How do people organise their holidays off work?

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rocketscientology@reddit

No kids and I do try to avoid booking during school holidays, partly because travel becomes more expensive and partly so that my colleagues with kids can take that time off without worrying there’ll be no cover. Otherwise I’ll usually book time off in relatively regular increments i.e. a break in March, a break sometime in June/July, my birthday off in August and then something around October so that I get a rest before the Christmas period.

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No-Club3690@reddit

Am the same, though I push the oct part to November as winter sun is cheaper as no half terms (not that i can afford it even then but I can dream)

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mumwifealcoholic@reddit

I have 34 days. We take holidays during school holidays, but just avoid the places Brits go on holiday. Instead of an AI in Mallorca in August we go cycling in the Black Forest instead. Instead of Greece in summer we do alpine winter resorts. We’ve been canoeing in Sweden, cycling in Germany and the Netherlands, and have done lots of theme parks in Europe. You gotta do the research, it’s not scrolling through Jet2 and just picking something. This year we are not going on a big holiday though. We’re turtling this year due to outside events, I want to make sure we are in the best financial position for whatever is coming.

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I_really_love_pugs@reddit

Which theme parks in Europe do you recommend and any to avoid? We are looking at doing Europa Park or Eftling this year.

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mumwifealcoholic@reddit

We loved phantasialand, best park in Europe.

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I_really_love_pugs@reddit

Oh great, thank you. I have not heard of this one but Cologne is on our list of cities to visit (I went about 20 years ago and loved it) so this would tie in nicely!

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sparklybeast@reddit

I book every second Monday off, plus three days over Christmas, and then have a handful of spare days to dot throughout the year when I need them. No children, and can’t afford holidays so no need to book chunks of time off.

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rockdecasba@reddit

I used to do this when I was in same scenario. It was nice, life felt a slower pace

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picklespark@reddit

I also have every second Monday off but without using my leave, I work compressed hours and do ten days in nine.

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

I liked that when we did it in previous job it was great for appointments and life admin !

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picklespark@reddit

I generally just use it to do something nice 😊

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Yay

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rockdecasba@reddit

I'm jelly

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Spike_Milligoon@reddit

All of my leave is based around kids holidays, my wife’s leave (ft and office based) is based around our actual going away on holiday. I’m self employed and wfh so basically have to do the time I am taking off ahead of being off. So 50-60 hours a week ahead of going away. During school holiday times we aren’t going away I try and work my schedule so that I can have a day or two off with them each week. At the end of the day they only have one childhood so it’s worth it - plus we try and have a few weekends away each year too.

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Same here ! Working for myself is a pain but its given me a lot of flexibility other parents dont have. I was "their person" for lots of kids for assemblies where there parents had fixed rota and couldn't he there - every child needs a adult waving at just them!

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Spike_Milligoon@reddit

‘every child needs a adult waving at just them’ I love that line

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

Thanks 😊

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eternal_entropy@reddit

Currently I plan at a week off work at least once a quarter, with a longer 2 week+ break towards the second half of the year. I’ll scatter a few random days and long weekends as I feel I need them. I also take off Christmas and New Year when possible. I have a kid, but not at school age, so no really restrictions of when I need to take time off. I’m also lucky as I have unlimited holiday so the fact I usually end up taking at least 6-7wks off isn’t an issue.

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JavaRuby2000@reddit

No Kids. I'm going on holiday tomorrow. One Month in Thailand.

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flyingfresian@reddit

I don't have kids, so mainly avoid school holidays. There's only one other person in my office, and she does have kids, so I don't want to "pinch" holidays that she would rather have. We don't close on Bank Holidays so get the days added to our allowance. That works better for me, as I can take time off at a time that's convenient for me.

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Whoppa-seagull@reddit

It depends doesn’t it? I would appear that teachers get about 3 months a year.

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Key_Produce2617@reddit

We have 2 children, my wife is a head teacher and I work part time. I take all my holidays during school holdays and go away the majority of them. With my work I can’t get December off but they offer time off no pay sometimes which I go for.

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Northern_Geezer@reddit

Try and take a good break (3-5 days) every 3 months to avoid burnout and a bit longer in the summer for an abroad holiday. 3 days between Christmas and NY. Easter - May I use fewer because of the bank holidays. I use 25 days over the year

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destria@reddit

We have a preschooler so we're trying to take advantage of the term time holidays whilst we still can!

