When it comes to the North American PTO (paid time off) situation, we are definitely lacking in the length of time companies are required to give employees for annual leave. Where I live, the minimum that can be given to a new employee is 2 weeks (sometimes given as 4% of their earnings…another sly way of not giving actual time off) and has to be increased to 3 weeks after 8 years (yes, EIGHT). I am a little bit more fortunate in my situation as I got 3 weeks from the start but my husband is German and 15 days is very little compared to what he is used to!
Given my immense love for travel, I have found a few creative ways to still take 3-4 trips per year, and here are my top 5 ways to get the absolute most out of a paltry PTO situation!
Disclaimer* Most of these situations do assume you work in an industry that recognizes a 9-5ish day with most holiday’s off. If you are a doctor, police officer, or any number of other professions that would not be granted this schedule this will likely not help you. I’m sorry.
- Piggyback your trips off of long weekends
One of the easiest ones to take advantage of is to book vacations that fall during a holiday. I often use Remembrance Day (Memorial Day), Easter, Thanksgiving, or even New Year’s Eve as a great time to travel because I can have that day off without using my time off.
One drawback for me personally is that as an accountant the busiest time of the month for me is the first week of every month, which so many holidays tend to fall in.
- Take red eye flights
As I get older, I find red eye flights harder and harder to recover from, as I am not a great plane sleeper. But the benefit of taking a red eye is you can work the day you leave for your trip, and you don’t have travel time eating into your waking hours. This maximizes time for adventure and minimizes a day you would need to take off work.
When we fly to Europe, the best flight for us to get there is with Condor direct from Halifax to Frankfurt, which has us leaving after a full work day, and arriving early so we have the full day to enjoy!
- Negotiate a few WFH (work from holiday!) days
This one takes a bit more effort, because you need to iron out the details with your employer. But, since a lot of companies have now realized people are able to work from home, why not ask to work while travelling?
For a trip I am taking in the fall I was able to get approval to work from a different destination for 2 days. I usually work from home for 2 days per week, so what is the difference to them if I am in a different country? The two things you do need to take into consideration for this are:
- the time difference, can you be available during your normal working hours at home in your destination’s time zone?
- checking with your IT department that you will have access to programs and files that could be on a server and locked out to foreign countries.
- Explore your own backyard
Taking shorter trips close to home is a great way to maximize your vacation time, and also remember that just because it’s easy to get to doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out!
I’m on the East Coast of Canada, and we frequently take short trips to the North East USA, in fact in the last year we have been to New York, Boston, Maine, and New Hampshire, and we are going to Washington DC next week! Because we can either drive, or take a short flight, it’s easy to go and experience a lot in 2-3 nights which only requires 1-2 days off. Couple this with Tip #1 and you don’t need to take any time off!
- Work on a holiday and move a day off in lieu
This is another one that will require you to negotiate with your boss, but asking to work on a holiday and take a different day off is a great way to make your time work for you. There may be some holiday’s where that might seem weird, for example no boss will believe you’ll be actually working on Christmas if you celebrate that! One I like to use for this is Canada Day, especially if it falls in the middle of the week. Thanksgiving also works, we just have our meal on Sunday, and our province’s Civic Day in August. I just work the holiday day, and it’s usually nice and quiet so I get a lot done, and then take an extra day off when it’s more convenient for me – like when I’m trying to stay in Europe for 2 weeks with 7 vacation days left!
