Being able to travel with a full-time job is possible! Unfortunately, working a full-time job doesn’t necessarily give you the luxury to up and leave whenever you have a travel itch. However, you can still find ways to travel without sacrificing your career if you love what you do. So, I wanted to share 6 ways you can travel with a full-time job.
Please note: This post was originally published in May 2017 and has been updated to share more first-hand experiences.
Plan Around Holidays & Long Weekends
Take advantage of holidays that fall around the weekend (e.g. Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc.). This way you can plan a longer trip without sacrificing too many vacation days. Depending on where you’re going, 3 days may be more than enough without you needing to take off any vacation days.
I’ve had employers who gave me personal days and summer Friday’s. Personal days aren’t vacation or sick days, in fact you can take it whenever you feel you need a personal/mental health day. And my summer Friday’s were every other Friday off. So, I took advantage of both of these options to have 3 day weekends. For trips, I often left Thursday night after work to have more time. My trips to Montreal and Toronto are perfect examples of how I utilized personal days and summer Friday’s.
Appreciate Your Own Backyard
Your own backyard may have a lot to offer. I’m guilty of not learning to love and appreciate what’s in my home country, often opting to travel overseas. Exploring your own backyard could save you some vacation days, if not all of your vacation days. Taking a road trip to a nearby city/state/country could be a great weekend excursion!
Plan Around Business Trips
If you work in a field that requires traveling, consider extending your business trip to have time to explore. It’d be even better if your business trip ends on a Friday. This way you can have the weekend to do whatever you want! And during your actual business trip, you can incorporate things that you want to do. Want to go to a certain restaurant? Maybe you can plan to go before, in-between, or after your meetings. Incorporating little things throughout your business trip could make you feel like you’re on vacation.
Extending your trip may also save you and your company a few bucks. If you extend your vacation and fly out on a cheaper day/time, it could save money.
Work From Home (WFH)
One of my jobs allowed me to WFH every Friday. So if I took a long weekend in a nearby location, I could start my vacation on a Thursday night after work. Take advantage of your WFH days; if you don’t get WFH days, consider asking your employer if it could be an option. But be mindful that this option really depends on the type of work you do. If you can’t do most of your work on a laptop, then this might not be an option for you. But if you can WFH, and decide to travel, make sure you have a stable wifi connection.
Use Vacation Days Wisely
The U.S. is stingy about the amount of vacation days employees get; and most don’t even use all of their vacations days! I on the other hand, am not like most Americans. I make sure to use every vacation day allotted to me. Mainly because I deserve to take vacation days (and so do you). And because I’ve worked at places where my days didn’t roll over. So once the new year started, my previous unused vacation days disappeared. But when taking these vacation days, make sure you schedule strategically.
You could take your 2+ weeks of vacation days in one sitting, depending on where you’re traveling to. If you’re traveling to Thailand from the east coast of the U.S., you’ll most likely spend an entire day getting to, and from, that region. In this instance, it’d probably make sense to use most of your vacation days to get the most out of the experience. But, if you’re going somewhere closer, then you probably don’t need to take all of your vacation days.
I personally like to spread out my vacay days to try and get more trips throughout the entire year. Taking all of your days in one sitting means you can’t do another trip later in the year. But again, this really depends on where you’re aiming to travel.
Add More Vacation Days
Looking to travel more than the vacay days you’re given? Check to see if your employer will allow you to buy days. These days will be unpaid, but if it’s something you can afford to do, I say go for it!
How do you travel while working full-time? How do you maximize your vacation days to ensure you still get to enjoy traveling?
