Do you know how to use vacation days wisely and maximize your paid time off days?
If the answer is no, you’re not alone.
Most people don’t even use the PTO days they’re given, let alone know how to spend vacation days wisely. And when I ask my co-workers why they don’t use up their vacation, they can never give me an answer.
But in the past 4 years Julien & I have traveled to over 20 countries – using only 15 vacation days per year. We’ve road-tripped through Italy, experienced Oktoberfest in Munich, and had so many epic experiences.
How is that possible?
Well here are 10 ways we make make the most out of our vacation time, even while working full time jobs!
- Pick the best times to fly
- Plan vacation time in advance
- Take advantage of long weekends
- Make use of your floating holiday
- Take epic local trips
- Ask for a flexible schedule
- Travel on holidays
- Volunteer for business trips
- Ask to work remote
- Negotiate comp time
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Tips for Maximizing Vacation Time
Some of the ways I’ve listed below involve doing your own research – things like looking for flights and making a trip planning checklist – easy right?
But a few of the ways to maximize your paid time off involve discussing things with your boss and negotiating for special circumstances – sounds hard I know (but I promise it isn’t!)
So here are a few things to keep in mind that have helped me to do this in the past – even when the company I worked for just wasn’t that flexible:
- Go above and beyond – no one will grant you special treatment if they don’t appreciate all your hard work
- It doesn’t hurt to be nice to the boss – use networking to your advantage
- The more valuable you are to the team, the more flexible people will be with you
Keep these things in mind while you read through this list – the trick is to make yourself as valuable as possible at work and avoid travel mistakes!
Ok let’s dive in!
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1) Pick the best times to fly
No one wants to sit on a plane for 6 hours in the middle of the day, losing valuable vacation hours in exchange for airplane pretzels.
That’s why we always take either night time flights, or early morning flights.
Let me explain.
When we travel abroad: we usually fly out at around 9 pm. We take a shower and eat before we get to the airport, so by the time we get on the plane all there is to do is sleep.
8-10 hours later we wake up overseas and ready to start exploring.
No jetlag, no airplane pretzels, and no wasted vacation hours!
When we travel in the country: believe it or not, these flights are my least favorite.
Since they’re shorter, it doesn’t make sense to travel at night.
Instead, we usually wake up early and travel before the day even starts- and I’m sooo not a morning person!
If you’re like me then you probably not excited to wake up at shoot-me-o’clock, but at least that way, we get to where were going without the travel time eating into our vacation hours.
And if you’re really adventurous, you can even take the red-eye and head back into work as soon as your plane lands, giving you extra time on your vacation!
2) Plan your vacation time in advance
I’m sure you’ve heard that booking flights early saves money.
But did you know it also makes for some epic vacations? Here’s how (and if you totally nerd out on travel planning then you’re going to love this!)
At the end of the year my company always sends out the holiday schedule for next year – you know, the only email you’re actually excited to get 😛
Well as soon as I get mine (and Julien gets his) we sit down and see where exactly we can “spend” our vacation time.
**I recommend converting your PTO days into hours instead – half days are very valuable for those inconvenient mid-day flights**
Then divide up the time you have around any vacations you’re planning to take throughout the year – until you have 0 hours left. And it doesn’t have to be set in stone, it’s just a rough draft that you can always tweak later.
Here’s a finished example of mine from a previous year – with my notes in blue 🙂
Holiday Calendar 2016 – 15 Vacation Days (120 hours)
- Friday – Jan 1st – New Year’s Day
- Monday – Jan 18 – Martin Luther King Day
- Friday – Mar 25 – Spring Holiday
- Monday – May 30 – Memorial Day
- Monday -July 4 – Independence Day
- Monday – Sept 5 – Labor Day
- Friday – Nov 11 – Veteran’s Day
- Thursday – Nov 24 – Thanksgiving Day
- Friday – Nov 25 – Day after Thanksgiving
- Sunday – Dec 25 – Christmas Day (Observed on Mon Dec 26)
- Saturday – Dec 31 – New Year’s Eve (Observed on Fri Dec 30)
The trick here is to use your vacation days in combination with some of the other strategies on this list. And you can choose to spend all your hours, or save some for miscellaneous items (like taking the kids to the dentist, etc)
You can see that in 2016 we traveled to 10 new places and had 4 vacations total. Not too bad for the first year at my new job!
