Travel Talk 2¢: How do you spend and save your annual vacation days?
 

((I)) <b>According to an online survey that Expedia sponsored last summer, Americans receive the fewest vacation days on average per year, earning only 14 days, compared to 24 days in Great Britain, 26 days in Germany, 30 days in Spain, and 36 days in France. </b>

I posted a similar thread in the U.S. forum but I thought that folks in the Europe forum might have another perspective. The same survey also found that 35% of Americans don't take all of their vacation time.

Do you take all of your vacation? Do you like to take it piecemeal--a day here, a day there--or do you take a few larger blocks of time off? What are your plans for '08?

The similar thread on the U.S. forum is here:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35104857

I get 30 paid days plus holidays because of time at my company. In 2007 I spent 10 days in Italy and some days home during the holidays but carried over 76 hours that I could not take. Work schedule it too hectic and we don't have the funds to keep us traveling that number of days.

I am Canadian, get 25 days per year and have no trouble using them all. In recent years I have only used them in one or two week blocks for major trips. For 2008 the only trip booked is Venezuela next month.

Interesting. I live in the U.S. and also get 25 days a year plus holidays. In 2007, we took roughly three weeks off to visit Spain, a week in Boston/Cape Cod, and another week in Florida. I never take vacations that are less than five to six days long. And I have never worked between Christmas and New Years (ever :) ) which is very special given we have two little kids. For 08, the only plan we have so far is a week long vacation in DC but I will be able to tell you more in December :)

I'm retired and get 365 days a year!!

But when I was working for the first few years at the last job I had, I got 14 days after 1 year, after 5 years, 21 days...but I could purchase additional days. Before I joined the &quot;corporate world&quot; and worked for independents , I could take as much time as I wanted but I only got paid for 2 weeks.Again , I was not the primary wage earner, and my DH was an executive so got 3 weeks for starters and then 4 weeks after 5 years!And even more that he could purchase. Gues those guys aren't as important as they like to think they are!!!!

I'm not currently working, but my husband gets 30 days of paid time off per year because he has worked for the same company for over 5 years. For years 1-5, he got 25 days of PTO. Any vacation, holidays, sick days, whatever, all comes out of the same PTO bucket (pretty typical of PTO systems, I think)

We don't use all of his vacation. He is paid hourly and sometimes manages to get 40 hours in during a 4-day workweek (say the 4th of July was during the week) and doesn't have to take any time off for that holiday. In any case, we usually end up carrying over a week or two of vacation. We like saving it up and taking it in big chunks. He takes off for the usual holidays + around a week and a half at Christmas + whatever vacation we have planned. In 2007, we spent a month in Europe. In Sept of this year, he will be taking 3 weeks off for a Switzerland-Tuscany trip.

His company allows him to carry over 280 hours (7 weeks) of PTO from year to year, so we were able to build up a &quot;slush fund&quot; of vacation with the leftovers from several years prior and that allowed us to plan for these 7 weeks' worth of Europe trips in 2007-08 and still have plenty leftover PTO for holidays and our annual Christmas trip to see my family. It also helps that he has a great immune system and almost never gets sick.

I work part-time, on an hourly basis, so (assuming the demands of the job are met) I can theoretically take as much time off as I want. DH is in a group practice, and seems to have as much vacation time as we ever need. But we've always taken the maximum time off that we can, for travel.

Usually one longer trip (the last couple of years, always to Europe), around 2 weeks long, one shorter trip that's usually combined with a yearly meeting of DH's (in the U.S.). And long weekends scattered here and there.

Have earned 21 paid vacation days + 2 PH days due to years of service and use them all! Company policy will not allow us to either borrow, sell or carry over days. One block of about 10 days (incorporated with a holiday to save a vacation day) in late May-early June to explore Europe. Another week in August to relax and enjoy the Finger Lakes in Upstate NY, with the remaining days used sporadically to shorten a work week, enjoy a girls weekend or just veg out. My husband is able to carry over hours from year to year, so he actually have more days off than I do, but he'll use a day here and there for various 'honey do' projects around the house.

36 days in France - wow!

I received 25 days for both sick/vacation when I worked at KPMG, a &quot;Big 4&quot; public accounting firm. I also worked 500-700 hours of unpaid overtime...
Shortly after my 25th birthday, I made the switch from public accounting to working for a publicly traded company in the SEC reporting group. I now receive 16 days of vacation and an additional 7.5 sick/personal days. The company is pretty strict about those 7.5 days in that they are not to be used for vacation but my boss is fairly lenient. My husband receives 20 days of vacation a year, plus the week of Christmas off. We are ages 28 and 34 respectively.

