Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about how to maximize your vacation days if
Speaker 1: you'd like to travel more. Different organizations obviously give different
Speaker 1: amounts of paid time off. Different countries have different traditions
Speaker 1: in this regard too, And if you live somewhere where
Speaker 1: everyone takes all of August off, you can just ignore
Speaker 1: the rest of this episode. Join me again tomorrow. In
Speaker 1: the US, at least where I live, the widely reported
Speaker 1: figure is that people with five years on a job
Speaker 1: tend to get about fifteen days of paid vacation. That's
Speaker 1: three work weeks. But a lot of workplaces that aren't
Speaker 1: in vital public services also close on the major holidays
Speaker 1: such as Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and so forth. People
Speaker 1: often talk about wanting to travel more. When I ask
Speaker 1: people what they'd like to spend more time doing, that's
Speaker 1: one of the most popular answers. We put various international
Speaker 1: destinations on our bucket lists, but even people who might
Speaker 1: be able to swing such trips financially often think these
Speaker 1: will need to happen during retirement because it's really challenging
Speaker 1: to travel far if you have limited vacation days, but
Speaker 1: I don't think this has to be the case. The
Speaker 1: key is to be proactive about your vacation scheduling. To
Speaker 1: stack vacation days with existing office closures and holidays. Then
Speaker 1: you can do quite a bit of traveling while limiting
Speaker 1: the vacation cost. So for instance, this year, America's Independence Day,
Speaker 1: the fourth of July, is on a Thursday. Bowing to reality,
Speaker 1: a number of workplaces will close on Friday the fifth
Speaker 1: as well, But that means that if you were taking
Speaker 1: July first, second, and third as vacation days, you could
Speaker 1: theoretically fly somewhere on the evening of Friday, June twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: and have that weekend, the whole next week, and the
Speaker 1: weekend of July sixth and seventh off for the of
Speaker 1: three vacation days. That's a nine day trip, which is
Speaker 1: definitely enough time to fly to a country you've been
Speaker 1: hoping to visit in Europe or South America if you're
Speaker 1: not beholden to school schedules. Thanksgiving week is also good
Speaker 1: for this. Many US workplaces will close on Thursday, November
Speaker 1: twenty eighth for Thanksgiving of course, and then also stay
Speaker 1: closed on Friday the twenty ninth. So by taking off
Speaker 1: in the evening of Friday, November twenty second, being gone
Speaker 1: that week, and then the weekend of November thirtieth and
Speaker 1: December first, you could likewise get a nine day trip
Speaker 1: for three vacation days. When Christmas falls in the middle
Speaker 1: of the week and it's on Wednesday this year, this
Speaker 1: can be a prime spot too. If your office closes
Speaker 1: December twenty fourth and twenty fifth, and then closes on
Speaker 1: January first, you could theoretically leave on Friday, December twentieth,
Speaker 1: travel the entire next week, and then come back on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: January first. This is a twelve day trip for the
Speaker 1: price of five vacation days, enough to really take a
Speaker 1: trip to Asia or Africa or Pacific Island if you
Speaker 1: wanted to. Even long weekends can be good for stacking.
Speaker 1: If you get President's Day off in February, for instance,
Speaker 1: you could take off Thursday night, enjoy Friday, Saturday and
Speaker 1: Sunday visiting somewhere in the US, Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean,
Speaker 1: and then come back Monday evening. That's enough to fit
Speaker 1: in a reasonable adventure for the price of just one
Speaker 1: vacation day. The key, of course, is planning ahead, because
Speaker 1: you probably won't be the only person in your office
Speaker 1: who wants one of these stackable holiday weeks. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing, it's not a mystery when future holidays will occur.
Speaker 1: You can look at future calendars into the year twenty
Speaker 1: one hundred or later if you want so. These dates
Speaker 1: are definitely known for twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, and
Speaker 1: so forth. If you look ahead and put in your
Speaker 1: request whenever your office vacation system opens up, then you're
Speaker 1: far more likely to have first DIBs on these days
Speaker 1: if you want them now. Maybe don't take all the
Speaker 1: holidays as a favor to your colleagues, but if you
Speaker 1: know now that you'll be taking a nine day European
Speaker 1: vacation in summer twenty twenty, you can start patting that
Speaker 1: vacation fund and anticipating your adventure, and that can make
Speaker 1: all the time before summer twenty twenty more pleasant. So
Speaker 1: take some time now to strategize with your family and
Speaker 1: the calendar. What great trips will you plan in the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At iHeartMedia dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
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