2022 has been a wonderful year, filled with so many adventures. I’ve traveled loads this year, and ticked some major items off my bucket list! Back in 2019, I wrote a post about how I maximized my time off work to travel. Ignoring the shitshow of 2020, and most of 2021 – and the fact that I had three jobs with two different companies that year – this is my first year of semi-normality, work-wise. (We’ll ignore the part where I almost got made redundant again this spring lol.)

So, with one company on the books in 2022, I wanted to share exactly how I strategized to travel as much as I did this year.

How I Strategized to Maximize My Time Off Work

In the UK we refer to it as annual leave, in the US it’s called PTO. Regardless of what you call it, it’s the number of (paid) days you are allowed off work. And for me, I use every single day I have off work to travel. I’m grateful that I’m at a stage in my life where I don’t have other obligations or commitments (like kids or caring duties) that would require me to use my paid time off work for anything that isn’t fun. Things do come up and travel plans may have to change, I’m fully aware – my ex-husband almost dying in a car crash in 2019 is proof of that. But thankfully I didn’t have anything like that this year. I’ve created a life for myself where I can live my own life for me, and if traveling is what I want to do – well, that’s what I’m going to do.

My current job entitles me to 25 days off a year, plus 8 bank holidays (what the UK calls public holidays). This is the best benefits package I have ever had from a company! This is definitely in the “very good” range for the UK. Every job in the UK – even “zero-hours” contracts, where you don’t have a set number of hours per week but just work in shifts – entitles you to holiday pay in some form. For those in the US, I am fully aware that this is far more time off than you might receive at your job, or that you might not even get any paid time off. Paid time off is a guaranteed right where I live – that’s a huge privilege, and one I certainly don’t take for granted. Unfortunately, the US falls far behind the rest of the developed world in paid time off. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a way to travel extensively. Here’s how I strategized my paid time off work to travel!

I counted every single day of annual leave I had, and checked my contract and benefits. Every individual trip I went on was planned far in advance to utilize every single day off work to the maximal effect. I counted every day that I had. And when I wasn’t sure about the number of days – like when my contract changed in my new permanent position – I pestered HR to sort it and give me my current number. I knew that I was entitled to 25 days, plus bank holidays, in my contract. Also, I knew I had one extra day off work for my birthday. You can’t make the most if you don’t know what you have! Check your contract, email HR, get a solid number to work with at the beginning of the year.

I maximized my company benefits for extra travel. My company has several “extra” days off work, that aren’t usual in most companies (at least, as far as I’m aware). We were all given a free recharge day at the beginning of the year, on 4 January, as a thank you for all our hard work. We were also given two wellbeing days, during the company’s extremely stressful restructure. (90% of the company was made redundant – I was one of the lucky ones to keep a job.) These wellbeing days could be taken at any time, however we were encouraged to completely switch off from work on these days.

Obviously, I used all of these extra days to my advantage. My flights from the US to the UK after Christmas were planned to use annual leave. I actually gained a day of that due to the recharge day – one more day to play with during the year! I used my wellbeing days to extend my trip to the Cairngorms, and spent those days hiking around the middle of nowhere Scotland. It was easily the best thing I could do for my mental and physical health.

My trips were planned to travel on/around public holidays. I know that traveling on public holidays can be more expensive, and places can be more crowded. But these dates are set in stone, well in advance – I know I will have these specific days off work. So, I planned my trips ahead of time and booked early to take advantage of this!

The UK had two extra bank holidays in 2022 for the Queen. The first was in June, when there was an extra bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. The second was in the middle of September, in honor of the Queen’s Funeral. This isn’t normal – the Platinum Jubilee was a huge celebration, and a unique experience due to Queen Elizabeth II being one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world. It’s also impossible to predict when the royal head of state might pass away. But for better and for worse, the general public in the UK was granted two extra days off work in 2022 with two extra bank holidays.

I’m able to work remotely. The pandemic changed all our lives – and it fundamentally changed our attitudes towards work. So many jobs can be done remotely, and many people have made the switch to working from home (either full-time or part-time). My job is completely remote. Our office is in London, but I was hired to work from home full-time from where I live in York. I don’t take advantage of remote work anywhere near as much as I could. This is a personal preference, as on my trips I prefer to switch off completely, and don’t want to bring my laptop away with me. (Also, on many of my hiking/camping trips, I am literally in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal, let alone wifi.) However, you can easily extend a weekend trip into a four-day getaway if you can work remotely on the Friday and the Monday. I worked from Minneapolis for a week at the beginning of my Christmas trip at the end of 2021. This gave me an entire extra WEEK at home with my family and friends! It was priceless.

