How does everyone get so much time off?!

[Seewhatimesdone]

I've always wondered how people can take vacations to WDW for like two weeks. The most time i've ever been able to get off was four or maybe five days. How do you get all the time off if you're working??

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I (obviously) can't speak for everyone, but I'm a teacher so technically if I had enough money I could go for 2 months in the summer. My longest trip has been 8 days, and that was in mid-August. The downside to this is that it's nearly impossible for me to go any time during the off season because we don't get vacation time during the school year. It's school breaks or nothing.

I know some foreign countries get more vacation time, and with the flight prices, it's more cost effective to go for 2 weeks+ at one time.

 

[Kirby]

I'd like to know too. I had two weeks off one year way back in the 80's but that was because I had earned it through having worked for the same company a designated number of years. Is that how everyone else gets it?

 

[DawnM]

DH gets 4 weeks of paid vacation time per year and unlimited sick time (although they would call you in if you used it in excess without a serious medical problem.)

He doesn't always take his 4 weeks per year and only has certain times of the year he can take off anyway. He is a CPA for one of the Big 4 accounting firms.

So, like right now, he has a little over 6 weeks saved up. I am currently not working, so we are taking 2 weeks off in January to go to WDW. I am also homeschooling, so I don't need to worry about the kids as we school year round.

If I were to go back to work, I am a school counselor anyway, so I would get 2 months off in the summer.

I think it depends on what kind of work you do.

Dawn

 

[Pinkprincessmom]

My DH works for a hospital. They do not have set holidays, but have days available to take in place of a holiday. He also gets X amount of vacation days per year and can roll over some that he hasn't taken. He has been with them for over 10 years. My daughter is in year round school. He usually takes a week for each of her track outs, the week between Christmas and New Years and still has time left over.

It makes up for his salary!!

 

[Camicar]

I have only had one job in my entire working life (30 years) which allowed me to take off more than one week at a time. And yes, for most of my working life, I was a 'professional.'

When I was a professional, I had some fairly generous vacation benefits, but I was limited to the extent of time I could take at one swoop. Now that I've given up my career for family reasons I have almost no vacation time (10 days which if you factor in school holidays and the like amounts to almost nothing).

My dh, OTOH, gets 6 weeks per year and can use it however he wants. He has so much accrued vacation time since he's a workaholic, however, that he has converted vast quantities into a 'sabbatical' fund he can cash you when he leaves or convert to health insurance payments if he retires from this job.

 

[friendofgusgus]

I have 4 weeks vacation each year and we are on "use it or lose it" system. I don't often take 2 weeks in a row - except for my wedding, but I make darn sure I take every day that I have coming to me over the course of the year!

 

[raysnkaysmom]

In retail...since we generally work weekends, we can plan our vacation where we start our vacation on Saturday and then not come back til the FOLLOWING Monday...so technically we could be out 9 days....
But..they don't allow us more than that one FULL week unless we have proof we are leaving the country, then they allow us to use our 2 weeks vacation (I've earned 4 weeks now tho )

 

[disneyjunkie]

I've always wondered how people can take vacations to WDW for like two weeks. The most time i've ever been able to get off was four or maybe five days. How do you get all the time off if you're working??

a good union

I teach kindergarten in a city-funded day care center. We work year round. The centers are only closed for 11 holidays each year.

After a 3-month probationary period, all classroom staff (teachers, assistants and aides) earn 2 ½ days of vacation per month or 6 weeks per year. (Our aides only work 4 hours per day).

My director will only allow us to use 4 weeks of vacation at one time.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Wow! My mom is very smart and works for a large company as a Revenue Recognition Analyst. She works SO much and yet she gets maybe 5 days of vacation a year tops. I don't understand it

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I cook at a hospital and accumulatepaid time off at the rate of 8.2 hours for every 80 hours worked. Works out to about 24 days off a year. I don't make enough to vacation that much, but I take 11 consecutive days, or 6 paid days off, and work the State Fair. Plus this year I worked a week of vacation with another agency. I'm taking 10 straight days for a DL vacation in 2 weeks and 12 straight days in Jan for a WDW trip. And I'll still have 4 days left to take.

 

[Kath2003]

I'm a teacher 13 weeks per year!

Seriously though, the minimum paid annual leave you're entitled to in the UK is 4 weeks, so there's plenty of scope to drag the boyfriend with me

 

[aprilgail2]

I work at a union place and we pick vacations based on seniority- the senior person picks their 5 weeks then the next and so on and so on- I could take all 5 weeks in a row plus my personal days and stretch it to 6 weeks in a row if I wanted- but I always take basically the same weeks- the last week in June, 2nd week in July, 2nd week in August Thanksgiving week and Christmas week- been taking those for the past 8 years and i will probably keep taking those for the next 4 years like that until I retire- then the next senior guy will have his shot.

 

[Quiksilvr]

I get four weeks plus unlimited sick time. My firm doesn't care where I am so long as I bill enough hours to keep them happy. I could theoretically take all of my time at once, but I have clients to keep happy and they would not like it if I bailed on them for a month.

 

[Danauk]

DH and I are teachers in the UK. We get 2 weeks off for Christmas, 2 weeks for Easter and 5 1/2 weeks in the summer. Prices at these times are very expensive (like $12000 this summer for 3 weeks) so we only go to the USA every 2 or 3 years, but we do go for 2/3 weeks at a time.

 

[disykat]

Wow! My mom is very smart and works for a large company as a Revenue Recognition Analyst. She works SO much and yet she gets maybe 5 days of vacation a year tops. I don't understand it

I'm guessing she technically "gets" more time off than that, but finds it difficult to actually take it off.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Sheesh, everyone gets so much time off! Maybe my mom should become a teacher

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I'm guessing she technically "gets" more time off than that, but finds it difficult to actually take it off.

No, really. She doesn't. It's very difficult to plan our Christmas and Thanksgiving vacations because she gets so little time off. Our trip to WDW in two weeks almost didn't happen because she couldn't get the extra two days off. It's sad

 

[momto2girls]

When my DH worked for a firm, he had 6 weeks of vacation a year. I don't believe that there were any stipulations about how much time he could take off at a time.

Now, he owns his own business so he can take as much time as he wants. He is a consultant and works out of our home, so if we want to take an extended vacation, he just needs to bring his laptop and any necessary paperwork with him and he can work anywhere. I homeschool, so traveling for extended periods of time is not a problem.

 

[arminnie]

I have only had one job in my entire working life (30 years) which allowed me to take off more than one week at a time. And yes, for most of my working life, I was a 'professional.'

Almost all of the jobs I had for the past 30 years REQUIRED me to take off two consecutive weeks. It was a fraud control thing in banking.