How to travel when you have a full-time job

It can be hard to travel as much as you want to when you have a full-time job. Most companies only offer 10 days or 2 weeks vacation time to their employees, if you’re lucky. More and more are offering better vacation packages since Millennials are really pushing for this, but there is still a large portion (1/3!) of Americans who don’t use their vacation time. You absolutely should be using all of your vacation time.

You don’t have to use it all at once or for a major trip. You can use a day here or there tacked on to your weekends and take a longer weekend trip to another city. I feel like New Orleans is the PERFECT city for this, especially from Memphis.

If your manager gives you a hard time for taking time off, maybe sit with them and discuss when a good time for you to travel is. This will put it on them and that will hopefully help.

Here are my tips for how to maximize your travel when you work full-time.

• Plan ahead. Planning is the most fun part of traveling for me. Doing research and finding the cool things to do is almost as fun as actually doing them in my opinion. I constantly am planning trips in my head and doing research. Keep a running list of places you want to visit and do some light research to figure out how much time you’d need in each place. Also, by planning ahead, you’re maximizing your time in your destination. One of my biggest pet peeves when traveling with others is wasting time trying to figure out what you want to do. You waste SO MUCH TIME doing that! Plan ahead and make an itinerary so you know exactly what you’re doing. Be sure you also map out where everything is. I made this mistake in Berlin by not realizing how massive the city is so we spent too much time going all around town when we could’ve researched this better and not waste so much time. I’m always learning!

  *** For those rolling your eyes at making an itinerary, make a “soft itinerary.” Meaning make a list and a schedule of everything you want to see and if you find something else you’d rather do, then do that! But at least you have an idea.

• Piggy back off holidays. Find out which days you have off work (Memorial Day, Labor Day, Easter, etc.) and piggy back your vacations off of those dates. Flights and hotels may be more expensive during this time (especially around Christmas), but if you have limited vacation days, this is your best bet!

• Be smart about your flights. If your time is limited, be sure to check how long your flight is / how long layovers are / how many layovers you have. If you have to have a layover, you can try to make it a longer one so you can leave the airport for awhile and experience a new city during your trip. Also look into open jaw flights. This is where you fly into one city and fly out of another. If you want to hop around and see multiple places on your trip, this may be the best option for you and usually are the same price or just slightly more expensive.

• Pick prime location for accommodations. While these are usually more expensive, you will save time by being in the thick of things. If you choose a cheap Airbnb miles away, you’ll be wasting a lot of time getting into the city or wherever you’re going. Try to find accommodations closest to where you’ll be sightseeing.

• Use your time wisely. I try to take one big trip a year and a few small ones. My big trip will typically be a 7-10 days, and then I’ll have some long weekend trips locally. Figure out what matches your travel style and needs and do that! If you’re lucky enough to travel for work, add a few days at the beginning or end of your trip and use those to explore.

Do you have any tips for traveling when you have a full-time job? Drop them in the comments below!