How to Stretch Your Vacation Days and Travel More

How to Stretch Your Vacation Days

Americans are often referred to as a workaholic culture that does not use their PTO. According to Forbes, 47% of employees didn’t use all of their vacation days in 2018 and 21% lost more than five vacation days. In total, approximately 768 million US vacation days were unused in 2018.

I have always struggled with finding a good work-life balance. There’s never enough time to accomplish all I need to do and I rarely get around to the things I want to do. In the past, that meant I did not take a vacation. I didn’t have time to plan a trip, didn’t believe I could actually not be at work without something bad happening, and didn’t have friends who were available to take leave either. Vacation days acted as an additional savings account, just in case something bad happened at my job. I would take a day off here and there, but only if it was ‘use or lose’ time. I did not leave the area and I took work-related calls. Interestingly, I don’t have the type of job that requires my employer to call me while I’m on leave.   

Then I got ‘bit by the travel bug’ and travel became a priority. Did you know the United States has no statutory number of vacation days given to citizens each year? It is up to the employer. The average American earns 10 vacation days after one year of employment and 14 days after five years of employment. Austria, France, and Finland are given 25 days. Cubans get 22 days and Russians earn between 24-42. AUE and Bahrain give employees 30. Kuwait gets 35. Combine that with weekends and holidays and those people are set to see the world.

Once travel became a priority in my life, I needed to learn how to stretch my vacation days so I could travel more. Now, I travel as often as I can. My co-workers, even a supervisor here and there, often ask me how many vacation days I have. I don’t allow it to make me feel guilty and I do not take calls from work when I’m not in the office anymore. I work hard, I earn my leave and I am strategic about how I use it so I can travel more. It is possible to have a full-time career and travel the world. Here’s how.

10 tips to travel more when you work 9-5

1. Monitor your vacation days

You don’t have that many of them, treat them like gold and do not waste them. Don’t blow your precious vacation days on Netflix, video games, errands, or sleep. There are a million reasons to avoid going to work. Go anyway. Save that day off for a trip. Start managing your time differently. Do everything you can online. Get in the habit of doing one life management task on your way home from work each day. If that repair person can only come during business hours, be the first appointment or the last appointment. Do not waste a vacation day on plumbing!

Guard your sick leave too. You never know when something unexpected will happen. Once sick leave is gone, vacation leave is docked. A horrifying thought. Be sure to record doctor and dentist appointments as sick leave and schedule the first or last appointment. Do not take a vacation day to pack and return to work the day after the return flight. I will take a 13-hour flight, land at LAX at 6pm, get through customs and drive home arriving around 9:30pm, be hungry, jetlagged, fussy, and go to work the next day. If my body shuts down and says ‘Nope, not happening’, I use a sick day.

Many companies view vacation and sick leave as personal days and are not strict about their use. My current manager is not one of those people. If yours is not either, be sure to check in on social media after your return flight to avoid being questioned. No need to anger the person who approves your time off. This leads to #2

2. Work hard so you can play hard

Do your job. Be ahead of deadlines. Avoid needing to be reminded about anything. Do something extra every now and then. If you are known as someone who gets their work done, your employer won’t be concerned about how much leave you to take. Do not complain about how much work piled up while you were away. Work hard to play hard. Volunteer to do after-hours activities and bank the overtime as comp time to be used later as part of your vacation. 3 hours of comp time is enough to leave work in time to catch an evening flight and save one vacation day. If you are lucky enough to work for an organization that offers bonuses from time to time, make it known you prefer PTO.

Read: Travel Packing Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

3. Plan your vacations for the entire year in December

Create a list of long weekend trips and extended vacations you want to take. Print out the next year’s calendar and highlight all the holidays at the beginning of each year. Holidays are free days off. American holidays usually fall on a Monday and rarely overlap with international holidays. This is a good time to go overseas and avoid the crowds. Does your employer give you Summer Fridays? Highlight them. Do you have an alternative schedule of nine-hour days with every other Friday off, highlight those Fridays.

Now analyze. Whenever a Friday off and Monday holiday are back to back, add a vacation day to either end creating a five-day trip for one day of PTO. If the holiday Monday is at the beginning of the week and Friday off is at the end of the week, add T-W-Th as vacation days creating a nine-day trip for three vacation days. Depending on how the pay period ends, switch the next Friday off and take the following week off as well. This creates a 16 day trip for seven vacation days.

Turn in the leave slips for the year right away. Be the first to ask and receive approval for the time off. Keep copies of each leave request attached to the master calendar and create a sticky note tallying the leave balance.  This system allows one international trip, several domestic trips, and a few weekend getaways. Start plugging in your dream destinations and set airfare alerts. Working hard is easier with something to look forward to.

Read: How to Plan Your Travel Calendar

4. Always travel over a weekend

If you travel Monday through Friday, you use 5 vacation days. Traveling Thursday through Tuesday uses only 3 vacation days. If you travel Friday through the next Sunday you get 10 days away for 5 vacation days. As already stated, holidays are free days off, be sure to add a holiday whenever possible.

If you have a flexible shift schedule, plan your schedule with two weekends in a row off. For example, work Monday through Friday, with Saturday – Sunday off. Start the next week with Monday – Tuesday off and work Wednesday through Sunday. You now have a four-day vacation and did not use any vacation days.

