The No-Vacation Nation?

[danwismar]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/23/va ... tml?hpt=C2

Americans don't vacation like the rest of the developed world, we're told. As a rule, Americans work harder...longer hours, less time off, etc.

So...how much vacation do you get? Do you continue to work (from home, or from someplace else) while you're supposedly on vacation?

Do you take your whole vacation at one time? Does your employer insist that you break it up? (Some insist that you take at least a week of it at one time rather than take, say 5 Fridays off, or whatever.)

Do you travel? Where would you go if you had more time?

Anyone have a cool trip planned for this summer?

[Ziner]

I was prepared to turn down a job recently that offered me a pretty substantial salary increase because their HR said it only had 2 weeks vacation. Between floating time I get for various reasons I run about 4 weeks right now with the bank. I had a discussion with hiring manager to ensure that there would be no issues with me continuing 3-4 weeks vacation at a minimum even though HR said it is two. Vacation is much more important to me than salary, at least to a point.

When I am on vacation I will do things that are essential, but I am certainly not a compulsive email checker. People can get a hold of me if need be.

I take my vacation when and how I want. No restrictions.

I am planning on taking rather large trips in the upcoming years since my wife has the child bug. I told her no child until we travel. Places on my list include Greece, Germany, South Africa, New Zealand and Chile. Probably won't hit them all, but that is the goal. Also really enjoy taking long weekend trips, but frankly since I moved to Colorado most of them have included taking more time to ski.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

I have 6 effin weeks sitting there. I'll use 10 days of it when I go to Oktoberfest, my boss has asked me to use some of them on fridays, but I like keeping them because my work has to buy them back if they're not used, So I end up getting a nice bonus check about the end of January.

I also have copious amounts of sick/personal days. But I don't get paid for those I have left. I don't really use them unless i'm really sick or have a family emergency.

I try to take one nice vacation a year, just to clear my head and get away from the piles of morons in this country.

[swerb]

Im w CDT. Get 5 weeks. Last year left 2 weeks on the table ... but do not get reimbursed for them.

Between bank holidays and the 5-6 times a year I travel for work, and the fact I do everything in my power not to ever work on the weekends ... taking 25 additional days off is just too much.

Like to generally take one week long vacation a year to recharge the batteries. And 3-4 three day weekend roadies doing something fun with the kids.

[Squints]

To me there is nothing better than a paid vacation. "I'm getting paid to sit on a beach." We acrue a set number of PTO hours a pay period depending if we work above a certain amount of hours during that period and on seniority. There is no cap.

We take at least one week vacation/year as a family. It's mostly been beach vacations- picking a different spot along the Atlantic- and Disney World (just there over Easter) since kids. My wife and I will try to get away for 3-4 days in the summer as well.

To each his own, but I always shake my head at those at work who claim they'll be "on vacation" next week. I ask where they are going, they say "Nowhere, just staying at home." Well, then you are just not working for a week. To me, a vacation is getting on a plane or your car and seeing a different part of the world besides your own back yard. But, that is just me.

[Spin]

Vacation hell. I'd like to be able to call off without being threatened, cussed out, and accused of having a "problem" (apparently 2 call offs in 6 months is a big indicator of a drug or alcohol problem).

"Vacation? Vacation? You're talking about vacation? You kidding me?"

[Larvell Blanks]

We earn ours thru out the year and as of right now I'm standing at 9.5 days vacation and adding. Won't use them all as I used up 2 weeks when our 2nd child was born back in Jan. We don't lose ours at the end of the year but we can only roll over 10 days. Anything above that gets lost. We also receive one personal day per qtr, plus govt holidays. Will probably use days this year for a few long weekends to take the boys to some different things but it'll still be difficult to use them all as I work a flex schedule and can move my day off to accomidate a long weekend.

Probably won't do a big family vacation until next year when the youngest will be walking and able to enjoy more along w/ his brother.

[mitch]

I get four weeks PTO per year, which normally ends up being just vacation time as I tend to not miss but one or two days a year from being sick...and most of the times that I'm not feeling good enough to go into the office, I work from home that day to avoid burning PTO.

