How to travel more

With so much going on in our lives, it can be easy to get caught up in our daily routines. By planning ahead, you can discover how to travel more—and give yourself a much-needed break from your busy schedule! Here are a few tips on how you can travel more this year:

Maximize your time off from work

This may seem obvious but there are SO MANY people who work full time and don’t use up all of their vacation days. There could be a myriad of reasons why someone would choose not to take time off (as the wife of a Sales Manager, I know how hard it can be to step-away when your bonus is contingent upon performance). Sadly, most Americans don’t use all of the time off they are allotted. In fact, only 28% of Americans plan to use all of their vacation days this year, according to an article by CNBC.

Plan ahead

Every year, I get a spreadsheet and plan out what days I’m taking off throughout the following 12 months. In my first job out of college, I only had 7 days off and you can be sure I stretched those as far as humanly possible! Planning ahead lets you take everything into consideration to make the most of your days off. Besides knowing how many days you are able to take off for vacations, you can also plan days around holidays, weddings, graduations, and other life events.

But planning your time is only half the challenge. You also want to have everything planned for your responsibilities to continue on at work. Of course, you shouldn’t take a 2-week vacation during your company’s busiest season. However, if you plan a 2-week vacation during the slow period? You should be okay. Make sure everyone you work with is aware of those larger chunks of time you will be out, as far out as possible.

As time gets closer, create a  cheat-sheet for things that may come up while you are out. Plan your bigger meetings for before you leave for your trip. Try to mitigate as much uncertainty beforehand to avoid any uncertainties while you are out. Before I went on my 2-week honeymoon, I put together a 3-page document for my team. This included any possible scenario that could come up during my absence. When I came back—it was the easiest transition ever!

Take advantage of holidays

One of the easiest ways to help maximize your time off is by taking trips around holidays. While the planning factor should be especially considered here from a financial perspective (flights are usually more expensive around holidays), having that extra day or two can really make a difference for your vacation.

During my aforementioned first position with only 7 days off, I was able to visit my brother studying abroad in Sweden. I went during Thanksgiving which saved me 1 day. I was also lucky that the company I worked for ending up giving us Black Friday off as well as a 1/2 day off the day before Thanksgiving. During a 7-day trip, I only had to take 2.5 days off from work!

One thing that has helped me rationalize traveling during family-oriented holidays is to actually travel WITH my family. Not only does everybody get to visit a new place, but we also get to spend holidays as they were intended to—with each other. It can also serve as a fun family tradition picking a new place every few years.

Take more weekend trips

If taking a whole week off at a time really doesn’t work for your schedule, take a few weekend trips instead! These can include short road trips, flying to a nearby city, or taking a hiking trip to a local national park. Just because it is a shorter trip doesn’t mean you can’t get the benefits of taking time off. You are still getting out of your routine and experiencing something new. Hopefully, you are getting a little break from any stresses at home too!

Take a trip that everyone can enjoy

Planning a trip can be especially challenging depending on whether you have children or pets to take care of. The key here is to be flexible and creative. If your son has a soccer tournament a few towns over, stay an extra day and do something fun together! I think these types of trips really depend on who is going and what everybody’s preferences are but it is totally doable with some research and planning.

If you are unable to travel for some period of time, you can always try to incorporate travel and culture into your daily life. Learn about ways to travel without leaving home in this post.