Maximizing PTO So You Can Travel More

Devyn
Jan 3, 2019
7 min read

Updated: Feb 1, 2019

I wanted to start this project because I felt like most blogs didn't seem to cater to the "in-betweeners". You know, the people who aren't:

A.) Professional travelers, those who somehow found the secret recipe to get paid to travel or

B.) People with hoards of travel points or are hellbent on getting said travel points through "hacks" or

C.) Full-time drifters who don't mind couch surfing, working the front desk in exchange for free lodging, or hostel-ing it up

I'm not knocking on any of these three groups by any means. Props to Group A people (as my eye twitches with jealousy) but I’m definitely not one of them. I certainly tried to be one of those Group B people but found it only worked on my first trip (mostly because I refuse to open multiple credit cards for the sake of points). And at this point in my life, I don't really want to be a Group C person. I fall more into this group:

D.) Someone who wants to travel more but has to while still maintaining a "9 to 5" life. I can only travel with my limited vacation days and while I don't need to couch surf, I don't have a small fortune to travel with. I don't have millions of travel points, I don't have the time/energy to travel for cheap by using loopholes, and I don't intend on being a travel "influencer" that curates aesthetically-pleasing content for likes. I just want to travel, dammnit, but I only have so much PTO!

Does this sound like you in any way? If so, good - I want to help people like you (like us) chase the #wanderlust dreams. There's a happy medium - you can travel the world without being a full-time trekker. I found every excuse in the book on why I couldn't travel internationally for a looooong time (money, time, my job, my family, etc) and guess what - EVERY excuse was bogus. So consider me here to debunk those excuses, to empower you to go travel.

Okay, rambling emotional speech aside....let's crush the TIME excuse. I can only travel with my PTO time. And while my husband and I are very fortunate to work for two different companies with great PTO policies, you can still get some amazing adventures out of even two weeks of paid time off or less. Here are some ways to make the most of your PTO:

1.) Take advantage of any flexibility you can find

Flexible work environments are really catching on. Consider how flexible your workplace is and what that flexibility looks like. Can you work longer days leading up to your trip to compensate for a day off? If you need to work 8 hours a day, tacking on two extra hours of work a day can get you Friday off for free. As sucky as it is to work more, consider the reward. By taking your lunch break at your desk, and arriving earlier and staying later by 30 minutes you can score a whole extra day off without touching your PTO balance. Can you work remotely for a day? If so, pack along your laptop and get some hours in while you wait at the airport or even during your flights. Most airlines offer WiFi in-flight (at a small cost).

2.) Take that red-eye flight

Most international flights I've taken have been red-eyes, so you might not need to go out of your way for this one. If you can take a later flight, you won't need to take a day off for the outbound portion of your journey. If I take a 7pm flight, I can still put in a whole working day and still make my flight. Why use up your PTO to sit on a plane? You want to use that time for the fun parts!

3.) Skip the recovery day

A lot of people (myself included) like to give themselves an adjustment day once they're back home. It's honestly great - you can cope with any jet lag, unpack, do laundry, etc. If you're time poor, skip it. Just drink copious amounts of coffee to compensate and push the laundry off to the weekend. If you can, work from home that first day back instead - less people to talk to, you can stay in your pjs, plus you'll just be playing email catch up anyways.

4.) Skip Christmas

Or New Years. Or the 4th of July. If you have PTO, I'm guessing you have holidays off too. I personally avoid traveling over the major holidays because I really enjoy spending time with my family. But, if you really want to stretch your time off, travel over a holiday when you already have "free" time off. Keep in mind that most others will have the same idea so you might run into more crowds. Airfare can also be more expensive around the holidays since most people are traveling. With that being said, if you're willing to travel on an actual holiday (rather than the weekend or day before), you can sometimes snag great deals too.

5.) See if unpaid leave is an option (or if you can dip into your future PTO)

This one might not be a viable route for many. However, some employers are (surprisingly) okay with you taking unpaid leave. Set up a meeting with your boss and ask - the worst the can do is say no. Taking a day or two (or three) of unpaid time off likely won't hurt your paycheck too much. I took a few days unpaid for my three week honeymoon; the time spent basking in the Santorini sun and champagne tasting in France was worth the smaller paycheck. If your employer is super cool (like my husband's), they might let you go "negative" with your PTO balance. Remember this will just eat into your time for a future trip, but if you have one in the works and really need that time off, this can be a great option.

6.) Be skimpy with your PTO

I rarely use my time off for anything other than traveling. I schedule appointments over lunch periods or outside working hours. I don't have a separate sick leave, so I take advantage of opportunities to work from home if I'm feeling under the weather but still feeling up to working from the couch. Car appointment? Most mechanics offer WiFi and a little waiting area so you can still work. Just not feeling work that day? Think of your upcoming trip. You really want to give up a day there for a day at home? If you really need the mental health day (take it if you do, I'm 100% supportive of it), take a half day instead.

7.) No travel plans til next year?

Take advantage of whatever PTO carryover policies your workplace offers. In 2017, my last trip of the year was in September. That meant I had a nice little accrual for my time spent working the rest of the year. I totally could have used it to take a week off around the holidays - stuffing my face with Christmas cookies, totally oblivious to what day of the week it was - but I didn't. I let that time carryforward to 2018 and it allowed me a whole extra week off (plus I still gorged on Christmas cookies). If you know you aren't traveling the rest of the year, bank that time to use towards the trip you WILL take next year.

Still not convinced these tricks can turn into real chunks of time off for traveling without giving up all your PTO?

I'm going to Thailand in fall 2019 for approximately 16 days. Here's how I'm swinging it with using minimal PTO:

-Departing on a red-eye Thursday night. I don't have to take any time off on Thursday

-Working extra Monday-Thursday the week I depart so I can take off on Friday without using a PTO day

-5 days are weekend days

-2 days fall on corporate holidays (Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving)

-Working longer hours the week prior to and the week after my trip = 2 extra days I can take off without using PTO since I'm making up for them elsewhere

-Working on the flight back home and while waiting in the airport. It's like 20 hours of flight time. I can definitely find 8 hours to actually get work done = another day without using PTO

End Result: 5 days of PTO will be used. For a 16 day trip to Thailand. SEE? Even if you have 10 days of time off a year, you could do two 16 day travels a year by using some of the tricks from above.

USE that PTO. Get out there and explore. Don't think you're limited to short trips or one trip a year by any means. I'm planning at least four other trips in 2019 and am still expecting to have time off leftover to put towards 2020 travels. It's doable people, I promise.

If you are truly stuck in a less-than-ideal work environment that doesn't allow you to explore any options I mentioned above, here are some suggestions:

- Consider trips that aren't far away so you don't waste time traveling there. A 6 hour flight will give you more time to explore than a full day of flights.

- Take advantage of any travel opportunities your work allows. Maybe you get a chance to take a work trip somewhere - try to stack your PTO before or after the trip so that way you can easily transition from work to play without needing to take time off to get there. - Negotiate. Did you have a stellar year? Consider asking for an additional day or two of vacation if a substantial raise is off the table, or try to angle for more flexibility or remote working options. - Talk to your boss. Have an honest conversation and explain that you want to travel more and are struggling with the current PTO policy. Try to come up with a compromise that works for both of you - a job should be mutually beneficial, and your personal well being can have a positive impact on your productivity.