How To Turn 20 Days Of Leave Into 47 Days Of Travel
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As a nine-to-five-thirty office worker, public holidays really do seem to sneak up out of nowhere.
One minute, your brain is in the daily grind, ticking off your to-do list and doing whatever it is you do in Excel; next minute you’re sitting in an empty office on the Monday before a public holiday, scrolling through the sick adventures of everyone else who took the opportunity for a super long weekend away and feeling pretty sad for yourself.
[related_articles]61214,37848,11565[/related_articles]Well, fret not – a little forward planning is all you need to get the most out of your time off in 2017. The legends over at Contiki have done the hard yards, crunched the figures and produced a thing of beauty: a chart that shows how to turn 20 days of annual leave into 47 days of travel.
The simple chart – which, sorry hospo types, generally only applies to office workers – tracks public holidays and weekends, then fills in the gaps with 20 days of annual leave, showcasing how to expertly hack your holidays and more than double your preconceived time off in the new year.
[related_articles]25466[/related_articles]Voila! That’s – count ’em – 47 potential days of adventure using just 20 days of annual leave. The chart shows you how to tick off both extra long weekend breaks and bucket list trips, and the travel experts at Contiki have also put forward some ace ideas on how to best spend those precious extra days.
January: Australia Day
4 days
Explore our backyard by watching the sunrise over Uluru or snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef. If you’re keen to get abroad, use your four days to go skiing in Japan (where the snow is best in January) or hike on a glacier and bungy jump in Queenstown.
April: Easter & ANZAC Day
17 days
Take a spring vacation to the US. Either complete an epic roadtrip around the west, ending at epic music and arts festival Coachella, or let the good times roll in New Orleans at the French Quarter Festival that happens annually at the start of April, or the New Orleans Jazz Festival at the end of the month.
June: Queen’s Birthday
10 days
Take advantage of the start of European summer and tick off one (or some) of those bucket list-worthy experiences: maybe a gondola ride in Venice, a bike ride through Amsterdam, a picnic in the French countryside or island hopping around Greece or Croatia. You beauty.
[related_articles]23922[/related_articles]September: Labour Day
6 days
Walk the Great Wall of China, visit Munich for Oktoberfest or take a quick trip to Prague to explore its castles, bridges and gothic cathedrals as the temperature cools and the summer crowds disperse.
December: Christmas and New Year’s
10 days
Ain’t no party like a Full Moon Party in Thailand, and may as well island hop while you’re there, or go ‘gram crazy at Japan’s Winter Light Festival which sees seven million LED lights illuminate the Nabana Botanical Garden.
Check out Qantas flights and begin your next adventure.
(Chart and body copy image courtesy of Contiki)
(Lead image: AJ Garcia / Unsplash)
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