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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to maximize your vacation days

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Speaker 1: if you'd like to travel more. Different organizations obviously give

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Speaker 1: different amounts of paid time off. Different countries have different

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Speaker 1: traditions in this regard to and if you live somewhere

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Speaker 1: where everyone takes all of August off, you can just

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Speaker 1: ignore the rest of this episode. Join me again tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: In the US, at least where I live, the widely

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Speaker 1: reported figure is that people with five years on a

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Speaker 1: job tend to get about fifteen days of paid vacation.

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Speaker 1: That's three workweeks, but a lot of workplaces that aren't

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Speaker 1: in vital public services also closed on the major holidays

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Speaker 1: such as Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and so forth. People

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Speaker 1: often talk about wanting to travel more. When I ask

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Speaker 1: people what they'd like to spend more time doing, that's

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Speaker 1: one of the most popular answers. We put various international

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Speaker 1: destinations on our bucket lists, but even people who might

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Speaker 1: be able to swing such trips financially often think these

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Speaker 1: will need to happen during retirement because it's really challenging

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Speaker 1: to travel far if you have limited vacation days, but

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Speaker 1: I don't think this has to be the case. The

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Speaker 1: key is to be proactive about your vacation scheduling. To

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Speaker 1: stack vacation days with existing office closures and holidays. Then

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Speaker 1: you can do quite a bit of traveling while limiting

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Speaker 1: the vacation cost. So for instance, this year, America's Independence Day,

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Speaker 1: the fourth of July, is on a Thursday. Bowing to reality,

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Speaker 1: a number of workplaces will close on Friday the fifth

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Speaker 1: as well, But that means that if you were taking

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Speaker 1: July first, second, and third as vacation days, you could

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Speaker 1: theoretically fly somewhere on the evening of Friday June and

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Speaker 1: have that weekend, the whole next week, and the weekends

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Speaker 1: of July six and seven off for the of three

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Speaker 1: vacation days. That's a nine day trip, which is definitely

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Speaker 1: enough time to fly to a country you've been hoping

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Speaker 1: to visit in Europe or South America if you're not

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Speaker 1: beholding to school schedules. Thanksgiving week is also good for this.

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Speaker 1: Many US workplaces will close on Thursday November for Thanksgiving,

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Speaker 1: of course, and then also stay closed on Friday the

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Speaker 1: twenty nine. So by taking off in the evening of Friday, November,

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Speaker 1: being gone that week, and then the weekend of November

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Speaker 1: December one, you could likewise get a nine day trip

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Speaker 1: for three vacation days. When Christmas falls in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the week and it's on Wednesday this year, this

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Speaker 1: can be a prime spot too. If your office closes

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Speaker 1: December and then closes on January one, you could theoretically

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Speaker 1: leave on Friday December, travel the entire next week, and

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Speaker 1: then come back on Wednesday, January one. This is a

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Speaker 1: twelve day trip for the price of five vacation days,

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Speaker 1: enough to really take a trip to Asia or Africa

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Speaker 1: or Pacific Island if you wanted to. Even long weekends

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Speaker 1: can be good for stacking. If you get President's Day

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Speaker 1: off in February, for instance, you could take off Thursday night,

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Speaker 1: enjoy Friday, Saturday, and Sunday visiting somewhere in the US, Canada,

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Speaker 1: Mexico or the Caribbean, and then come back Monday evening.

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Speaker 1: That's enough to fit in a reasonable adventure for the

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Speaker 1: price of just one vacation day. The key, of course,

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Speaker 1: is planning ahead, because you probably won't be the only

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Speaker 1: person in your office. Who wants one of these stackable

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Speaker 1: holiday weeks. But here's the thing, it's not a mystery

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Speaker 1: when future holidays will occur. You can look at future

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Speaker 1: calendars into the year or later if you want so.

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Speaker 1: These dates are definitely known for and so forth. If

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Speaker 1: you look ahead and put in your request whenever your

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Speaker 1: office vacation system opens up, then you're far more likely

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Speaker 1: to have first DIBs on these days if you want

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Speaker 1: them now. Maybe don't take all the holidays as a

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Speaker 1: favor to your colleagues, but if you know now that

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Speaker 1: you'll be taking a nine day European vacation in summer,

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Speaker 1: you can start patting that vacation fund and anticipating your adventure,

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Speaker 1: and that can make all the time before summer more pleasant.

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Speaker 1: So take some time now to strategize with your family

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Speaker 1: and the calendar. What great trips will you plan in

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Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E.

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Speaker 1: The number four then Breakfast p o D. You can

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Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at

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Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters they so much should, I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I

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Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H