(NEXSTAR) – You may only have 10 vacation days this year, but that doesn’t mean you can only get 10 days off work. Carefully timing when you take a vacation can help you stretch out every last hour of your allotted time off.
If you time it right, there are several occasions per year where workers can take a nine-day trip or vacation by only using four days of time off. The key is using federal holidays to your benefit, explains Laura Lindsay, a travel expert at Skyscanner.
For example, President’s Day falls on Monday, Feb. 19 this year. If your employers gives you President’s Day off, you can take four days of vacation time to round out the rest of the week. Counting the weekends on either side, that’s nine days in a row for you to relax or get out of town.
With the 2024 holidays left, you can pull this same trick off for Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day. If you get Thanksgiving and Black Friday off, you can take a nine-day trip for the cost of three days of vacation time.
Both Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on Wednesdays this year. If you really bank up your time, you can get 16 straight days out of office by taking those two holidays and another eight days of vacation time. If you get Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve off work, you’re even luckier. That would be 16 days off for only six days of vacation time.
People are sometimes hesitant to use this “hack” to extend their vacations because they think traveling during the holidays is always more expensive, but that’s not necessarily true, says Lindsay. You can use flight search tools, like Skyscanner or Google Flights, to set your dates, then search for a flight to anywhere. You may be surprised to find lesser-known travel destinations with great deals, even on a holiday week.
Also, when it comes to price, not all holiday weeks are created equal.
“Travel during President’s Day weekend can be a lot more affordable than Christmas and can still offer you massive savings in your PTO bank (and your regular bank, too),” Lindsay told Nexstar.
To make trips feel even longer, you might want to consider moving up your departure time. “For example, you might be able to fly out in the evening the day before your first day of PTO, giving you a full first day on vacation instead of spending part of it traveling,” Lindsay explained. “Similarly, by comparing airlines for your return journey, you might find a flight that leaves late on your final day off, giving you the full day to enjoy the last of your trip.”
Picking an airport close to your accommodation (or accommodation close to the airport) can also help you get more out of a short trip by minimizing the time you spend in transit, she added.
“Most Americans get about 11 days off on average, so careful planning and thinking ahead is key to enjoying the time off to its max,” Lindsay said.