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Take it to the limit.
If you made it as far as Labor Day with some vacation time left in your measly annual allotment, count yourself lucky — you’re doing better than most Americans.
With employers still not required by Washington to provide US workers with any specific number of days to kick back and relax, many of us are forced to content ourselves with the ten days or so our employers often begrudgingly grant.
Stretching that out to last from spring breaks to summer vacations to year-end holiday visits can be a struggle — but experts say that there’s a built-in solution that can make the leisure time we do have stretch a whole lot further.
The savviest travelers, according to one pro, aren’t the ones who book ahead to save — they’re the ones who know how to work the away-from-their-desk angles.
“The smartest part of planning early is not simply securing flights,” said Claire Tobin, CEO of Wild Frontiers, a high-end adventure travel company. “It is looking at the calendar before using a single vacation day.”
A well-placed federal holiday, Tobin points out, turns even one paid day off into a four day weekend — four days off attached to a day like July 4th or Memorial Day, for example, and you’ve got yourself nine, or even ten days to play with.
And from the sound of it, we’re eager for our next trip — worldwide Google searches for “next federal holiday” are skyrocketing by 900% as summer comes to a close, the expert said.
According to Tobin, an American with 24 paid days off in 2027 (hey, you’re already doing great!) could easily pump up that number to 55 — giving them more time for the Caribbean, for the Mediterranean, a longer cruise or a romp around a European city or three.
- MLK Day: Jan. 18 + Jan. 19-22 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Presidents Day: Feb. 15 + Feb. 16-19 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Memorial Day: May 31 + Jun. 1-4 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Juneteenth: Jun. 18 + Jun. 14-17 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- July 4th: Jul. 5 (observed) + Jul. 6-9 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Labor Day: Sep. 6 + Sep. 7-10 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Columbus Day: Oct. 11 + Oct. 12-15 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Veterans Day: Nov. 11 + Nov. 8-10, 12 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Thanksgiving: Nov. 25 + Nov. 22-24, 26 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 9 days
- Christmas/New Year’s: Dec. 25 + Jan. 1 + Dec. 27-30 (4 days PTO) plus weekends = 10 days
- TOTAL: 55 days
And even those of us who get a maximum of 10 vacation days and a few begrudging personal and sick days can take advantage — maybe not 10 long trips a year level of advantage, but the system still works.
Of course, there’s a catch — other experts have previously warned that it can be considered poor workplace etiquette to game the system this way, especially multiple holidays in a row.
Assuming, that is, you like your colleagues — or your job — enough to care.
English (US)