pnestor

I posted a thread asking people how well they know there own countries. It turned out to be a very interesting eye opener.

It got me thinking, many of the posters talked of spending what seemed like an apreciable amount of time travelling. On this forum we all come from different countries with different holiday entitlements and as it is a forum centered around travel and vacation can I pose the question -

How many days holiday/vacation do you get a year?

And of the time you get how many days/weeks do you take together?

To start the ball rolling in Ireland the average holiday entitlement is 20 days a year. I get 25 after working in the same company for 7 years. I hear that in some European countries they get nearly 40 days a year on average, France being an example.

How many do you get, where you are????

strass

I live in the US and work for a university. I get 20 days of vacation a year: three weeks of vacation and five personal days. Plus holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and the day after, Fourth of July, etc.

The most I've ever taken together is two weeks. My vacation time makes up for my low pay (sigh). It's amazing how quickly you can use them up, though!

suze

U.S. depends on your company and the length of employment. My last job of 12 years I was up to 4 weeks paid and 2 weeks unpaid available. In my new job I had to start all over again... with a miserable 5 DAYS earned the first year of service. Both employers gave 7 paid holidays per year.

eric502

I have been with the same company for 30 years and get 5 weeks. Not that I can take all five at the same time. The most would be 2 weeks at a time.

If I came into work and said I was taking off a whole month I wouldn't have a job.

CarrieK

There was another post about this topic maybe a month ago with a couple hundred replies. Very interesting to read!!

Renee

Two weeks (20 days) now...next year three (25 days). One personal day and roughly 8-9 holidays.

chepar

Wow - some of you are lucky. I only get 10 days of vacation a year. Of course, I just started a little over a year ago, but I don't start receiving 15 days until I reach my 5 year anniversary.

However, a few months ago I took 3 weeks off to travel through Europe - one week was leave without pay, but I was able to take that much time off together. I plan to do it again in a couple of years - but hopefully will have accrued enough so that the entire trip is vacation time.

I have 13 paid holidays a year, though.

Mischka

DH gets 27 working days which makes 5.2 weeks, and can take them all in one go. He started with 15 days, added 5 after first 5 years, added 2 days for public holidays that were abolished by the government. Got another 5 days after 15 years service. We live in South Africa and this is normal vacation time.

PS: I stay home and plan the trips

LilyLace

Wish I had your job Mischka!

We live in Pennsylvania,United States.

I get 21 vacation days (14 years on the job), and 9 holidays. I travel alot for work and also get "compensation days for trips that take me away over weekends.

My husband gets 28 vacation days and 5 personal holidays. He works lots of weekends.

We try to take either one 2 week trip or two one week trips a year. The rest of the time we take short (2-3 day) driving trips. With my job, we also sometimes take advantage of the paid hotel room and hubby goes along.

l_jackson95814

I get the standard 2 weeks plus holidays that our clients take off. I am taking an additional month to travel without pay. Luckily my boss is a bit of a traveler, but I will have to "work" while away, check email...

offwego

I am an American Workaholic so technically I should be up to three weeks paid vacation since I have been at my company for 15 years.

BUT

Each time I have been approached about a raise I have instead negotiated for more vacation time so I am now up to 5 weeks.

2 weeks at a time is the preferred amount but I have gone for 3 weeks before.

I'm always afraid if I stay gone too long, they'll learn to live without me!

Daisy54

Where I work we get 2 weeks vacation up until 5 years of service, then we increase to 3 weeks. In a couple months I'll hit my 10th anniversary here and then I will get 4 weeks. (An incentive not to look elsewhere and have to start all over again with the paltry 2 week vacation.) We also get 3 paid floating holidays we can use whenever, in addtion to the regular holidays. We can carry over unused vacation from one year to the next up to 30 days worth, after that you must use it or lose it. The floating holidays can't carry over however, they must be used in the same calendar year or they're lost. The most time off we can take in one hunk of vacation is 3 weeks, which I did earlier this year to go to England and Scotland. So no more vacation time for me until 2005.

seaside1

We get 15 days but I almost never take that many. This year I am going all out and taking 12 days! That is because of my Italy trip. Last year, for example, was more normal for me - I took 5-6 days. I often plan my vacations around holiday weekends like Labor Day and Memorial Day.

Typically people in my office only take one full week off a year. They spread the rest out over long weekends, i.e like taking off on a Friday.

marcy_

Here' s the other thread on the same topic:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34519359

TexasAggie

I get 25 days a year plus the 8 major US holiday days off. I'm 24 years old, 2 years out of grad school and a tax accountant. One disclaimer - I work at least 65 hours a week (no overtime pay) for 4-6 months a year because of "tax season" so it isn't as much of a good deal as you would think.

lhopp

I've been with my company over 15 yrs and earn PTO (paid time off) each pay period, which is equivalent to 33 days per year (minus 6 for legal holidays = 27 days to use for vacation per year.) If you're out ill, you need to use PTO for that as well, but if you aren't, more vacation time.

Husband gets 20 days per year (not including holidays.)

We usually take one long trip per year (3 wks), but are going to try taking 2 shorter trips of 12 days each next year and see how that works out.

tcreath

I live/work in the US and have been with my company for almost 2 years. I get 25 vacation days now, but on my 2 year anniversary (December) it will be bumped up to 31. I also get every other Friday off, which is very nice, although I work long hours for the privilege!

At my last job, I got 3 weeks after beening there 3 years, plus 5 "sick" days. Needless to say, I feel very lucky to work for a place with such generous vacation time, although I'm sure its still not up to par with the amount of vacation time Europeans get!

tcreath

Forgot to add that I am 25 and currently in an administration job (and currently working on my bachelors).

Riffic

standard German employee allowance: 30 days/year regardless of age or seniority! And when I work a lot of extra hours, I'll just take a flex-day for no extra charge. This allows the wife and I to travel lots and spend a lot of time with the family back in the US over the holidays. Don't know how I'll ever re-adjust to US employment norms upon returning to the US someday....

RufusTFirefly

26 days a year--I work a good deal of comp time generally adding up to another another 2 or 3 days a month. The most I've ever taken at once is 4 weeks. Mrs. Fly hated it. Her limit is about 2 weeks on the road.