How can you travel often with a full-time job
When traveling is part of your life but you have a full-time job, it can be hard to plan your next adventures with only a couple of days at a time to plan a getaway. So how can you travel often with a full-time job?
I’ve read a lot in the past year about great ways to travel more by having a job that travels. Yes, this can be an option but it might not be what suits you or your current situation best.
For 7 years I was a flight attendant and got to travel to places I never even thought about before. I had some sort of glamorous job (not all the time trust me!) But this sort of lifestyle isn’t for everybody and depending on the job, you can be traveling the world but not even getting the chance to explore because you are in and out of the country in a blink of an eye.
I changed careers completely to be more at home and actually get to see my kids grow up instead of missing out on everything. I got to travel yes, but I didn’t get to travel and live all those great adventures with the ones I love.
It was difficult at first because I was so used to traveling every week that the first couple of months were quite boring not being able to visit someplace new. But with time, I found some great alternatives to having a job that travels, to travel more even though I work a 40h/week, Monday to Friday schedule. I strongly believe that you can travel, experience great adventures with a full-time work schedule. You just aren’t traveling full-time but making the most of the time you have off.
Here are my little tricks to spend more time traveling and exploring and travel often with a full-time job.
Planning a weekend trip
For me, I find summertime is a lot easier to apply this one. I feel less inspired on what to do in the wintertime. Our family loves camping and our trailer camper, just makes it even easier. Every weekend from mid-May to mid-October, we go camping somewhere new. We usually leave on Fridays around 3 PM and come back on Sunday mid-afternoon. This gives us plenty of time to visit and do some outdoor activities wherever we go. We tend to go places that are about one hour to an hour and a half on regular weekends.
Wintertime is a little harder. I try to organize two or three little trips to a nice cottage so we can have a winter adventure. Now that the kids are getting a little older, we can go to the mountains and snowboard but also relax in a nice cottage with an amazing view of the mountains. Don’t forget to pack some warm clothes to enjoy all the winter activities!
Long weekends
Long weekends are great to go exploring someplace further than your typical two-day weekend. Having an extra day or two you’ll have more time on your hands to plan something. You can always add an extra day from your vacation block to make it a whole week off. Long weekends actually add a little wiggle room to add in some flights to your time away from work. Even with work, it is possible to travel often with a full-time job!
For me, I would either drive farther away or take a one or two-hour flight to someplace in Canada or the USA and go exploring for the long weekend.
Adding vacation days to your weekends
There’s always the option of adding some vacation days to your weekends instead of taking all your vacation days all at once. If you spread them throughout the year with some long weekends already planned, you can actually get more time off than your actual two or three weeks off a year depending on where you work and your years of service.
Here in Quebec City, you usually start with two weeks’ vacation and then add a week every other year. It takes quite some time to get to 5 weeks’ vacation a year.
Accumulate extra hours
Some companies give you the opportunity to work some extra hours in your week and accumulate them for future use. Let’s say you have two weeks vacation a year but you have this option, you could work more for some time and accumulate an extra week or whatever number of days you’d like.
Plan to attend conferences for work in another city
If the work you have allows you to travel, that’s great. You might be able to decide what conference or congress you want to attend. Hopefully, you have enough time on your hands once you get there to explore the city a little! It can be a great opportunity to discover a place you might want to return to and spend more time exploring in the future.
Sick days
Some companies offer a number of sick days during the year. It’s great if you need them when you are sick but it’s even better if you didn’t use them and your employer is flexible and lets you use them for other purposes, in this case, to travel! Sometimes, you can also use them by the hour instead of a full day. Let’s just say you have an appointment with the doctor and you’ll be missing only an hour of work, it’s nice to only use one hour out of your sick day hour bank.
You could also use those hours to add to your trip. There’s a great flight going to Greece but it leaves in the afternoon and your vacation only starts the next day… Good news! Why not use a couple of hours from your sick bank and be able to hop on that flight and even get some extra time at your final destination!
Take an unpaid leave
If you are doing some great work and your superiors are happy with what you are doing, they might just accept for you to take unpaid leave for a certain time. It might be a week or two or even a couple of months. For my trip to Scotland in 2019, that is what I did. I took an extra three weeks of vacation time for this amazing trip.
Take a late flight there and an early one back
You’re finishing work at 4 PM on Friday, why not take a flight the same evening instead of waiting the next morning and lose valuable time at your destination? The flights might not always work for you but if the option is there, it gives you some extra time. The same goes for the way back. You could take a super early flight the morning you are going back to reality and still be on time for your regular scheduled starting time at work.
This way you have more time to spend there and explore wherever you are. Or have a great last dinner the night before without having to go in the middle of a great time to catch your flight home.
Working remotely
Not every company offers this. If they do though, this is a great opportunity to work from anywhere you want! That beautiful cottage in Whistler you’ve been looking at could be a great view for your office for a couple of days. With this opportunity, you can work from anywhere in the world and still be working your full-time job but also enjoying yourself at the same time.
Don’t say no to great opportunities
A friend calls you to invite you to a cottage or a great activity, just say yes if you are available! You will most likely have a great time, relax a little bit and you might even be able to get out of your comfort zone. You don’t have to travel far to have a great time away from your work, eat, sleep routine and it might just be what you needed to feel good and refreshed from your time off.
We did this just this summer! A friend of ours from the Magdalen Islands asked us to come to visit and park our camper at his house. We said yes and we had an amazing trip! We are already planning to return sooner rather than later!
I like to think that traveling isn’t all about going abroad. I believe you can experience something new and discover a great place only a couple of hours away from your hometown. There are some beautiful places to see only a corner away! I like to think that traveling is a mix of going abroad, discovering places nearby, and experiences along the way!
What are your tips to travel often with a full-time job??
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