# What's a vacation day? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 9, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142 "2007-10-09T22:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/1 "2007-10-09T22:12:43Z")
You’re going on vacation to your favorite spot. It take you 3 hours to get there. The hotel checkin is at 3:00, so you leave at noon on Wednesday. You arrive, check in, and have maybe an hour of beach time before dinner. That night, you go out on the town and do some shopping. Over the next few days, you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you go to the beach, do some shopping, maybe see a show or two. You awake in your hotel room, you go to sleep in your hotel room. The following Tuesday, you have time for breakfast and maybe a dip in the pool, then you have to pack up and check out by 11:00. You’re home by 2:00. How many days was your vacation? Why? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/2 "2007-10-09T22:24:36Z")
I think I know where this is going, and I constantly had this argument when managing a video store, but I’ll bite anyway. Seven. Wednesday and Tuesday count because I’m not doing my normal routine. Sure, I’m not as vacationy as I’d like to be, but I’m still not changing other’s people’s kid’s diapers, planning dinner and doing the grocery shopping. If I had a desk job, I wouldn’t be doing it. Therefore, I’m “on vacation”. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/3 "2007-10-09T22:26:12Z")
I always count **nights** rather than days in these situations, and the way you told it it’s definitely 6 nights (Wedn., Thur., Fri., Sat., Sun., Mon.). I’d also call it 6 days (Wedn. noon -\> Tues. noon), but that’s perhaps a question of opinion. ETA: In any case, you’d have to take 5 days off work (assuming no holidays,) so adding in the weekend, I can see why you could call it 7 days, too. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/4 "2007-10-10T01:43:09Z")
About a week. Except for the days I miss work, I don’t see the need to come up with an absolutely accurate accounting of my time, I’m on vacation. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/5 "2007-10-10T01:50:47Z")
Seven days of vacation, in my particular work situation that means I am taking five vacation days because I don’t work on weekends. I was on vacation for a week, as far as my HR office is concerned, I used five vacation days. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/6 "2007-10-10T15:52:00Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] Seven days of vacation, in my particular work situation that means I am taking five vacation days because I don’t work on weekends. I was on vacation for a week, as far as my HR office is concerned, I used five vacation days. [/QUOTE] Fair enough. But that wasn’t the question. When you get back, a coworker asks where you went and how long you were there. What do you say to the second part? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/7 "2007-10-10T15:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Fair enough. But that wasn’t the question. When you get back, a coworker asks where you went and how long you were there. What do you say to the second part? [/QUOTE] “I went to (insert place name here), I was there a week.” ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/8 "2007-10-10T15:59:37Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Fair enough. But that wasn’t the question. When you get back, a coworker asks where you went and how long you were there. What do you say to the second part? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=tdn] How many days was your vacation? Why? [/QUOTE] Seven days is the answer to the original question. We didn’t know about the coworker until this post. I’d tell them I was there 7 days. Maybe not 100% of every day, but you were there for some part of the day, 100% of the days. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/9 "2007-10-10T16:18:51Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Fair enough. But that wasn’t the question. When you get back, a coworker asks where you went and how long you were there. What do you say to the second part? [/QUOTE] A week, definitely. I enjoyed the benefits of the vacation destination on the first day (dinner, shopping, sleep) and the last day (breaky, pool). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/10 "2007-10-10T16:42:26Z")
I’m with **Noone Special**. I was there for six nights. That’s what I paid for. But I’d often look at it as five days, with a little bonus time. And sometimes it depends on how long that first day actually is, and how enjoyable the travel time is. One vacation this summer was five nights. I left at 8am and was totally psyched the whole time. I checked in at noon. I consider that five days. Another vacation I left at 3pm, and the travel sucked ass. I checked in at close to 6pm. Four nights, three days. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/11 "2007-10-10T16:52:10Z")
So you weren’t “there” at 3:30 PM Wednesday or 10:30 AM on Tuesday? That is confusing. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/12 "2007-10-10T16:57:50Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] So you weren’t “there” at 3:30 PM Wednesday or 10:30 AM on Tuesday? That is confusing. [/QUOTE] I was there but it wasn’t a full day. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/13 "2007-10-10T17:03:52Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] I was there but it wasn’t a full day. [/QUOTE] But you didn’t ask about “full days”. That’s moving the goalpoasts. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/14 "2007-10-10T17:06:16Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] But you didn’t ask about “full days”. That’s moving the goalpoasts. [/QUOTE] It would be moving the goalposts if I posted this in Great Debates. This is IMHO. It’s to find out how you think about these things. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/15 "2007-10-10T17:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] It would be moving the goalposts if I posted this in Great Debates. This is IMHO. It’s to find out how you think about these things. [/QUOTE] Okay, then it’s just asking a different question than you asked in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/16 "2007-10-10T17:18:03Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Okay, then it’s just asking a different question than you asked in the OP. [/QUOTE] It’s the same question, but I phrased it poorly. “How long were you in the Hamptons?” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/17 "2007-10-10T17:20:09Z")
I might say something like “five full days and two travel days” but in general, one week. Vacation comes in increments of day, two days, long weekend, week, two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/18 "2007-10-10T17:23:33Z")
I’m with **WhyNot** …the days I take off from work are my “vacation” days, plus whatever weekend days are in the middle of it or involved with travel, etc. The days I travel are included. So if I fly in on the first day, and fly out on the 7th day, it’s a seven-day vacation, or as **gigi** says, a “week’s vacation.” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-vacation-day/422142/19 "2007-10-10T20:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] It’s the same question, but I phrased it poorly. “How long were you in the Hamptons?” [/QUOTE] “Five full days, a day to drive there and a day to drive back.”