Autism is challenging. There, I’ve said it. But, I still like to have fun, and so does my son. So, one of the best ways we can vacation is to staycation. To achieve that summer bliss, we enjoy spending a weekend in a local hotel–our favorite is the Austin Renaissance Hotel–and enjoy feeling very far away even though we’re close to home.

The last weekend before school is a great time to get away. Most people with autism need constant scheduling and consistent routines. Well, that is not what summer looks like. I try to book special needs summer camps that provide my son a consistent routine, but even with advance planning, we’ve still had four weeks this summer of very little structure. As a result, his autism-induced nervous tics have gone into overdrive. He’s coughed all summer from anxiety, not from a medical condition. Yes, friends, we’ve seen specialists and therapists about this problem, we are just waiting it out until school starts and his routine improves for this to get better. It’s a waiting game with his tics.

We both needed a vacation.

Thus, we decided that the hassles of an airplane ride and the exhaustion of packing up weren’t worth it and opted to spend the weekend at a close-by nice hotel. We swam, we lounged, we hottubbed (is that a word? it should be), we relaxed. It was really nice.

So if you think your family cannot handle the stresses of a vacation, what about the pleasures of a staycation? For us, it really helped us achieve the desired “summer vacation vibe” without spending too much money (I think $139/night is a great deal) or even leaving the city limits.