Turning virtual school into mini-vacations for your kids
By: Sheldon Cooper
Tags: Vacation, Hong Kong, Virtual Schools, Education, Staycation

Taking a night off in Disneyland Hotel is scientifically proven to be a great solution to boost morale and your kids’ happiness

A classroom set up in a poolside cabana at Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, Calif. (Image and Caption credits: WSJ)

Pre-covid, I’ve got to admit I was pretty adamant about the whole staycation biz. I mean, can you truly shut off when you’re still in the same geographical place where you normally work and hustle?

It also seemed like a waste of money to sleep at a room that only has nicer scents and a comfier white bed since the same amount of money would’ve cost the same for a flight to Taiwan or the Philippines or any nearby countries for that matter (context: I live in Hong Kong).

But COVID struck and it seems neither of us had the luxury of choice to choose between a sleepover in the neighbourhood or a ride on a vehicle that’s 40 thousand feet above the ground to land into uncharted territory.

Vacations are far from ordinary and a sleepover at a nicer room from your house is one of the best, if not only, option we have because we still crave for an escape.

My family and I were lucky enough to have a night stay in Hong Kong’s Disneyland Hotel and it was overall actually a pleasant experience. It was a quick holiday without luggages, airplanes or foreign currency. The luxury was not in the act of travelling itself but rather a day’s worth of leisure time; hours that are deliberately purposed to be slow.

The staycation also came at the perfect time. The semester was coming to an end for me and I had month’s worth of coursework, problem sets and essays due. I also have freelance work piling up fast as the holidays comes around the corner since everyone wants to get it out of the way.

Dark lines surround my retina and my brain fogs like cloud as a result of Zoom fatigue (I suspect my siblings felt the same). I longed for an escape, even if it was just temporary.

Interestingly, days leading up to the staycation were the most productive I’ve been for a while. I wanted to feel that I deserved to relax so I made sure I submitted everything — from an advanced calculus problem set to a 5 paged essay on why a non-prolific philosopher’s version of market socialism is better — and tied all loose ends.

So me, my 10- and 8- year old siblings and family checked in at around 6 in the evening after adversely shopping in the nearby mall and grabbing a bite to eat. But the staycation really began the following day: when the iPhone ringer vibrated and filled the room at 7:30 in the morning, we got dressed and had breakfast in preparation for the kids’ 8:30 class.

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My sister devoured over her Mickey Mouse waffles within a blink. While I had a nice American breakfast: beans, two sunny side up eggs, a Belgian sausage topped with a light-toned bread, butter and a cup of fruits.

8:30AM hit and it was time to start school. The makeshift poolside classroom and virtual learning desk made up of: an iPad, Apple computer and other eyestrain-induced technology hooked on back-to-back Zoom calls located next to the charging station accompanied with the hotel bottled water, scruffy papers and colourful stationary.

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One of the biggest concerns that I had was the surroundings of the hotel. It was designed for leisure and fun which may have well acted as a distraction. Surprisingly they focused in their lessons and took notes diligently. I guess you have to figure out your child’s learning style and whether they’d benefit from this form of learning.

A study of 54 people vacationing suggests that holidays are central to our health. As Dr. de Bloom, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tampere in Finland, mentions “Holidays work more like sleep. You need regular recovery from work in order to stay healthy in the long run” (WSJ, 2015). Her advice is to take short and more frequent vacations. It relieves stress and can lead to improved work performance and creativity for both you (I’m talking to you parents) and your kids.

Arguably, I am not sure whether I can characterise this staycation as a full vacation (since the kids still had school) but it was definitely relaxing.

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While the kids were on Zoom, I capitalised the minutes of silence (a true luxury) to read a book by the view of the lush green scenery.

I’m currently reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. It’s a great book and I’m loving it so far. It touches upon interesting topics and old-aged questions like what is the meaning of life? etc. The author explores this narrative through his curious discovery into what a story is as he creates a film around his life (and how he created a life worth living), and heartfelt experiences on how he grew up (to be successful) without a father. If this sounds something like in your alley, you can grab a free copy of the pdf here.

I then spontaneously decided to go on a walk around the hotel because I can now be in control of my time and decide what activities I want to do or not — and not because my tasks constrict you to the cubicle desk.

Mentally detaching from work is important. It was a bit hard for me to stop checking my email but note to self next time round but going on the breezy stroll around my childhood grade fantasy (aka Disneyland) made me reconsider the chaos of my daily routine and how moments, like these, of serendipity actually increase the quality of life.

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Eventually, I went back to the hotel room and the kids were hungry so we ordered the in-house club sandwich (for a bloody $200HKD). It was whopping crazy on how much tiny slices of bread with vegetables in it could cost so if you are going to have a staycation with kids or anyone else for that matter, would be a good call to bring Animal Crackers or bags of snacks/ chips (for movie night).

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School ended for the day and we brought the poolside classroom outside to explore the cushy extracurricular activities the hotel has to offer.

Pictured: my siblings reaping the benefits of the restaurant credit on sherbet and chocolate covered ice cream.

We play courtyard tennis, had long talks and listened to the birds chirp.

Disneyland is absolutely a magical place. The trees are perfectly shaped to form an elegant circular of green of leaves. The red bricks pieced together flawlessly paving way to gumdrops of doors to (the only thing missing were Ruby Slippers). While the Victorian castle nestled in the green and lakeside blues. It is truly the land of wanderlust and imagination.