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What do you do for a living & how much vacation/holiday time do you get?

What do you do for a living & how much vacation/holiday time do you get?

Old May 7th, 2001, 12:52 PM
  #1  
Danny
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What do you do for a living & how much vacation/holiday time do you get?

I have been a quiet observer for the most part on this board for a few months now..., however, after reading many of the posts it seems like many of the people here travel more than once or twice a year. I work in marketing and make what I thought was good money. However, I get two weeks vacation per year. I get the basic U.S. holidays off, and I have a week of sick time. It is frowned upon to take your sick time as vacation time. And most of the time I have too much work to even think about getting away for two weeks at once.

What do everyone here do for a living, and how much vacation/holiday time do you get?
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 01:23 PM
  #2  
Marie
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52 weeks a year -- ah, the joys of retirement. Only problem is, our travel budget is a bit limited.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 01:44 PM
  #3  
Rachel
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17 days off, and I usually take a few more unpaid. I'm an accountant (luckily no longer a public accountant, so I can actually take those all of my vacation). I'm taking a month off for my next vacation.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 02:03 PM
  #4  
Beth
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Secretary/personal assistant - four weeks (been here 10 years) and have more accrued from years I didn't take it all. Headed for Paris and surroundings in late July!
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 02:09 PM
  #5  
Steve
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I'm an attorney in private practice in the U.S. We do not get vacation time and are very limited in holidays (we work a half day on Christmas Eve) There are people who take vacations however. My firm requires each attorney to "bill" 2400 hours/year. You can do it however and whenever you want. for instance last year I only worked on average 55 hrs/week, I took an extra day off at christmas, new year's eve off, the friday after Thanksgiving, and I only went to Mexico for a long weekend (Thursday-Sunday. I barely made my 2400 hrs. this year I plan on taking at least 1 maybe 2 weeks of vaction therefore I am working no less thn 65 hrs/week to still make my 2400 hrs/year. it appears all firms in my area are like this. I for one would take a heuge reduction in salary happily for more vacation but it simply is not allowed!
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 02:12 PM
  #6  
alan
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IU'm in the mental health field. I get 26 paid days off. This includes all sick time, 6 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays. I earn a decent salary in a stressful position. My wife works for a major airline, gets 4 weeks vacation plus some holidays, but that is the reason that we are able to travel. Our combined income is middle-class and we don't live extravagently. We save our money for vacations and usually find relatively inexpensive hotels etc.
alan
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 02:52 PM
  #7  
scigirl
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I'm a psychologist in the Army. I get 30 days of leave a year. I can bank up to 60 days to take at one time. (Arranging my work situation to be able to be away that long is another story.) At my next 'civilian' job I plan to negotiate for at least 30 days of vacation time a year - preferably more, or the option to take unpaid leave. I find it very helpful for my own 'mental health' to have regular time away from work.

We travel on a pretty tight budget - partly because our income is not huge, school loans, we are saving for a house, and finally because we tend to be fairly frugal.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 02:56 PM
  #8  
Cindy
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I am self-employed, basically practicing law on an as-needed basis. I can take as much vacation time as I want, any time I want, but when I don't work, I don't get paid. It's a laid back kind of practice -- people just announce when they'll be taking a vacation, and others work around it.

Because I work from home, I have a second job, which is raising the kids. I never get a vacation from that.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:04 PM
  #9  
Laura
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I teach 7th and 8th grade English and summer school. That leaves 2 weeks to travel. This year I'm skipping summer school and going to Europe for the first time for the entire month of June! Yea!!!!
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:12 PM
  #10  
Kathy Winters
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I'm a staff registered nurse and have worked at the same hospital for almost 26 years. At our hospital after 11 years are completed vacation time maxes out at 5 weeks vacation and 10 "other" days for PTO time accumulated related to holidays healthcare professionals are required to work. My husband is a firefighter and has almost equivalent time off. A perk at his job is "swap time." Because they are on salary they are able to work for each other with no overtime incurred. Someone can work for you today and you can repay the favor this week or well into the future. The biggest perk to both our jobs is that when we return to work we do not have a desk load of work that we need to catch up with. We can really enjoy our time off and almost not mind returning to work. We are budget travellers and because of that we are able to travel 5-6 times a year. So far this year we have been to the Dominican Republic for a week and to Paris for 5 nights. The DR trip was an all inclusive with airfare on American and cost only $783 per person. The five nights in Paris cost $480 per person for air and hotel. We also have at least three other big trips planned for the remainder of the year. Travel is a top priority for both of us. Working in fields where we see how quickly life can take a turn has made this very real for both of us. We have been to India and I can't imagine taking that type of trip after the usual retirement age.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:17 PM
  #11  
Art
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I'm an information systems architect, I design systems and databases. I get 3 weeks a year(negotiated when interviewing). I make decent money but a good portion goes to pay off the debts that my ex left behind. I travel frugally except for air fare.

