Looking at finances after cancer treatment, you soon realise you just don't have the dosh to go on holiday.
Don't worry - you are trendy! With the credit crunch it has now become fashionable to enjoy your home.
No more going away - and returning to neighbours saying "the weather has been wonderful".
No more missing the one time when the garden looks perfect.
And no more days spent packing, getting jabs, worrying about visas or any other hassles.
Be Trendy - but make plans! Companies exist to make your 'stay at home' holiday a real holiday.
Use Yellow Pages and the Internet to find help.
First - look up office cleaners and have the house professionally cleaned.
A team will come in and wash down walls, clean windows, scrub the kitchen and bathroom, and even clean the carpets (but watch cleaning fluids).
Once the home sparkles, ask the local catering college if their students would cook dinner, for a fee.
Many relish the challenge of cooking tempting food for cancer patients.
You could book a personal trainer for you and the kids.
Today trainers can provide lots of things to do which are also healthy, so the kids have fun and you get exercise the doctors advise.
Ask at your local Tourist Information Centre, or look up Regional Tourist Boards on the Internet, and find out what is happening in your area.
You would be surprised what fun you can have, without spending a fortune in a Theme Park.
Try Sheepdog Trials - these are local gatherings where people have fun for a tiny entrance fee.
Or the local Village or Church Fete - these days there is surprising professionalism around to give you a fun day out.
Your local Library often has themed evening readings, where you meet neighbours with something to say.
If you live in a town or city with museums, look up their websites and discover the incredible courses and lectures they offer.
No longer are these just for dreary old fogies; they are surprisingly interesting, and often the lecturers are chosen because they have a sense of humour as well.
Learning about Tudor bathtimes (kids love this) we were fascinated visiting Mary Arden's cottage at Stratford-on-Avon.
We landed up here because, frankly, the other Shakespeare properties had massive queues - poor old Mary was only his mother, so the hordes of Japanese and Americans weren't interested.
But we soon found we had picked a winner.
Because this property rather loses out, the house guides have developed a unique way of telling social history.
The kids (and grown-ups) listened enthralled as our guide explained why Shakespeare left his second-best bed to his wife, how they all slept together in this bed - sexes mixed up until they became 'of an age'; why we talk about 'one over the eight', and what really captured everyone's attention was when the guide took us through the annual - yes, annual - bath.
My skin crawled when she described how even Queen Elizabeth wore a flea-trap around her neck (not surprising), and the only down-side if the kids can't think why we need to have a daily bath.
Local guides are often forgotten treasures.
Tourists appreciate them, but we tend to think that because we live here we don't need to be told about our history.
Well, our kids now look up in guide books to find out if stately homes have guided tours, if we go away we call in at the local tourist board to find out if there a guided walks - which are often free- and have no hesitation in asking the actors at medieval pageants what they would have done in their lives.
Fascinating snippets come out.
One of the joys of visiting one's own country is finding open roads.
Northumbrians call a delay a traffic jam if they have to wait more than a minute.
And the miles and miles of Northumbrian beach are gorgeous.
Luckily for us, the Scots and the British were pretty nasty to each other, which meant castles built along the border just waiting to be explored.
Reivers were infamous in the area, looting, pillaging and the odd rape.
If they had bad winter - no worries.
Just round up a few of your friends and high-tail it over the border to stock up - on cattle, sheep and the occasional woman - all free.
It's from these infamous bands we get the word bereaved.
Then if you still want something to occupy enquiring minds, what about smugglers? From spice in Cumbria to salt in Yorkshire - that was another industry that kept country people well occupied.
Today I am sure their descendants sit in Government and local ministries - else where would they get their crazy ideas to tax us? So enjoy Britain - there's lots out there.