Many jobs can now be done anywhere, all over the world, as long as there’s wifi. Building extra time into a trip around a few days working remotely is an excellent way to maximize your time off work for travel. While I know that many jobs can’t be done remotely, there are plenty that can. If your role is 100% office-based, but could be done from home, consider speaking to your manager about remote working opportunities. There is an entire movement of digital nomads exploring the globe now – people who travel full-time, working as they go. The world has changed, and remote work will enable you to travel longer, and further, if it’s an option for you.

I utilized my flexi-time ALL THE TIME. My current company is the first where I have flexi-time, and I’m not working set hours/designated shifts. This has been the best thing that’s ever happened to my work-life balance – I’m not sure how I got anything done before I had flexi-time?! My contract is for 40 hours a week, and I typically work 8-5 every day. However, this year I have flexed my flexi-time for everything it’s worth. I’m grateful that I have a manager who trusts me and who knows I will be getting the work done, and keeping track of my own hours, so that I can do this. And I understand not everyone has flexi-time – but it has made a huge difference in my travels this year.

For nearly all of my weekend trips, I would work some extra hours Monday-Thursday. This would then enable me to log off early on Fridays – usually around 2pm. I could beat rush hour traffic leaving York, get on the road right away, and get to my destination. This truly made a huge difference in my ability to go away on weekend trips. My weekend trips to Northumberland, the Lake District, Peak District, the Cumbrian Yorkshire Dales, and Lincoln were all planned using my flexi-time so I could ditch out early on Friday.

I also used my flexi-time when I had friends come visit. While I didn’t end up having many extra days to play with in terms of my annual leave for visitors, I used flexi-time to my advantage. One of my best friends from college finally made his first visit to the UK in September. I worked extra on the Tuesday/Friday to be able to take long lunch breaks when he was in York on the Wednesday/Thursday.

I made the most of weekend trips (and day trips!). For many years, I worked every other weekend – so I only had two days off in a row twice a month. I have weekends off at my current job – every weekend off – and I absolutely take advantage of that. If you work Monday-Friday, you have those weekend dates set in stone and can plan far, far in advance. Sure, it’s great to have a lot of days off work to be able to use over the year. But you can also see and do a LOT if you maximize your weekends off work. Don’t overlook a weekend getaway!

I also utilize pretty much every single weekend off work for some kind of adventure. Over the year, I did a huge number of daytrips around Yorkshire, most of them involving hiking. I visited Muker in June to see the wildflower meadows, and I went all over the North York Moors to see the heather in bloom at the end of August. I walked seven different sections of the Yorkshire Coast. During my adventures, I visited castles, swam in waterfalls, went underground to massive caves, spotted puffins, and summited peaks. If I wasn’t on a trip, I was almost always doing something. I did feel like I was barely at home in York sometimes – but it was absolutely worth it for all these incredible experiences.

I travel on a budget. I am an experienced budget traveler. And there is no way I would have been able to afford all of these trips – especially as the UK is experiencing an extreme cost of living crisis – if I didn’t travel on the cheap. Many of my weekend trips were camping – my wild camping trips cost me nothing in accommodation. I still regularly stay in hostel dorms to cut costs. I’m blessed to have many friends and people I know all over the country, who were kind enough to offer up a couch I could crash on to make all of these trips affordable. I’m so grateful for them! Even on my treat-yo’self 30th-birthday/divorce trip to Greece I managed to stick to my budget. Almost all of my discretionary monthly budget goes on travel and trips – I really don’t spend money on anything else that isn’t travel. But trips DO NOT need to be expensive if you don’t want them to be.

How I Used All of My Time Off Work in 2022!

I had 3 days to carry over from 2021. I specifically planned this last year to be able to use a few days during my Christmas trip to fly from the US back to the UK. So my total number of days of annual leave for 2022 was actually 28, plus the bank holidays.

January

I used 2 days of my 2022 allowance as I was flying back from the US after my Christmas trip. I planned my flights back to the UK specifically for these days. 3 January was a bank holiday (substitute day for New Year’s Day), and my company gave everyone a “recharge” day on 4 January.

February

I used 0 days. I went to London for the weekend, but didn’t use any annual leave. The Friday was for work and socializing with colleagues, and I then stayed for the weekend to do London things.

March

I used 1.5 days to take a long weekend trip to the Netherlands and visit my friend in Groningen! I took half a day off work on the Wednesday for the portion of the day that I would be at the airport/flying. Then, I worked remotely from my friend’s house on the Thursday, and took the Friday off as annual leave. My flight back to the UK on Sunday was actually canceled as I was on my way to the airport! But thankfully I was able to work remotely for another day (Monday).

April

I used 5 days in total in April. I didn’t use any annual leave to take a 6-day trip to the Cairngorms in Scotland. I’d been planning to go away for the long 4-day bank holiday weekend, as both Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. During a very stressful restructure process, my company offered everyone 2 “wellbeing” days. I used mine to go hiking in the middle of nowhere Scotland, and it was great. I then used 5 days annual leave in April for my trip to the US, to New Orleans and Florida for my best friend’s wedding!

