America: the "no vacation nation" (relative to others)

[BeeR]

Link that prompted this here FYI:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/23/vacat...dex.html?hpt=C2

[Egret]

I put more than four weeks as I'm a teacher. Beyond the scheduled breaks, I get three personal days. My vacations are only when the kids are out of school.

[buddahj]

I get 3 weeks & have to take them or I lose them.

[bpwallace49]

I get three weeks . . . but normally only get 2 weeks.

 

But I make my own schedule most of the time, so it all works out.

[BeeR]

Didn't know how good I had it when I was in USAF and got 6/year.

[Trojanmojo]

I get 3 weeks & have to take them or I lose them.

 

Ditto this but starting next year I'll be getting 4 weeks and taking all of them.

[BeeR]

I should've added something like how often do you take more than 1 week at a time? More than 2? I bet it's pretty rare.

[Trojanmojo]

I should've added something like how often do you take more than 1 week at a time? More than 2? I bet it's pretty rare.

 

Almost never but sometimes I will around christmas. I usually take a week in the spring, 1 in late summer and 1 more around the holidays.

[SayItAintSoJoe]

I run my own business so I can take as much time off as I want except I don't get paid while I'm off. When I first starting working for myself this fact made it hard for me to take any time off, since it seemed to me like time off = losing money. Then after a couple of years into it I said to myself that each year I'm going to take 3 weeks off no matter what and that's that. It was a good decision.

[bushwacked]

I get three weeks . . . but normally only get 2 weeks.

 

But I make my own schedule most of the time, so it all works out.

 

Pretty much my spot on with my situation.

 

I should've added something like how often do you take more than 1 week at a time? More than 2? I bet it's pretty rare.

 

I've taken one 2 week , day to day consecutive vacation, with the company I've worked with for 11 years now. And put in work during the vacation.

[JoJoTheWebToedBoy]

After I hit 15 years I got 4 weeks, but I rarely take more then 7-10 days. I burn the rest o the days a coupl here or there.

 

When I retired from the AF I had built up 90 days, and took it all. Best time of my life. It was like summer vacation as an adult.

[montster]

My friend just accepted a job with a company based in Switzerland. He's getting six weeks of vacation, and they'll probably make sure he uses every day of it.

[montster]

After I hit 15 years I got 4 weeks, but I rarely take more then 7-10 days. I burn the rest o the days a coupl here or there.

 

When I retired from the AF I had built up 90 days, and took it all. Best time of my life. It was like summer vacation as an adult.

 

I've got a friend in NYC who's single, got his PhD as a biotech stock analyst. He was supposed to have been making $400k/year. He got laid off, with a huge severance package. Just found out he's only now looking for a job -- 18 months after getting laid off.

[CaP'N GRuNGe]

I don't get vacation days, i get PTO days which combine holidays, sick days, and vacation days. I earn a little over 10 hours every 2 weeks. Since we live away from family our vacations always consist of visiting family. We've had one non-family vacation in the past few years doing a long weekend in San Diego once. We need to get away more. With a 6 year old and a 2 year old we need to plan a Disney trip sometime in the next couple of years.

[tazinib1]

I've never taken a vacation in my life. I'm very ready to take my first one here shortly.

[Kid Cid]

I currently fall under the N/A category but when I last had a corporate gig I had three weeks per year and I would use all of it (re: trips to Glacier National Park and Utah).

[nuke'em ttg]

 

self employed is enough vacation, i don't want any week/weeks off

[Puddy]

I get 27 days....I rarely carry many days over to the next year (we are allowed to carry a week). We can also purchase an additional 2 weeks vacation in advance. I haven't done that as it really only equates to two unpaid weeks of time off.

[nuke'em ttg]

can you guys get vacation pay and keep workin? double-dip

[Menudo]

I get 4 weeks vacation and another week of personal days. I'm allowed to sell one week back. I can't remember the last time that I took a week or more off consecutively. I use most days here and there, though I do always take 2 days for States wrestling week and 2 days for nationals. For the last several years, the wife and I have done a Thursday-Monday beach vacation. The rest of my days are used when I need a break, son is sick, etc. I'm considering a cruise next year.

[chester]

As a bartender, any 'vacation' I take is a hit, as about 50% of my income is tips.

That being said, I get 5 paid days a year, but can usually take off most times if I can find somebody to cover (which is 90% of the time).

I usually use my 5 in the spring when we go to Arizona for about 10 days, so maybe I fall under the category of taking more than a week off at a time. Otherwise I often take off a Fri in summer because we have a lake place a little way away and do a long weekend (Leave Thurs night, come back Mon)

[TimC]

6 weeks vacation....we can only carry over 5 days a year, so you bet I take them all. I'll take off a week twice usually and then just spread the others around the holidays for 4 and 5-day weekends.

 

We can also "buy" 5 add'l PTO days. I only did that one year.

Edited May 24, 2011 by TimC

[cliaz]

I get 6 weeks of vacation now, 3 sick days and 5 personal holidays

 

Up until this year I never took most of my leave, maybe 3 weeks in total. We used to be able to carry over 80 hours of time each year but that stops now.

 

Normally I would take a week off for the beach and then a week off in October then burn my personal days towards the end of december

 

This year I just took a week off, I'm taking off a week for the beach at the beginning of august, i'm gonna take 1 week off in October and then burn the rest of my leave so I have the month of December off.

[Ursa Majoris]

29 days / year and we can stockpile until 150% of the 29 days is reached, so maximum balance is 43.5 days or 348 hours. We don't lose any vacation but it doesn't accrue after that point. There is a sabbatical bank if you go over which can be tapped once every five years. You transfer PTO into it as often as you want. Most people I know who have used that disappear for two months.

 

I usually keep my balance at around 300 hours as a hedge against getting laid off (or retiring).

 

I take one two week vacation a year, sometimes another week and spread the rest around.

[whoopazz]

I get 4 weeks. I usually take 2 one-weekers a year (wife can't take more than a week at a time). Then I just piddle away the rest on long weekends. I'm not a carryover guy, even though we are allowed to, I use them all up.