 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:19 PM
  #12  
wendy
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I work in international travel, food and wine. I only get 2 weeks of vacation, never take a lunch, add up the hours and get comp days for them. Not much.

However, with the travel for work, I don't feel stranded on a desert island hearing 'only 2 weeks vacation'...but it does make me long for a 'real' vacation stranded on a desert island with no work to do!
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:34 PM
  #13  
kam
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I do part time college admissions work so the summer is very slow for me. I work from home and generally have another chunk of down time at Christmas. Unfortunately, my busy times are September/October and April/May--great travel times. My husband is a lawyer with a firm that has meetings around the world. We can usually find a way to tack a trip onto one of his meetings and I can usually manipulate my schedule to follow.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:35 PM
  #14  
Prue
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We are farmers and live in rural Australia. Because of the distances we have to travel to reach most destinations we tend to take a 4-6 week vacation to make it worthwhile. We are able to make a trip about every second year, which is wonderful, and will be travelling to America, Canada, England and Egypt in September.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 03:42 PM
  #15  
erin anglewitz
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i am an excotic dancer and give myself about 30 days off a year ( i am the owner of the club. sometimes i take more it just depends. by the way i live in the seattle area and i need new dancers. starting salary in 40,000 a year not including tips. but we go up to about 70,000 a yr. just post it on this post.
erin
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 05:14 PM
  #16  
Joanna White
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I am Executive Assistant for a towage (as in tugboats) and salvage company based in Sydney.

We get 4 weeks of leave per year but can accrue it if we wish to take a long break. Plus, after 12 years service (this month!) I have accrued approx. 2 1/2 months long service leave. Also, we get 9-10 public holidays per year.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 05:24 PM
  #17  
ldsant
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I'm a computer systems trainer. I get 4 weeks of vacation per year - usually 5 weeks since I don't take sicktime. I find that I can also negotiate some paid time off as well. I make OK money, but am not a wealthy person at all. I travel on long weekends as well as for long periods of time. I am single and don't have kids and absolutely do not lead a lavish lifestyle - just about all extra $$ goes towards my retirement fund and travel fund. Ask my friends about my clothing - they'll tell you - I'm not exactly wearing the most trendy clothes out there!

The downside? I work in the software industry - have been laid off 3 times in 3 years. The upside? Gives me more time to travel!
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 05:37 PM
  #18  
wendy
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Idsant-

Good point!

Even if I made more money, the extra would still go to the those priorities, retirement and travel.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 05:58 PM
  #19  
StCirq
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I run an editorial services and translation company, have for 24 years. Now that the internet is here and I can receive and return jobs by e-mail, I take at least 6 weeks a year of "time away from the office," which is not "vacation time," but rather time that I'm somewhere other than sitting in my office. Wherever I am, I'm plugged into my office on the laptop, though I usually manage to arrange at least two weeks a year when even that isn't necessary. Most of the companies and organizations I work with are international or involved in international work, so I tend to work with other people who travel ALL the time - they are obviously more understanding of how things work "on the road." By contrast, my husband is an attorney who gets three weeks a year, and it is commonly frowned upon that he takes all three at once to be in France with us in summertime. Doesn't stop him, though. He also takes unpaid vacation time for a couple of shorter US trips almost every year. The way I look at it, the more travel time, the healthier we all are, given what we do when we're not traveling.
 
Old May 7th, 2001, 06:25 PM
  #20  
glamgirl
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I am so thankful to have 4 weeks vacation/year (a very rare occurance in the States, considering that was the starting point from my first day at this job...one year ago).

I work in marketing, and luckily, work for a great boss who believes in his team taking EVERY SINGLE DAY of those 4 weeks...Life is good gg.
 

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