have a 'staycation' next timeyou want a holiday?
Jackie: Well, having heard both sides of the argument, I can understand the reasonsfor staying at home but I'm afraid I like to travel too much and I don't thinkI'll be taking a staycation this year.
Kate: So let's have a look the words we came across earlier in the programme:
We had:
staycation
liberating
a contradiction in terms
same old, same old
to underpin 
peace of mind
negates
anticipation
Groundhog Day
Kate: Finally to the question I asked earlier. I asked you which country is the top
European location for British people to go on holiday at the moment.
Jackie: …and I said Spain.
Kate: I'm afraid you were wrong. You were nearly right, but it is in fact Turkey.
Both: That's all for this week. Goodbye!

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