If we take 1 trip to Europe in a year, we normally go for about 3 weeks and don't combine the trip over any work holidays. If we go on 2 trips in a year, we cut the &quot;big trip&quot; to about 2.5 weeks and then we do a shorter 9-10 day trip for the second trip and make it happen over either Thanksgiving or Christmas where there are some work holidays so I don't have to take vacation.

I think we have it better than most people in our age groups here in the USA. We also both work for companies who give us an extra few days for having Masters degrees. Personally, neither of us think the extra degree gives us any real merit toward more vacation but the policies aren't decided by the accountants.

I have 28 vacation days each year. I usually take a 3 week trip to Europe each year and then another week to week and half trip to either Europe or to someplace in the US. Other than a day or so around the holidays, I do not usually take vacation days outside of trips. My job necessitates that I travel in the Spring. This year Spain in April!

Hi,
I get 15 days vacation, 5 sick days per year and the usual holidays. I usually take 2 weeks at a time each year and we go to Europe and the other 5 for things that come up or to visit family in New England and Texas.

Paul

my company gives us a measly .67 days of vacation per month, which works out to 8 days per year, plus we get an annual &quot;personal day&quot;- whoopdee doo! 9 vacation days!

and it's a non-profit. :(

that said, i prefer to save up my vacation time for weeklong trips, but of course there's the occasional day off here or there to extend a weekend to go home for a holiday, a wedding, or a funeral.

I have been with my current company for 5 years so I now have 3 weeks vacation. I always use it all.

I usually take 1 1/2 weeks in Europe (for skiing &amp; sight-seeing)and 1 week in the US for skiing.

Then there is a day or two left which I usually take at Christmas.

Oh, yeah, vacation plans for 2008 - One week of skiing in Whistler, Canada happened at the beginning of the month.

In Feb DH &amp; I go to Paris for one week.

For the third week I probably to visit my Dad (he lives a few states away) in the fall.

Here in the UK I get 25 days holiday, plus the statutory bank holidays. 3 days of the leave must be taken between Christmas and New Year, which, when added to bank holidays, give us a week off over that period when the company more or less closes down.

I normaly take a 2 week holiday in the summer and a week off spring and autumn and go away as much as time and finances allow. We are allowed to carry over 5 days holiday, if we have any left in December, which must be taken before the following May, or lost. I never have any left at the end of the year! Sickness leave is an entirely separate issue from holiday leave in the UK

Switzerland:
My husband has 25 days vacation a year. The kids are off school 6 weeks in summer, 2 weeks in October, 1 1/2 weeks Christmas, 1 week February, 2 weeks May.

We have an average income.

We try to travel two weeks a year on the average (split up) and spend the rest doing day trips from home.

My husband would rather stay in Switzerland and I'd rather travel abroad and save Switzerland for the weekends.

We do a lot of skiing which is quite expensive with a family. We do a lot of hiking which is very inexpensive since we bring our own picnics.

The Swiss usually take all of their vacation time and don't understand people who don't.

My DH gets about 4 weeks vacation a year plus sick and personal days.
He usually carries some time over. Since he is in sales, he can't take big blocks of time off at one time. This year, we are going to Europe for 15 days. This is the longest block he has taken since our honeymooon 20 years ago? wow that is pathetic. I would have liked to stretch the trip to 3 weeks, but fflyer tickets came up and fit his work schedule perfect. So I can't complain :)
He usually takes a week off at Christmas to be home. We also ski and he takes long weekends to do that.
In the last 5 years, we have taken two separate weeks away each year. One usually is Caribbean and the other a city in the US or an east coast Ocean week.
Over the next five years, I hope to spend more time traveling the globe with the kids (they are teens). Then they will be gone to college. These are the best years to take them globetrotting!

I get 20 PTO days off a year. I like to do 2 week vacations and a day here or there and I have to save a few days until the end of the year in case I get sick. They are not carried over so I get paid for them if I don't use them.
Have not decided on this years trip yet.

31 PTO days.. I rarely get sick, so it's all for ME, and I use it all. I do not understand people who don't use their vacation time.

Typical allocation:
1-2 Europe trips, 10-15 work days total
2-3 Texas (family) trips, 10 work days
3-4 long weekends, 3-4 work days
3-5 'carryover' days, in case something unexpected comes up
- that leaves a couple extra days for whatever

I get 26 days pto and carried over some for a total of 45. I prefer to carry over as many as I can (19 is the max). DH gets a few less than me.
This year we will take a week for Paris w/o the kids, 2 weeks together for a family beach vacation in July and then another week w/ my entire family in the OBX in August. If my schedule allows, I will most likely take one more week in June to go away w/ a bunch of other moms and their kids right after school gets out.
I don't take many individual days but do take off the day of my children's b'day to have a special day w/ them. Looks like I won't be carrying over many this year!!