My wife and I are at the point where we have to get away at least twice a year to someplace...relatively easy to do now that the kids are out of the house. Caribbean cruise last November, New Orleans trip in March, and then in September we're heading to Scotland for a week. Hell, we already have next year's Big Trip planned: an Alaska cruise.

I do take my iPhone with me, but it's more just a case of keeping up with what's going on so I'm not blindsided by anything when I get back. I'll never accept teleconfernce meetings while I'm out, and I rarely respond to anyone's email other than to say "check with so-and-so, because I can't get to that this week".

[exiledbuckeye]

I accrue one vacation day per month, and one sick day. No personal time. No big vacations planned because I haven't had a raise in four years.

Damn, it pays to be a state government employee.

[mistero]

Get 7 weeks vacation. I am able to "sell" 2 weeks back to cover some of my health coverage. I usually only take 1 week off and all the required holidays. I can't stand being off for more than 3 days. I actually like the routine of going to work. I go stir crazy sitting at home. Don't have the budget to go anywhere on vacation right now. Sell the remaining time off in January for 70 cents on the dollar.

[motherscratcher]

I accrue one vacation day per month, and one sick day. No personal time. No big vacations planned because I haven't had a raise in four years.

Damn, it pays to be a state government employee.

Wait, I have it on good authority that state government workers all live in mansions. And don't actually ever have to do anything. Are you telling me my information is inaccurate?

[motherscratcher]

I get 2 weeks paid every year, but that pay is way less than I would make if I actually was working. I usually take a week in the summer to follow the sun and the beach.

The last couple years I've also used a week to just stay home and relax a bit and get some shit done. I highly recommend it.

Other than that, I don't think I have a set amount of sick time or days I can take off. I've never been told I couldn't have a day off that I wanted off. But, I rarely ask.

[FUDU]

I'd kill for more time off, get 3 weeks but one of them is predetermined. I love 3 day weekends as I do not go on trips that require a week off at a time very often. I would be a huge advocate for a 4 day 40 hour work week across the board.

[GodHatesClevelandSport]

Turns out Americans give up LOTS of their vacation time:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/25/pf/unus ... htm?hpt=T2

[mistero]

Related topic, who actually works 40 hours? I average 50-60 hrs per week. Love me some OT.

[JCoz]

Related topic, who actually works 40 hours? I average 50-60 hrs per week. Love me some OT.

LOL...I work salary. And 50 hours is pretty much a minimum, and I've got a 45 min commute one way.

I have 2 weeks a year, next year I will start getting 3 weeks off.

I'm just now starting to understand the importance of vacation as opposed to holiday trips home to see family.

But I find a week too long to be out. 5 days is probably the sweet spot, I take almost all my vacation days sandwiched around a weekend.

One bonus from my perspective is that it isn't policed very well, so half the time I just fill out my time card as if I was there.

But the last 5 years I've done very little outside the trips back to Ohio or Michigan. One trip to Acapulco and one to the Bahammas. Both were too long and too expensive.

We have a couple smaller US trips for this year, Boston and Virgina, was going to do Colorado for the Best festival but that will have to wait till next year I guess.

[Commodore Perry]

I'm self employed so a day off means less money made. I went 2 straight years without a vacation, and it burnt me out. I've been averaging just 1 week a year the last few, but I think this year I'm going to bump it up to 2 full weeks off.

To me its the longer work weeks that are the issue. 50-60 hours is common for a lot of people, and I'm not sure in the long run, you're best served spending that much time with work.

[furls]

Related topic, who actually works 40 hours? I average 50-60 hrs per week. Love me some OT.

While attached to USS MIAMI I normally worked about 100 hours per week when in port (~40% of the time) and continuously when at sea. At sea an officer typically works the ship is on an 18 hour day and I would typically sleep for about 4 of them while working the other 14. During that time (32months), I earned ~80 paid vacation days and took 21 of them and averaged about 5 calls per day while on "vacation."

Now I am still earning the same amount of vacation days, I have a shot at using them and I feel like a thief on the 1st and 15th of every month when I get paid after working a mere 40 hours. I forgot how "normal" people live. Believe it or not, I am having A LOT of problems adapting to my life with all this time. What do people do when they get home from work at 5pm? What do you do with the rest of the evening?