5. Travel solo

Do not wait for friends or family to think about if they want to travel. I have missed a lot of great trips trying to negotiate schedules, budgets, destinations, and travel styles.  Traveling solo is scary the first time, it’s amazing once you gain confidence. You get to do what you want to do, eat when you want to eat, and not be concerned about if the other person is having fun. I have traveled solo to Iceland, Stockholm, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Prague, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and many places across the United States. I have never had communication problems in Europe and transportation is simple. Give it a try!

Don’t get me wrong, creating travel memories with friends and family is great when it works out. Try a different approach. Plan the trip, book the flight, and post the plans on Facebook, don’t include dates for safety reasons. Wait to see if anyone says they want to tag along. After having to share a bed on a couple of occasions,  I suggest booking a single accommodation through Hotels.com with the option of canceling in the future. If a friend asks you to join them on a weekend trip, say yes. There is rarely the perfect time or an abundance of money for travel. Say yes and figure out who will take care of the cat later.

6. Plan your flight wisely and buy time

Fly nonstop whenever possible. Sure, it might be more expensive but you are buying time. Four hours sitting around an airport is not worth a hundred dollars when you could have your toes in the sand sipping a pina colada in Aruba. Fly to the destination the night before a weekend getaway. Yes, you will pay for an extra night in the hotel but you will have the entire next day to explore. Even if you take the earliest flight out on the first day of your trip, you will only have half the day remaining in your destination. Be sure to book the latest return fight too.

Take an overnight flight when traveling to Europe. One regular strength of Dramamine with a glass of wine helps with sleep. On arrival, check into the hotel, explore somewhere close by, eat an early dinner, and go to bed early. Follow the destination’s schedule starting the next day.  Returning from Europe is difficult because most flights leave in the morning.

You have 10 days of PTO a year. Only 10 days. Is that 30-hour flight worth it? Jetlag is no joke. Is there a nonstop flight? How will you feel once you arrive? Will you need a day to recuperate? That cuts two days off your vacation, and what about when you return? How many days will it take for you to be able to function? Is there something closer to home that will give you a similar experience?  

Read: How to Survive Long Flights

7. Timing is everything

Travel in the late Spring. The days are longer in the United States and Europe, and it’s shoulder season so the prices are better. Win-win. More daylight means more time to explore. Get up early and get going. If you sleep in and leave the hotel at noon you have lost 4-5 hours of daylight. Getting an early start also means fewer crowds, the tour buses haven’t arrived yet, and better photos. If you travel to Prague with someone who wants to sleep in and relax, you won’t be able to explore as much of the city. That person is someone you want to take a Caribbean vacation with, not a trip to Europe. 

Read: Travel Photography

8. Take staycations and weekend breaks

Have you had a couple rough weeks and want to get away but don’t want to use vacation hours? Take an overnight trip. Brainstorm a few fun places within a couple hours of your home. I live in Southern California and have many overnight options. I can go up to the mountains for a weekend at Big Bear or take the ferry to Catalina Island. Go wine tasting in Temecula Valley or Santa Ynez. Head out to Palm Springs or Anza Borrego Desert. What do you have nearby? 

Take weekend trips. Be sure to leave after work on Friday and return late Sunday night. Head over to Google Flights and put your city in the where from search, leave where to empty. Indicate the dates you want to travel and mark nonstop. This search will give you many ideas for quick weekend trips. I can go to Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland Oregon, San Francisco, Phoenix, and more in about one hour. You can do a lot in two days. Not everything, but a lot. I would rather visit a city briefly than never visit at all. That leads to #9.

9. Plan long trips wisely

Do your research. You have limited time, decide what you want to see, do, and eat before you arrive. Do not waste your vacation hours sitting in a hotel room planning your day. Group things together by location. Know your route, do not spend time backtracking. Google Maps allow you to pin attractions with photos and notes and works as a GPS while you are out and about. Book your day trips and attractions before you arrive with Get Your Guide or Viator. Plan ahead, nothing is worse than needing just one more day at a destination and not having it. If you have a friend who likes to wing it, travel with them to National Parks or the mountains. Not a big city with lots of attractions you want to experience.

International flights stink. Especially if you live on the US West Coast. They are long, expensive, and suck up vacation time. They need to be planned wisely. For example, you have 16 days to spend in Europe.  A common route is Berlin > Prague > Krakow > Budapest > Vienna > Salzburg > Innsbruck > Munich.  There are a few castles and day trips you would like to take. How will you split up the time? Are two days in Prague enough? Should you skip Krakow? What about transportation between cities? Is this even possible? Traveling planning is stressful and you have to make tough decisions.

Finding the time to plan your trip is difficult too, I understand that. It is the entire purpose of this blog. Check out my city break itineraries and city bucket lists for help.

10. Add a few days onto a work trip

Do you travel to conferences for work? Do research before arrival. Know what is nearby, how to get around, attractions, and what day museums are open late. Also, research the best rooftop bars and restaurants. Be ready to plug in whatever, whenever the opportunity arises. Conferences usually start midweek and end on a Friday with Saturday as a travel day. Extend the trip through the weekend with Monday as the travel day. Enjoy two full days to explore and pay only the cost of the hotel.

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