See The World
Seek Adventure Travel Happy
A quick glance through travel posts and you'll find an endless list of suggestions on how to make travel more affordable. Take advantage of air miles, only pack a carry-on, couch surf....etc. There really are amazing ways to make travel very affordable and to work it into your budget if that's what you're passionate about.
What I find is more difficult than budgeting money for a trip is budgeting time for it. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. This article on America's War on Vacation shows the startling difference between the vacation time that American workers get compared to other developed nations in the world. The average American has 8.1 vacation days per year after their first year on the job. Compare this to France (the global leader in vacation days) who has 30 required vacation days a year. What is even more startling is that despite the very few days we get as Americans, there are 175 million unused vacation days in a typical year! That's 479,452 YEARS worth of vacation days.
Why do we not take the little time that we do get? The reasons are probably endless, from busy family schedules, to the fear of taking time off impacting your ability to get that big promotion/project/raise, to just being so busy that you haven't taken the time to actually plan a vacation.
What makes these numbers even more depressing is the number of people who work while they are on vacation. 77 percent of people in a recent poll said that they worked while on vacation. I'll admit it, I'm terrible about this. I work on vacation, on weekends, in the middle of the night. I can't tell you how many times Pat said "are you working?" while we were in Aruba...what's wrong with me?!
To add on to this, many vacation policies stop accruing days or wipe out to zero at the end of the year or when you reach your max. Which means, you're essentially losing out on a huge benefit.
So, I want to issue a challenge. Take a look at how many unused vacation days you have and start planning. If you only earn a few days a year, and are thinking to yourself "I don't actually earn enough days to take a real vacation", there are plenty of strategies to make the most of it.
Time is a luxury, don't waste it, and no matter where you go, don't forget to travel happy!
XO, Skeeter
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Skeeter
Hi there! I'm Skeeter. I grew up moving a lot and that makes me a bit restless for travel and exploration. I started this blog with my husband Pat when we decided to backpack New Zealand for a year. We are always looking for the next adventure and are loving life. We're just your average couple with two sassy dogs and a love for travel. We're sharing our travels and the tips we pick up along the way. LIZHello! I'm Liz. Blogging is very new to me, but I'm so excited to finally write as much as I talk! Archives
December 2016
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