3) take advantage of long weekends
Did you notice that all of the holidays on my 2016 holiday list fall on either a Monday or a Friday? Pretty perfect if you ask me.
That means that the best way to extend a vacation is to plan your trip around a holiday weekend.
You can have a “free” 3 day vacation or use some vacation days and get extra time for a longer trip. This is the one tip we try to use every time we travel!
LONG WEEKEND + LOCAL TRAVEL = HOW TO USE VACATION DAYS WISELY
4) Make use of your floating holiday
Hopefully you work for a company that has a “floating holiday” like mine does. Which basically means that you get to choose when to use it, just like an extra vacation day.
This usually happens when one of the regular holidays falls on a weekend, and they can’t close the office on the following Monday.
If you’re unsure if you have this, check your vacation time policy since sometimes they don’t include it in your regular vacation days!
5) Take epic local trips
A perfect way to get more vacations in is to travel locally.
That could mean to a different city, another part of the state, or across the country.
But we’ve had some amazing “vacations” in our own state – and didn’t have to take off extra time to travel back and forth.
If you’re in the United States you can search on OnlyInYourState.com and if you’re in another country a great way to find local things to do is to look up the tourism board website. Or even use Instagram! It’s definitely one of the best travel apps for planning a trip!
I use this a lot when I’m planning a vacation and it’s so helpful for finding unique activities!
6) Ask for a flexible schedule
I know my boss won’t let me have every Friday off – no matter how much I beg.
But she might let me work 2 hours extra Monday – Thursday and take that Friday off.
They get me for 40 hours a week, and I get an extra day of travel.
Sounds like a great plan to me – and one I’ve definitely used in the past!
7) Travel on the holidays
Did’t we already cover this one? 😉
Not quite.
If you really can’t swing the vacation around a major holiday, traveling on the actual holiday itself can be a great way to sneak in an extra trip.
If you notice on that same 2016 Holiday List, I get Thanksgiving Day off – and the day after. By traveling on Thanksgiving Day (possibly at night after all the Turkey has been carved) I get to take advantage of the next day and the weekend.
That gives me 3 full days of vacation!
8) Volunteer for business trips
Sounds pretty self-explanatory, right?
That’s because this is super simple.
Instead of coming back right after the conference/meeting/etc.
Ask to book your return flight on a later date – then all you have to manage is the extra days of hotel and you get a free vacation.
And if you don’t normally go on business trips, maybe there’s a conference you can benefit from – in another city *wink, wink*
Now all you have to do is present it to your boss and mention all the benefits of attending that conference!
9) Ask to work remote
I’m not talking full-time here, just once in a while.
Is there some work you can finish up by logging in remote? Possibly while you’re waiting for your flight to take off 😉
Or maybe you can log in remote for a day while you’re on vacation, but still have the night to go out and explore.
The possibilities are endless!
10) Negotiate comp time
OK this one is probably the hardest to get on this whole list.
But I can tell you it’s possible, because I’ve negotiated my way into some comp time in the past!
This is where the hard work PLUS the networking comes into play.
For example: there is an ongoing project at work that I was volunteered for – you know, because I work super hard and I’m the best person for the job 😛
But it is strictly volunteer – no additional compensation.
Since it added to my workload, I asked if they would be willing to reduce the number of other projects I get.
BIG FAT NO.
But here’s the silver lining – that gave me some negotiating power.
I immediately bounced back and asked my boss if there was anything she could do instead.
“Like what?” she asked.
And that’s how I got some comped time whenever I work on that project 😀
So what do you think of these suggestions? Are the wheels in your head turning with ideas to maximize your paid time off?
Let’s recap – here’s how I’ve maximized my own vacation time, hopefully you can do the same!
- Pick the best times to fly
- Plan vacation time in advance
- Take advantage of long weekends
- Make use of your floating holiday
- Take epic local trips
- Ask for a flexible schedule
- Travel on holidays
- Volunteer for business trips
- Ask to work remote
- Negotiate comp time
And for extra some extra travel planning goods, get access to the free travel resource library! It will help you maximize your paid time off and it only takes 5 seconds to get access!
Happy travels!
– Veronica
You deserve to travel more!
Travel planning is hard. But it doesn’t have to be. Get access to our free travel resource library to start crossing things off your bucket list!
IT ONLY TAKES 5 SECONDS!
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