canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2024-03-04 04:13 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2024-03-04 04:13 pm
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Two+ Weeks Off
Our upcoming trip to New Zealand will be a first for me— in more ways than one. In addition to being my first time in New Zealand, it'll be my first time taking a two week vacation from work. In fact it's even more than two weeks: I'm taking off two weeks and a day. I've never used that much vacation time in a single go before.
This trip will also tie for my record of longest time away from home, at 16 days.
There's something uniquely American about these being my firsts after 20+ years of working. Unique, compared to my European colleagues, at least. Meager time-off allowances are a US thing. Whereas workers in many EU countries have 5 or 6 weeks of paid time off per year, in addition to national holidays, the norm here in the US is 2-3 weeks. And the minimum required by law is zero. That's a big part of why I've never spent 2 weeks of vacation all in a single shot— I've rarely had that much time accrued to spend! And even when I have had the vacation balance available, because long vacations are so not a thing in American working culture I've been reluctant to try planning one. Even with this trip I felt self-conscious telling my boss I wanted 2 weeks off for a big trip. Fortunately he agreed with no reservations or conditions, so away we go!
This trip will also tie for my record of longest time away from home, at 16 days.
There's something uniquely American about these being my firsts after 20+ years of working. Unique, compared to my European colleagues, at least. Meager time-off allowances are a US thing. Whereas workers in many EU countries have 5 or 6 weeks of paid time off per year, in addition to national holidays, the norm here in the US is 2-3 weeks. And the minimum required by law is zero. That's a big part of why I've never spent 2 weeks of vacation all in a single shot— I've rarely had that much time accrued to spend! And even when I have had the vacation balance available, because long vacations are so not a thing in American working culture I've been reluctant to try planning one. Even with this trip I felt self-conscious telling my boss I wanted 2 weeks off for a big trip. Fortunately he agreed with no reservations or conditions, so away we go!
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I'm in a similar boat --I'm incredibly excited to take my first ever two-days off in a row at work to go see the eclipse in April! I tend not to even get sick particularly often (and even less so now that I mask full time and don't go through colds) so taking both Monday and Tuesday off is a stunning new experience! ;)
(Of course, as a schoolteacher in Massachusetts, I get full weeks off in December, February, and April and 9-10 consecutive weeks in the summer. As I tell people, I do work fewer days than most jobs --contractually, 185 days a year-- I just have no flexibility in when those days are!)
~Sor
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