In the UK, the current minimum holiday entitlement is 20 days plus the 8 public holidays. This equates to up to 4 full weeks for most workers plus a few sporadic national holidays.
For those who love to travel, 4 weeks isn’t really long enough to explore more than a couple of countries. I guess you could argue, that is just life and we should be grateful we have a full month of annual leave – after all in the USA, many people only get 2 weeks holiday entitlement!
But what if I told you that you can double your holiday entitlement by being a little bit savvy? This travel hack is so simple, I’m not even sure if it can be called a travel hack!
But if you follow this guide and book the following annual leave dates, you can double your annual leave giving you more time to explore the world with your time off!
What you can expect from this article…
- 1 Increasing Your Holiday Entitlement by Being Savvy With National Holidays
- 1.1 January Annual Leave
- 1.2 April Annual Leave
- 1.3 May Annual Leave
- 1.4 August Annual Leave
- 2 December Annual Leave
- 3 Other Ways to Maximise on your annual leave
Increasing Your Holiday Entitlement by Being Savvy With National Holidays
January Annual Leave
National holiday; 1st January
Book these dates; 31st December and 2nd – 4th December
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 9 days off for 4 days annual leave.
Trips you could take with these January dates
- North Morocco Adventure
- Cuba Sailing Adventure
- Laos on a shoestring
April Annual Leave
National Holidays; April 19th and April 22nd
Book these dates; 15th-18th & 2rd-26th April
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 16 days off for 8 days annual leave
Trips you could take with these April dates
- Cape and Dunes Overland – Namibia to Cape Town, South Africa
- Everest Base Camp Trek, Nepal
- Sri Lanka Encompassed
May Annual Leave
You have a few different options in May depending on how much annual leave you have and how far you want to get!
National Holiday; May 6th
Book these dates; 7th- 10th
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 9 days off for 4 days annual leave
Trips you could take with these early May dates
- Sailing Croatia from Split to Dubrovnik
- The Amalfi Coast, Italy
- The Inca Trail, Peru on the Inca Discovery
National Holiday; May 27th
Book These Dates; 28th-31st May
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 9 days off for 4 days annual leave
Trips you could take with these later May dates
- Las Vegas to La via Yosemite National Park and San Francisco
- Rome to Budapest on a shoestring
- Greek Island Hopping
If you are looking for a longer trip…
Book these dates; 7th May – 24th May
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 24 days off with 14 days annual leave
Trips you could take with this extended annual leave
- Best of East Africa – Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar
- Highlights of the US
- Thailand, Laos and Vietnam Adventure
August Annual Leave
National Holiday; August 26th
Book these dates; 27th-30th August
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 9 days off with 4 days annual leave
Trips you could take with this August leave
- Costa Rica Kayaking Adventure
- Complete Iceland Tour
- Beautiful Bali Tour
December Annual Leave
National Holidays; 25th and 26th December
Book these dates; 23rd, 24th and 27th December
Holiday entitlement trade up; Get 9 days off with 3 days annual leave
Trips you could take with this December leave
- Europe Christmas Markets Tour
- Japan in winter
- Borneo East Sabah Adventure
So as you can see, if you are savvy with your holiday entitlement and book the right days off for annual leave, you could in theory take 5 9-day trips in one year with only 20 days of annual leave! In one year you could visit Cuba, Peru, Italy, Costa Rica AND Japan! Yeah, you get the idea…
Other Ways to Maximise on your annual leave
- Travel in the evening after work and be willing to take overnight flights to maximise your annual leave.
- Take frequent weekend city breaks. Whilst your job might get in the way of your big travel plans, you can still take frequent city breaks and travel in Europe!
- Enjoy a staycation. If you can’t get enough annual leave, make sure you take some time to explore what’s on your doorstep.
- Work remotely or take unpaid leave. IT’s at least worth a conversation with your boss right..?!
Now you’ve worked out how to travel more, you may want to read these articles to help inspire your trips and help you plan your adventure!
- How to travel more, even with a mortgage
- Which is the best group travel company for
single travellers? - G Adventures vs Intrepid – which is best?
- A comprehensive guide to planning your trip
- How to get super cheap flights
- Adventure bucket list experiences to make this year amazing
So tell me, where are YOU planning to travel this year? Tell us in the comments! And as always, I really appreciate any social shares with the buttons and pins below – thanks you are a super star!
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