Tips for Planning Travel With a Full-Time Job

I am pretty sure that no matter how much vacation time I have, it would never be enough. Travel is in my veins, I need it. And unfortunately, I do not have unlimited vacation time so I’ve had to find a way to make travel work while working a full-time job.

Balancing travel with a full-time job can seem challenging, but with the right planning, it’s entirely possible to explore new destinations without jeopardizing your career.

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Here are my best tips on how we are able to travel so much with full-time jobs:

Make the Most of Long Weekends and Holidays

I’m going to start with the easiest way to travel with a job.

And that is by taking advantage of long weekends and holidays. Adding a day or two to a 3-day weekend is an easy way of getting a 4+ day trip without having to take as much time off.

Be Realistic and Set Goals

Check in with yourself about what’s realistic for you. You might not be going to a new country every other month like your friend from high school. What does “traveling more” mean to you?

Setting travel goals can help you determine action steps to take towards meeting those goals. It also helps you check in to see whether or not you are meeting your goals and explore if there’s something you could do differently. It also helps you to see what is working well for you!

Book Your Trips in Advance

If you’re going to use my first tip and book your trips alongside a holiday weekend, you’re going to want to plan ahead. This is because a lot of people will probably be doing the same thing you are, so it will probably be busier than usual. This means that finding accommodations and booking tours might be a bit more difficult.

If you plan your holiday trip ahead of time, you’re more likely to get your preferred travel dates and find better deals on everything from flights to accommodations.

Take Advantage of Work Trips

If you are taking a work trip, see if you can add extra days to the beginning or the end of the trip. This is a great way to expand your travel opportunities without too much extra work.

The best part about a business trip is that your plane ticket and accommodations are more than likely going to be covered!

If there aren’t current opportunities to travel for work, is there a way you could make one? For example, find a conference and explain how your attendance at the conference will benefit the company.

Take Shorter Trips and/or Stay Close to Home

If you’re tight on vacation time, consider shorter weekend trips. Maybe this means flying out on a Friday night after work (or taking a half day off of work on Friday) and getting home Sunday evening.

If you live near the Tampa Bay area, here are some great trip ideas that aren’t too far from Tampa Bay.

Short weekend trips are valid forms of travel. It is easy to compare ourselves to people on social media traveling to exotic places, but it’s not necessary to do that in order to explore new places.

In fact, it’s easy to overlook what is often right in front of us. Challenging ourselves to find cool things to do within a short drive from home can lead to some unique experiences we wouldn’t have taken otherwise.

Maybe it means taking a road trip somewhere cool that’s a few hours away.

Travel Efficiently

By traveling efficiently, you can make the most out of each day of your trip.

Make an itinerary to make sure you’re not wasting time backtracking and spending the day how you want.

I am a huge fan of slow travel and really getting to know a place. But the truth is that most of the times, there isn’t enough time to do and see absolutely everything. I am constantly working to accept that and to prioritize my “must sees” at each location.

Try to book direct flights if possible. This decreases the chance of missing a connection and it’s also easier for you!

Another great option to maximize your time off is to take a red eye after work or on your return flight. I love that red eyes don’t take up travel time during the day so you have more time to explore. Just be careful if you’re taking a red eye overnight and going straight to work that you have enough flexibility to miss work if your plane is delayed.

Prepare for a Successful Return to Work

If it’s possible, schedule a lighter day when you get back to work. If you have the freedom to do your easier tasks on this day, it will be easier and less daunting to return to work.

Other things I’ve found that help when I’m coming back from a trip and going to work the next day are:

• Making sure my house is clean before the trip so that I’m coming back home to a clean house
• Having meals planned out for the next day. Sometimes this means I have a freezer meal available, other times I get my groceries delivered the night before I go back to work

I don’t like to take “a vacation from my vacation”. This is where you take extra time off in between the vacation and going back to work. It does make returning to work harder, but it allows me to use my vacation days for actual vacation.

Get Creative

Sometimes, I find it easy to compare myself to people who get to travel more than me. I find myself wishing I could live on the road, work remotely, or any other number of things that would let me travel more.

But I just can’t. And instead of letting that hold me back, I try to focus on my own situation

When I focus on how easy other people have it, it limits me and stifles my creativity. There are some creative ways you might be able to make travel work for you with your job.

For example:

• Could you volunteer for more work trips and add a day or so on the end?
• Can you negotiate for more time off or maybe even compromise for some sort of schedule shift? For example, I work four 10 hour days which gives me a 3-day weekend every single week. This makes it so much easier to travel locally.
• Could you even negotiate to work remotely?
• If they can’t give you additional days off, can you take unpaid leave?

Be a Good Employee

I have multiple friends who have gone to resign from their positions to travel more. Because they were valued workers, their bosses were willing to give the more time off and allow more remote work.

I know it won’t always be the case that you’ll be treated fairly at work just because you are a good employee, but there’s a better chance that they’ll work with you if you’re a good employee than if you’re not. And hopefully by being a good employee, your company will want you to be happy and will work with you.

Take a Sabbatical

This obviously is a more extreme way of getting creative. It won’t work for everyone, but taking a sabbatical may be a great option for some full-time workers wanting to travel.

This could mean something different depending on your situation. Maybe you love your employer and they also value you so they agree to let you take unpaid time off. Or maybe you are able to save up money or work extra to save money to be able to take some time off every few years.

Final Thoughts

Having a full time job doesn’t mean you have to put your travel dreams on hold. Maybe you get creative and take a long weekend or explore a new city just a few hours away.

Or maybe you decide to plan carefully, maximize time off, and work remotely to take the big trip of your dreams. Either way, you can explore new destinations and find adventure even with a busy schedule.