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ukbabz@reddit

My wife is a teacher, and we have two kids now (one baby, one 6). Given her job it's always been mainly in the school holidays so that's not really changed. Her timeoff isn't her choice, and I take most of mine in the school hols to spend with the family. I work in IT and get 30 days + public holidays + an extra week I purchase. We try and go at less busy times, such as easter and May holiday if we're flying abroad. Or we visit family in France over summer which isn't really a tourist trip so prices aren't really impacted.

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Low-Cauliflower-5686@reddit

Don't have kids. Usually get away for week or more around June . Last few years also a week away in September. A weekend away around winter time is a more recent thing. Usually a trip in spring too.

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QueefInMyKisser@reddit

I don’t have children and mostly travel with friends so it’s all about when everyone else is free. I don’t like the heat so wouldn’t travel to a lot of places in the summer regardless of school holidays. However I sometimes travel with a teacher so that’s still pinned to school holidays. At least we usually mitigate it by travelling to a country where it isn’t school holidays at the destination.

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Radiant_Pudding5133@reddit

No kids. Odd days off for gigs (or the day after to recover…), book holidays during term times. Always have at least 2 weeks off at a Christmas (managed 3 weeks this time) and take a week in summer usually. 30 days leave per year plus bank holidays but that includes 5 additional days that I “buy”.

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iamnogoodatthis@reddit

No kids, but my partner is a teacher so if we want to do something together it has to be over the school holidays. Sometimes I'll take random long weekends to go eg on a longer bike trip or to a wedding or stag do. Otherwise it's usually a planned week eg over Christmas or a trip somewhere.

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rockdecasba@reddit

I don't have kids, avoid peak time. Usually work off Skyscanner and hit everywhere. Go where the cheap flights take me. Manage about 4 holidays a year and for a couple we do three of these for about a grand upfront cost. Utilise loyalty points and cashback heavily as well.

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whatd0y0umean@reddit

Yeah cheap flights on skyscanner not picky about the destination. Just pick a month and put flexible for dates. Tesco points go into accommodation. Handluggage only too. Only go a couple holidays though as we like a music festival or two or three.

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rockdecasba@reddit

You can get cashback on Ticketmaster via zilch and topcashback (buying gift cards) helps you keep festival bill down. I can send you referral links if you like then refer your partner and get yourself a big old discount

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summerloco@reddit

We are similar but not as many holidays. Respect trying to squeeze as many in as you can! Any inspiration / ideas you could share from your winter sun destinations?

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rockdecasba@reddit

Morocco usually but cape Verde this year. Tend to stick to France mainly for summer as flights are cheaper and accommodation good price if you avoid the main cities. I'm quite happy with some nice bread and reading in the sun

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picklespark@reddit

What sites do you use for cash back when booking holidays?

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Mental_Body_5496@reddit

With kids Sit down with partner and school term dates. 28 days leave x 2 assuming both working full time = 56 days. There are essentially 3 half terms 15 days Easter & xmas 20 days Summer 25 days Inset days 3 days Thats 63 days the kids are not in school. Do your leave doesnt even cover 1 parent being off. So 63 days to cover Holiday club summer 2 weeks 10 days Still 53 days left to cover Grandparents 3 days each half term thats 9 days Thats 44 days left to cover 10 days summer holiday both of you takes you back up to 54 days. Plus 2 days for sicks off sick or school assembly etc.

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DiDiPLF@reddit

I have 1 kid and both me and my partner buy extra holidays, we also have excellent grandparents who like time with our kid and some ace summer holiday camps, football mainly. Therefore we are swimming in annual leave! Need to plan the next 3 months as its use it or lose it!

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Rasty_lv@reddit

have a kid. So i always book 1 week off in october, odd days around christmas, week in february, week in april, week in may and 2 weeks in summer and leave odd days around whenever i need them. Its all around school holidays. april and may holidays are usually travel around uk. summer is going abroad to my home country, but lately we do that in october (prices are ridiculous to travel in summer). February was abroad for short holidays. With all bank holidays and being long time employed i have in total 36 days to use whenever i want. I do miss the time when we were able to skip nursery and 3 of us could travel whenever we wanted (which we did constantly)..

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

I don't have kids. I holiday during school term time because almost everything is cheaper. If I'm taking the nieces and nephews I try and use school holiday time, otherwise I pretend they're off sick. I make sure they catch up.

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stealth941@reddit

I'm married but no kids, mrs and i just book our holidays at the end of the kids holidays. Flights and hotels are generally cheaper after the mad rush and we fly out mid week, again.. cheaper

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AdministrativeShip2@reddit

As I don't have kids, I check with my Coworkers, so that they get holidays during breaks, and I get holidays outside of them for cheaper travel.

