Overexposed destinations

Summer has just begun and I am already tired of hearing about some vacation destinations – the ones tied to big summer events, or trends.

Here’s my list of the most overhyped and overexposed places of the summer of 2008:

Beijing: The world comes to one of the most populous and least freedom-loving countries on the planet. Between the protests about Tibet and the police swarms on Tiananmen Square, there will be a respite when the greatest runners, swimmers, gymnasts and javelin throwers get their once-every-four-years moment of glory packed between baseball’s All-Star Game and the opening of the NFL season.

But this is one country that probably doesn’t need the post-Olympics tourism bump. China is expected to be the No. 1 tourist destination in the world by midcentury.

Denver: The looooong race to pick a Democratic nominee luckily ended before the donkey delegates arrive in the Mile High City for their national convention Aug. 25-28 at the Pepsi Center. The Dems should take time out to tour the LoDo district of warehouses and bookstores, and the gun lobby will love the firearms collections and game (no elephant) served at The Buckhorn Exchange.

Minneapolis: President Bush’s ratings may be at an all-time low, but the Republicans are hoping for resurgence at their national convention Sept. 1-4. Though modern Minneapolis gets first billing, the convention will actually occur across the river in St. Paul. That’s OK with me – I prefer the town that was home to F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose namesake theater is the headquarters of the radio show “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Washington, D.C.: Congress leaves town just as the tourists start flocking in. Maybe they realize that 100 degrees with sopping humidity doesn’t make for a lot of fun – especially when you are on one of those forced marches from monument to monument, all of which seem to be in treeless plazas surrounding by glaring white marble. Instead, visit in April when the cherry trees are blossoming. The politicians know that summer is only for amateurs.

Yankee Stadium: The House That Ruth Built and Steinbrenner Renovated Badly closes at the end of the year, and a new Yankee Stadium (higher ticket prices, more luxury boxes) opens across the way in the Bronx in New York.

A 1970s makeover took away some of the old charm, giving it a less authentic feeling than Boston’s Fenway Park or Chicago’s Wrigley Field. But if you can endure the summer heat and overwhelming hotel prices in New York, check it out before it goes away.

As for Shea Stadium, home to the Mets, that is also closing: Don’t bother; it’s a dump. A dump with a lot of great baseball memories, but a dump nonetheless.

Your home: Every few years a cutesy new vacation term dreamed up by some marketing types starts making the rounds. There were “babymoons” (a trip just before having a baby) and “oblications” (those mandatory trips to see the relatives). There are “mancations” – where guys go off to blast birds or just drink a lot.

This year the term I became tired of in, oh, late March is “staycation,” a combination of “stay” and “vacation.” The idea is that you don’t go anywhere this summer because of high gas prices, high airfares and recession worries.

The Washington Post even came up with a version where you tell people you are leaving town, then hide in your house: a “fakation.”

It’s true that fewer people are planning a trip of over 75 miles this summer, according to a survey by national leisure marketing firm Y Partnership. But most people still realize that the term “vacation” has at its root the word “vacate” – as in leave, blow town, get away.

Here’s my advice: If you were planning a two-week vacation, make it 10 days. If you were planning a week, make it five days. Go three-star instead of four-star. Eat only one meal a day in a restaurant, using markets and bakeries for lunch.

There are lots of ways to enjoy summer without boring yourself to death at home. I have dubbed these with trendy new names: “a short vacation” and “a budget vacation.”