May

I used 1 day of annual leave for my US trip at the beginning of the month, where I was flying from the US back to the UK. I specifically booked my flights to utilize the May bank holiday (2 May), and save me one day of annual leave. Later in the month, I went to Northumberland for the weekend but didn’t use any annual leave.

June

I used 6 days of annual leave, combined with the Jubilee bank holiday celebrations, for my trip to Orkney. I planned this trip specifically so that I could use those two bank holidays as part of my trip.

July

I used 0 days of annual leave, but took two weekend trips – to the Lake District and the Peak District.

August

I used 2 days of annual leave on my West Highland Way trip. This trip was planned so that I could use the August bank holiday (29 August) as an extra day off. I went to the Cumbrian Yorkshire Dales for a weekend, but didn’t use any leave.

September

In total, I took 8 days of annual leave in September. I used 3 days of annual leave for my West Highland Way trip, and 5 days of annual leave for my Greece trip. I get an additional day off work for my birthday – this doesn’t have to be taken on my actual birthday (17 September), but needs to be used one week before/after my birthday. This was used on 23 September, so I could fly out to Greece. I also had a 3-day long weekend in the Lake District, which I didn’t use any annual leave for. I was already planning this trip before the Queen’s funeral was announced for 19 September – I decided to extend my trip once it was confirmed I’d have that Monday off work.

October

For October, I took 0.5 days of annual leave when my parents came to visit. I worked remotely on the Monday at the beginning of the month, when I came back from Greece. Then when my parents visited, I used my half-day off to spend the afternoon in the North York Moors, which was gorgeous! I did York stuff with my parents on my lunch breaks during the week that they were here, and we went out exploring on the weekend. I also went to Lincoln for the weekend, but didn’t use any annual leave.

November

I used 0 days of annual leave. I was actually at home in York for the entire month!

December

I took 2 days annual leave for my Morocco trip. I had 2 bank holidays off already (substitute Christmas Day and Boxing Day). While my flight was changed to over 36 hours earlier, on a day I didn’t have off work, I was able to work remotely on the first day of my Morocco trip.

How YOU Can Maximize Travel With a Full-Time Job

• PLAN IN ADVANCE. Count every single day and utilize each day for travel (if that’s what you want). Know exactly what you’re entitled to, and start the year with a rough idea of what destinations you want to visit, about how long you want to spend there, and how you can use the precious time off work to your full advantage. Strategize in advance to use each day for travel.
• Take shorter trips. I love longer trips. But the reason I was able to take so many different trips this year is because none of them were longer than 12 days (including weekends). In previous years, I took a 2-week trip in summer (usually about 17 days in total, including weekends). However, I didn’t do that this year, and was able to use my time to take several “big” trips that only required about 5-6 days of annual leave each.
• Utilize public holidays and weekends. National holidays and Saturdays/Sundays are set in stone. They won’t change, so if you have these days off I strongly encourage you to use them to your advantage for planning trips.
• Work remotely and/or use flexi-time, if possible. So many people still work from home, or have jobs that can now be done from home. If you can work from anywhere, why not extend trips to include a day of remote work either end? If you are able to work flexible hours, plan your schedule and workload in advance so you can have a few hours off to extend a weekend trip, or work enough overtime so that you can get a full extra day off. These work policies offer unlimited possibilities. If your job can be done remotely, but you’re required to be present in person, start a discussion with management around this. Explore all your options.
• Explore locally on daytrips! Travel doesn’t necessarily mean jetting off to a new destination. It can be visiting a new nearby city, spending the day at an attraction you’ve never visited before, or just going out for a hike in your local area. Use your days off work to explore close to home!

I’m fully aware that I’m very privileged with my current situation – not just the number of days of annual leave I have, but the fact that I can work remotely and work flexible hours, and that I have every weekend off. It’s not the case for everyone. But I truly believe more and more workplaces are changing with the times to allow for greater flexibility with work. And this work flexibility can be used as an advantage to maximize your time for travel.

I firmly believe that if you are serious about wanting to travel, a full-time job won’t stop you. You can maximize your time off work and strategize to be able to have a travel-filled year, even with full-time work. Yes, it’ll take work to plan this out, and it requires a lot of focus. But my 2022 is proof that it is possible to live an adventurous life with exciting travel opportunities in balance with a full-time job.

How do you maximize time off work to travel? What tips do you have for making the most of time off?

You might like this post:

30 Days Annual Leave, 1 Year: Exactly How I Traveled so Much With a Full-Time Job in 2019

My Top Travel Experiences of 2022

My Worst Travel Moments of 2022

The Best Places I Visited in 2022

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