It’s almost that time of year when we start making resolutions for the coming 12 months, and if you’re anything like us, “travel more” might be one of those resolutions. But costs, busy schedules, and lack of vacation time can get in the way. 

You know we help with the first item on that list by serving up flight deals, but we’ve got some ideas to help you with the rest, too. The secret to making your vacation time stretch a little further: incorporating as many paid holidays into your travel schedule as possible. 

If you work a typical 9-5 or are a teacher or government employee, chances are you have a number of holiday days off built into the calendar. Whenever you can, try to schedule your trips to include those days. 

For example, if you have Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, Jan. 16, 2023) and Presidents Day (Monday, February 20, 2023) off work and take the Friday before each holiday off, you now have two long weekend trips—up to 8 days of traveling—that will only use up 2 PTO days. 

Do the same around Memorial Day (Monday, May 29, 2023) and Labor Day (Monday, September 4, 2023) and now you’ve got time for four great long-weekend trips and you haven’t even used up one week of vacation. 

Sure, you probably aren’t going to head to Italy or Japan for a long weekend, but you could pop to the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico, Central America, or a new city in the US—and when the flight is under $200 roundtrip, there’s less pressure to stay a long time. 

For those longer trips, look at Thanksgiving week, which is a great week for international deals. If you get Thanksgiving and the day after off work (Thursday and Friday November 23 and 24, 2023) and can take off Monday to Wednesday of that week or the following week, you’ve now got up to 9 days for traveling while only using 3 precious vacation days. 

It gets even better around Christmas and New Year’s. Both days fall on a Monday in 2023, so take off the days in between, and from December 23 (Saturday) to January 1 (Monday), you’ve got 10 consecutive days off for the price of 4. 

If you did all this, that’s 4 long weekend trips and 2 week+ trips—35 days of travel—using just 11 vacation days. Of course this exact schedule won’t work for everyone, but if you get creative with your paid holidays and try to plan trips around them when you can, you can still squeeze out a little extra travel from your allotted paid time off.

Financial Planning with the Traveler in Mind

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More travel tips

• How to Negotiate for More Vacation Time
• How to Travel More, Even on a Small Budget
• Expert Tips for Combining Work and Travel

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