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LateFlorey@reddit

Married a teacher, so holidays are covered by him and I take a few days off each half term and a week off in the summer holidays. I allocate myself a few days to have off by myself during the term as small children, working and the constant circle of life wear me down and I need a mental health break whilst they are in childcare.

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coastalkid92@reddit

No kids and I have a very fortunate holiday situation where I get 28 days and the company does a closure for a couple of days in the summer and over Christmas which isn't taken out of our holiday time. Generally, we try to avoid holidays during school breaks just to avoid to uptick in costs but sometimes needs must.

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simon-g@reddit

Have two kids in primary school. We do a couple of weeks of family holiday, usually May half term and a week in the summer. Remainder of it, ususally one week of summer they'll be at grandparents, one of us will be off and doing things with them, or holiday camps. We try to do it so they don't have back-to-back weeks at camp. 25 days holiday, I usually buy an extra week through the company benefits scheme, then will often also do a week of [unpaid parental leave](https://www.gov.uk/parental-leave) (which every parent is entitled to if you've been an employee for more than a year).

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legosophie@reddit

Plan almost all days off for the whole year in Jan (apart from holding back a few). Get 30 days, plan 3 for Christmas break, and then we usually will use the rest on holidays and occasionally weddings/hen do. Most years we do a 2 week ish trip between May - Sept and spread the rest out across the year evenly so we don't go too long without time off. No kids so always holiday out of peak times. This year we will do 1x 3 week holiday, 1x week holiday, and 3 long weekends plus Xmas break

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Sevenoflime@reddit

Two kids and I’m basically a stay at home mum with a small side hustle so I cover when the kids are sick or half terms etc. my husband then gets to save his annual leave for a couple of weeks off in the summer holidays and Christmas and some time off over Easter/random days throughout the year. Though he loves jobs recently and the two weeks over Christmas wasn’t included in his annual leave so he’ll have even more leave to take this year!

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lookhereisay@reddit

Pre kids we’d book a bit of time at Xmas and then avoid the school holidays. Now 99% of our holiday goes to school holidays time off. We have childcare (my mum) but we take 2-3 weeks holiday in the summer holiday (might not be going away but just not working). Then counting half terms or when my mum is off.

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PM_ME_BEEF_CURTAINS@reddit

I have kids, but they despise travel so never want to go anywhere anyway. We do day trips in the UK. Spouse and I try to go outside of school breaks to keep costs down. We do 3x UK trips and 1x overseas a year, all long weekends. I get 25 days.

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gemmajenkins2890@reddit

Just me and partner. I work part time - get 5.6 weeks a year. I just spread it out as evenly as I can and take a week every couple months or so. I’ve used up all my annual leave for this holiday year. Need to book up all my weeks for next year.

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Flat_Development6659@reddit

We just book them a month or so before a holiday, I get a few more AL days than my wife so she just calls in sick for one of our holidays per year, preferably a UK one. No kids so don't really care if it's school time or not but generally things are cheaper in term time compared to school holidays so we'll aim for term time.

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spellboundsilk92@reddit

I don’t have kids so I avoid school holidays. I always buy extra leave and have flexi bank holidays. I generally book the typical office closure over Christmas, a variety of 1-2 week holidays depending on where in going that year which leave a couple of days left over. Additional bonus of this means I’m normally working the quietest period of the year when everyone is off for summer hols and then I get a break during busy periods.

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Purp1eMagpie@reddit

No kids and avoid the school holidays like the absolute plague. That's about the only criteria, really. Just book what I want after that

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ScallyGirl@reddit

We have one child and no family help with childcare. ALL our leave goes to cover school holidays. I am lucky that I can work from home and have a great boss, so I can do the odd week that way. Our son is getting to the age now where he will be doing some more clubs in half term/summer, so hopefully next year we will have a couple of days we can take off to do sweet FA!

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elliottj6325@reddit

Same here. I have 1 kid and no family nearby. I work 4 day weeks so the odd inset day is fine but yeah I have to book leave to cover the half terms etc. Husband shares his leave so I don't have to cover it entirely. 6 weeks holidays are tough but my parents will visit for 2 weeks and help out that way (they live far away so can't do the odd day but will do a week or so at a time). I do use the odd day for myself but not many.

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thenewfirm@reddit

I have 2 kids and no family help either. All our holiday goes to cover school holidays plus I've taken some unpaid leave this year, with 2 kids it worked out not much different than paying for a holiday club near us.

