How to Maximize Vacation Time With Limited Paid Time Off
Have a ton of trips mapped out in your head for the year but have limited PTO? Get ready to turn on your out of office message! Here are a couple tips on how I make the most out of my vacation time to travel more.
Add days to extend a holiday weekend
This is my go-to trip style. Tack on 2-3 days to a holiday weekend. Here’s an example: if you have Monday off, check flights for a Wed-Mon trip or Fri-Tues trip. Play around with the combinations until you get the cheapest deal. By doing this over the year you can easily turn 15 days of vacation time into 30 days!
Tip: Be sure to book in advance to avoid high prices and leftover flights, which usually have crappy flight times and no good seats left.
Make sure to check with your HR department and see what holidays you get off in the year. See the full list of the 10 federal holidays recognized in the U.S. Keep in mind that your job may or may not participate in all, but this is a starting point.
Don’t be scared of travelling during the holidays! Yes, airports tend to be busier than normal travel days but you get more time off this way. Also, if you travel on the holiday itself, it is actually much quieter since people like to be in their destination on said holiday.
Book flights bearing in mind time zone differences
Book flights so you technically spend less time in the air and more time exploring your destination.
When travelling east, you lose time so take advantage of a redeye flight. For overseas travel, book an overnight flight so you sleep while you travel and land refreshed and ready to explore during the day. Same goes for west to east coast travel in the states. Want to spend every minute of that four-day weekend in Vegas but need to get back to work on Monday morning? Book an overnight flight on Sunday, sleep on the plane, and land ready to start the work day on Monday morning.
When travelling west, you gain time so you will spend the entire day flying, however, you technically go back in time so when you land you gain time back. For example, if you’re flying from Europe to New York (an estimated 6hr time difference and let’s say an 8hr flight) and your flight leaves at 1pm Europe time (8am NY time) but you land at 4pm NY time (4pm Europe time). Still confused? Use this super easy time zone converter.
Tip: Set your phone to automatically change time when switching time zones, do not get caught slipping and miss a scheduled plan, or even worse - a flight, due to time confusion.
Plan your sick time
Did you know you can plan sick days? *cough cough*
If your allotted sick days are separate from your paid time off, then take advantage and use those too. If you have a scheduled “doctor’s appointment” that might take the entire day - you can plan to use a sick day. Make your “appointment” for a Friday or Monday and enjoy a quick weekend getaway. Be sure to save some sick time for actual sick days, though. Oh and make sure to block your colleagues on the social media platforms. ;)
Click here to learn more about New York’s sick leave laws.
Extend business trips
If you travel for work, then you’re in for a treat! Tack on an extra day or two to prolong your trip, or go to a nearby destination while you’re in the area. I recommend adding it to the end of your business trip so you can really relax.
The plus side to extending a business trip is your company will pay for the business travel portion and all you have to worry about about is paying for your vacation part of the trip.
Here’s an example: If you’re travelling to London for work on Mon-Thu, it’s assumed that your job will be paying your round trip flights to/from London. But before booking the flights, request that following Friday and Monday off so you technically have a four-day weekend after your business trip.
If you decide to stay in the same city, book your roundtrip fares with your return flight going home on that Monday. Check with your job before doing this. As long as the prices are the same, I don’t see why they would say no. If the prices are different they can pay your flight over and you pay your flight back out of pocket. In any case, it’s cheaper than paying a full round trip fare.
If you’re looking to visit another city, then pay for your transportation to the nearby city. Let’s say, you want to go to Paris after your trip in London, book your flight into London and your flight out of Paris to go home. Again, check with your job to see if they’re ok with this. If not, pay for the transportation from London to Paris and your return flight from Paris to home.
All in all, you end up taking advantage of the fact that you’re already in another destination and hopefully of the fact that your company has your flights covered.
Ask about working remotely
Talk to your manager about working remotely for a couple days while you’re in your travel destination. Be flexible and offer to work in their time zone hours while you’re away. Here’s an example: Fly to your destination after work on a Thursday, Work remotely that Friday, then have the weekend plus Mon-Tues off. The benefit here is that although you worked Friday, you’re already on your trip and can enjoy yourself after you finish work.
Work from another office
Does your company have multiple offices? Ask to work from another office for a day or two so you can at least enjoy your trip after work and during the weekend. This is especially valuable when your company has international offices, so you can get a headstart on the trip.
Take unpaid time off
The last resort. If you’re ok with taking time off and not getting paid for it, talk to your HR department on the logistics of how this would work. There’s no risk on their end and as long as you have money saved for the trip (and your bills) then you should be set!
