4 ways to travel more and maximize your limited vacation days from work

If you’re anything like us, you’re probably sitting there looking for more ways to travel. Let’s be honest, North Americans don’t exactly have the best reputation when it comes to getting and using their vacation days from work. The legal standard here in Canada is 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS a year. Imagine?

Luckily, after building up our careers and having generous employers we have 3 weeks and 4 weeks respectively. Still, when it comes to taking time off, is anything ever enough? It’s so hard to travel with so few days. The worst part is, life happens and sometimes you have to take those hard-earned vacation days for something other than travel.

Ben and I have spent the last several years finding ways to travel more and really use our vacation days to the max. No day goes unused or used unwisely. How do we do it? Commitment and a lot of planning.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I generally have my vacation planned and booked (or at least booked mentally) before the year has even started. I can tell you where we’re planning on going basically 2 years from now. When you only have a limited number of vacation days, it’s important to figure ways to travel more and how to get the best ‘bang for your buck.

| Use Civic Holidays | 

It may seem like an obvious one but it’s definitely one of the most important if you’re looking for ways to travel more. Civic, or bank, holidays are basically free days. If you’re working full-time, you’ll be getting paid and you won’t have to use any of your actual vacation days.

Depending on the person, many prefer not to use Civic holidays when they travel because it can be expensive, or they don’t want to miss out on the holiday at home. This can work to your advantage.

Sit down and do the math for the flights or hotels that are slightly more expensive during the holiday. Does the extra money outweigh what you make in a day? Is it worth it for you to spend a little extra to get that additional day? It’s not always going to be and that’s okay but with so many holiday days to choose from, you’re bound to find one or two. That’s the one benefit of living in Ontario, we get 12 civic holidays in a year. Imagine the potential.

| Grab that free stopover | 

If you plan on travelling a bit farther afield, utilizing free stopovers is a great way to travel more without having to use more vacation days. Way back when I visited Indonesia for the first-time, I opted in for a layover in Hong Kong. Not only did I get to visit a new country but it also helped me to overcome my jetlag.

There can also be some great deals with stopovers if you search long enough. Not interested in spending hours pouring over the computer? Companies like AirWander do the work for you. It’s such a cool tool that let’s you search for flights purposefully with stopovers. You can also specify how many hours you want to stay in the city or country. We’re definitely using this for our next trip!

| Take that red-eye | 

If you plan on travelling any further than a couple of hours, I would always recommend taking red-eye flights. I would more so recommend this on your way out rather than on the way home.

Whenever we fly to England, we always take the night flight so we arrive in the morning. I’ll admit it’s not the most fun because I never sleep on planes and then we have a full day of activities but it really helps us to overcome jet lag really quickly. We find it just wastes so much time travelling during the day because you have to take into account, getting to the airport, getting through security and then the time spent once you land getting out of the airport.

| Use your weekends |

Even if you don’t plan on going away on a civic holiday than you must use your weekends. Again, this is a bit more of an expensive way to travel but leaving on a Friday and coming back on a Sunday gives you another 4 days. It would be silly to give that up. Plus, travelling over the weekends is a great way to experience how a city comes to life.

At the very least, you can start using weekends as getaways. There are a lot of places you can go from home if you just commit to it. This is something we’ve started doing in the past couple years and it makes those long months between trips so much more manageable!

| Tack onto business trips |

If you’re lucky enough to travel for work, why not ask for an extra day or two in the city? While travelling for business often sounds great, most of the time you’re not going to get the chance to actually see the destination you’re in. Instead, you’re probably set inside a conference or meeting room all day. Take advantage!

Asking your employer to extend your trip will not only will the flights likely be free but you will use far less days. The only hope is that you get to go somewhere cool, otherwise, what’s the point!  If you plan on doing this, make sure to talk to your employer in advance and ensure it’s okay with them. If you can, try using an airline that offers free stopovers as well.

So what ways to travel more will you be using this year?