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Zealousideal_Trip661@reddit

Similar here. Some holidays together, split AL to cover the rest.

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BaBaFiCo@reddit

No kids. We just go away when we fancy it. So we've got a weekend in Wales later this month, a two week cruise next month, a long weekend in St Albans in April, a holiday with friends to Italy in June, and then my wife and I will probably get away in July as well.

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Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit

Before we had kids, we usually did a lot of long weekends and then one big holiday. Where possible every single one of those was well outside school holidays. The only exception being anytime Easter is towards the end of April and the May Day holiday was early enough that you could just take the days between them to extend the holiday.

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Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit

I don't have kids. I book the first lot (approx 1/2) around the existing bank holidays, so I get more bang for my buck. Eg. More time off for fewer used up days. Then I book next Christmas and my birthday off. Then I keep the other half to do with what I want with. Usually, visit mates or go on trips, weddings, family things, gigs, or just feel like I need a break. My work holiday policy is probably better than most, so I am #blessed

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anonoaw@reddit

I have 2 kids but my husband is part-time self employed so he can do childcare during the school holidays. I always take Christmas off - try to finish around the 20th and back at the start of January. I always take my birthday off, which is in february half term. I always take some time off in the summer for a family holiday - middle of August this year. The rest of it I use as and when I need to, usually in school holidays but might be other times. I have flexitime too so I tend to use that for random days or afternoons off and use my AL for actual time off.

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Dull-Classroom-3479@reddit

As I don't have kids, I take my holidays when kids are at school (in all the Uk countries) A) It's cheaper B) I don't really want to go on holiday to a place with loads of kids around as I don't find it relaxing C) Most people at work have kids so I can cover their work when they are on holiday and vice/versa

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Competitive-Fly6472@reddit

Same here. I typically take two 2 week breaks a year: around April/May and September/Oct.The remaining 5 days I take here and there for long weekends away. The comp shuts down for a week at Christmas which is nice. i try to avoid going away bank holiday weekends, made that mistake once. Never again.

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cragglerock93@reddit

I have no kids. I try to very roughly spread them out through the year. I also like to have one week in November for 'Christmas' as I work in retail and December is a no go for all intents and purposes. Sometimes I just get tired of working and ask for a few days off ASAP.

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Trentdison@reddit

Kids and I'm basically using most of them during school holidays, a few held in reserve in case of them being ill and me needing to book time off.

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quenishi@reddit

DINK. Avoid peak times - quieter and cheaper.

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seahorsebabies3@reddit

I work shifts, so by taking on (too many) weekends I’m able to usually cover kids school holidays and last year we managed to have a couples holiday for his big birthday (early September). Other than that, my AL isn’t enough to cover all school holidays and I don’t have the budget for the August priced family holidays.

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deadliftbear@reddit

No kids. I’m also self-employed, so I can often take holiday whenever I want. My partner, though, has semi-fixed weeks where he has first refusal, so we try to target periods outside English school holidays.

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CMDoet@reddit

No kids. When I was with my ex we'd arrange some time off around Feb/Mar (birthdays and a break a good gap away from Christmas), June (before summer holidays, can enjoy the weather, usually for gardening or house reno), Sep/Oct (after summer holidays, a break a good gap before Christmas) and we'd try to get some time off at Christmas. This left enough days to have off ad hoc which I'd usually use for meeting friends or going to events, or house renovations. Now I'm on my own it's much less organised and last year I just used my leave for one holiday with friends, one week of unpaid work, and the rest ad hoc days, then had a load left over. Going to try and rectify that this year with a bit of structure.

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Grand_Act8840@reddit

Christmas and then it’s entirely dependent on when I’ve booked a holiday away or have a long weekend and need the odd Friday off. I also plan to have a couple of long weekends to just stay at home this year.

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PamVanDam@reddit

No kids, just book them for whenever I want or need them. Typically try to make sure I have birthdays , anniversary and Christmas sorted in advance and then it’s really just whenever I book something or have an event. I have 28 days , public holidays and can buy more. Parter has 32 , public hols and can buy more. His work is a little “stricter” in that they have quarterly calendar openings and sometimes he may not get what he requests but it’s usually not an issue.

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Typical_Might_1413@reddit

No kids but try to save AL for when family/friends are free which in their industries tends to be peak periods. Even then I minimise it winter time to ensure I can maximise it summer time

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Equivalent_Word3952@reddit

I try to have Christmas off, and then term time only holidays so it’s quieter. Can’t be bothered to work over Christmas but I think I should as it’s always empty. No kids.

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