# Americans - your longest vacations? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007 "2017-08-07T15:58:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/41 "2017-08-07T21:40:01Z")
Longest single vacation was 28 days off in total during a trip to Colombia. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/42 "2017-08-07T21:51:01Z")
People are answering the poll with the longest vacation they have taken in the last five years, right? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/43 "2017-08-08T02:34:40Z")
I picked 11-15 days because the university I work for closes before Christmas and reopens after New Years. I’m often off towards the 11 day end of that range. Other than that I haven’t taken more than a week off at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/44 "2017-08-08T02:37:26Z")
I don’t like taking vacations, but there’s no way to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/45 "2017-08-08T04:03:26Z")
I typically take three weeks to do an international trip, but for my first trip to Southeast Asia in 2014 I did six weeks. It helps, of course, that I’m self-employed. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/46 "2017-08-08T05:38:42Z")
For the past few years, my wife and I take a two week vacation at the beginning of the summer. To do that takes a lot of planning, I work the first half of the year to make sure that my work schedule will allow for it, coordinating with other colleagues’ vacations and my project’s schedule. It’s always a dance to make sure it happens, but it’s important enough to both of us that we protect that time. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/47 "2017-08-08T07:33:29Z")
Well, it was 7 years ago, not 5, but I took one week off to move, and then I took another week (that included a July 4 holiday) to recover from moving. However, I once took a 3-week vacation, and I recommend them highly. It took me the whole first week just to deprogram and relax into my vacation. Which was backpacking. Yeah I was happy to get back to work to recover from my vacation. Those were the days! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/48 "2017-08-08T12:43:30Z")
For me the longest was 30 days, on two separate occasions. The first time (road trip in Mexico), I had to ask for unpaid leave, as I’d not earned enough vacation days at that point. The last time (rental-RV road trip in New Zealand), I had plenty of vacation days, plus a bonus 10 days for “R&R” due to being assigned to a third-world country. Both times, I was working for the same company I work at today. Luckily we have a great work culture where vacations are encouraged rather than frowned upon. There’s also no real pressure to remain in contact while you’re on vacation, unless you’re running a major project and don’t trust your engineers, or you’re running a major project and trust your engineers too much (i.e., need to prove you are needed). In general, I like to take one long vacation (two weeks or longer) so that I can spend real time in a place (especially if it’s a 12 hour or more plane ride), supplemented by various long weekends for Michigan/Ontario activities. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/49 "2017-08-08T12:56:35Z")
Foreigners working in the US don’t count, and Americans working abroad do? _goes off to remove Ravenman’s eye from her finger, clean and return it_ ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/50 "2017-08-08T12:58:13Z")
I agree that vacations are important. My last job, they made a big deal of how many vacation days they offered, but then got pissy when people tried to take them. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/51 "2017-08-08T14:51:43Z")
I missed the “In the last 5 years” so my vote for greater than 30 days is invalid. In my late 20’s and early 30’s I took a 6 week and 7 week vacations to go trekking in Nepal and New Zealand. But in the past five years my longest vacation is 16 days, done a few times. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/52 "2017-08-08T15:29:46Z")
14 work days off 2 years ago for a trip to Asia. I did a trip to the UK last year but only 11 days. I’ve taken longer vacations, but not in the last 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/53 "2017-08-08T17:22:39Z")
In the 22 years I worked full-time I never had a single vacation day. I had jobs where I could ask for a day or two off, but they weren’t paid vacation days. I worked labor 6 years, retail 5+ years, and as a special ed. aid in the school system for about nine years. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/54 "2017-08-08T17:26:54Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > People are answering the poll with the longest vacation they have taken in the last five years, right? Can you clarify what I asked about? You mention “total duration of\*\* the trip\*\*” but do you actually mean the total vacation? If I take a week off (total nine days) and travel for four of them, you want me to report nine, right? Or if I stay home the whole time, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/55 "2017-08-08T17:32:11Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > If I take a week off (total nine days) and travel for four of them, you want me to report nine, right? Or if I stay home the whole time, does that count? Yep, that seems to be what he’s after. > [@Asimovian](#): > > Point of clarification—are you asking about duration of travel (you say “trip” in places), or simply the amount of time that I did not report to work due to scheduled time off? For example, I took a couple of weeks off earlier this year after a very lengthy business trip. I spent the first week of that time at home recuperating and doing things locally, and then did a road trip for the second week. Would that entire time count, or just the travel time? > [@Ravenman](#): > > Entire time. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/56 "2017-08-08T17:34:00Z")
I once worked a job that had about a month or two off every year. The pay was lousy, and I only got two weeks of _paid_ vacation, but damn do I miss having July and August off every year. And I always saved enough that the meager unemployment benefits carried me just fine through the downtime. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/57 "2017-08-08T19:26:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Foreigners working in the US don’t count, and Americans working abroad do? Well, okay, the first time was a trip abroad _from_ the USA (where I was working) to Mexico and back, and the second time I was working for my American company making American dollars… okay, the second one is iffy. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/58 "2017-08-08T19:51:38Z")
If we’re including weekends, I need to change my answer from 10 days to 16 days, with weekends. Not that there was any trip involved, but I stayed home and bushhogged my pastures and read all day, if I wanted. I almost never go anywhere. Too many animals. StG ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/59 "2017-08-08T19:55:30Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Yep, that seems to be what he’s after. :smack: Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007/60 "2017-08-08T20:02:14Z")
I have an unusual work schedule, which means that I can take longer vacations using fewer actual days off. Combined with holiday-dense times of year, that means I generally can take two 17-day vacations a year and still have a day or two off to extend a long weekend or fill in a gap like the Monday before the 4th of July this year. I’d take more if I had the time available; I genuinely feel sorry for folks whose employment circumstances don’t allow them to take adequate vacation; I doubt that’s good for them _or_ their companies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-your-longest-vacations/793007.md?page=4)