How to Maximize Your Travels While Working Full-Time
I am always asked questions about how I am able to travel as often as I do with a full-time job. Questions like, “How many vacation days do you have?”, or “You’re always going somewhere, I need a job like yours” are phrases I am all too familiar hearing. These questions come from a genuine place. It’s often hard for people to envision themselves taking one vacation a year let alone 3-4 that I like to do (sometimes more). See my post on How you can travel more in 2019 where I lay out tips and tricks to increase your travel. Keep in mind that vacations do not need to be lavish or international to count as a memorable vacation. There are plenty of “Getaway” spots right here in the US that you can take advantage of (think Vegas, Florida, Texas) to name a few. All you need is some creativity and flexibility. Below are some of my tips for how you can maximize your travels while working full-time.
Maximize Company Holidays
Most companies have at least 6-10 scheduled days off per year that coincide with national holidays. Maximize your vacation days by booking vacations around these already scheduled day off. That’s one less day you have to take off from work! I have also been known to take the occasional sick day (cough, cough), for either reaching or returning from a vacation. After-all, sick days should be used to help with your mental health as well so for me, it counts!
Piggyback off of Work Trips
If you are lucky enough to have a job that allows you to travel a couple times a year for conferences or meetings, take advantage of that by adding on an extra day or two either at the beginning or end of the work trip for some exploring. And the best part?!, most companies will pay for that extra day or two for travel convenience purposes. For example, if the conference starts on a Monday, you can arrive either Saturday evening or Sunday morning to have some time to get settled and explore. Ask your company what their policy is on work trips. You may be able to add a few days or a full week vacation to a work trip and have your flight home paid for by work (usually departing from the same city that you landed in) or even from your destination (only cool jobs do this as they have to get you home anyway). This works great if let’s say you travel for a 3-day conference to Miami and decide to finish out the week (4 days) in Jamaica, W.I., which is only an 1hr40m flight from Miami to Montego Bay. You would pay for your roundtrip flights to Jamaica from Miami and your return home from Miami would be covered by your job since the purpose of you traveling to Miami was for a conference (Mind=Blown). It’s a win win.
Weekend Getaways
We all love those three-day, sometimes four-day weekends (think President’s Day, MLK Day, Memorial Day etc.). Long weekends are great for road trips or even short getaways with flights 2-3 hours long to a new state or even a new country (think the Caribbean if you are on the East Coast). Contrary to popular belief, traveling during long holiday weekends are not always expensive. If booked early enough in advance, you can score a really good deal. Some sites like Expedia will also have last-minute deals if you book within 7 days of departure. This requires some flexibility on the destination so keep an open mind!
I hope you find these tips useful for putting your vacation days to good use. Do you have tips for maximizing travel while working full-time? Leave a comment down below 👇🏾. I’d love to hear from you!
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