How far ahead do you schedule your vacations?

[DaveNV]

Yesterday at work I was daydreaming about my upcoming vacations, (a frequent activity, when I have a few minutes to sit and do nothing), and it occurred to me that I didn't yet have all my vacation (PTO) days on the department vacation calendar. If too many people schedule vacations at one time, others aren't allowed to take time off then. I can't have that!

So I sent my Manager an email, laying out my "PTO SCHEDULE" (my words) for the next twelve months. I didn't exactly request the time off, as much as I let him know when I would be on vacation. It's become something of an office joke that I'm "always" going on vacation. My response is you have to plan things ahead, because great vacations don't happen by themselves. It takes work to have fun.

My email described the two weeks I'm taking next month, the week in dead of Winter after the Holdays, two weeks next June, and an as-yet unconfirmed week or two next Fall. After I sent it, I got to thinking that I was lucky to have the time to take off, but also wondering if it's odd to plan so much so specifically this far in advance. I don't waste my PTO taking a day off here and there - I save it for a vacation week or two at a time. I also tend to work on the odd single holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day) so I don't burn a PTO day for no reason.

So I'm wondering: How far ahead do you schedule your time away, and how specific are you about it? How do you manage your time off?

Dave

 

[sjsharkie]

My email described the two weeks I'm taking next month, the week in dead of Winter after the Holdays, two weeks next June, and an as-yet unconfirmed week or two next Fall. After I sent it, I got to thinking that I was lucky to have the time to take off, but also wondering if it's odd to plan so much so specifically this far in advance. I don't waste my PTO taking a day off here and there - I save it for a vacation week or two at a time. I also tend to work on the odd single holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day) so I don't burn a PTO day for no reason.

So I'm wondering: How far ahead do you schedule your time away, and how specific are you about it? How do you manage your time off?

Dave

I plan for over a year in advance. But I only schedule it for work purposes about 3 months in advance.

I like to give notice so we don't have too many people out, but since I lead a team, I generally have more flexibility than the people working for me. If I told people more than 3 months in advance, my co-workers generally wouldn't remember anyway and I'd have to remind them closer in.

-ryan

 

[dougp26364]

I start thinking about possible destinations 2 years in advance.

We begin booking home resort stays 1 year in advance, which is the limit set by the HOA's.

Exchanges or in system reservations are determined by the limits set by those systems, which varies from 9 to 12 months. If we're exchanging with I.I. I place a deposit and make a request as far in advance is allowed, even if it's unlikely to be confirmed until the particular resorts requested don't release inventory unit the 12 month mark at the earliest. There are a few resorts in Breckenridge that release inventory greater than 12 months in advance and we did book a Sept. 2015 exchange vacation in July 2014. Seems odd as we're owners at this particular resort and we can't make an owner reservation any greater than 12 months in advance.

I use to turn in my time off requests (notifications) 12 months in advance but, my manager decided that was just to far for her to keep track (some of the time off requests seemed to get lost/misplaced or otherwise not found). Now we give notification 6 months in advance.

For the last 3 years we've had season tickets for a local arena soccer team that plays from Nov. through mid March. The schedule for their games doesn't come out until sometime in Sept. In the past we've booked vacations without regard to the teams schedule but, this year we've decided to hold off booking anthing for Jan. or Feb. pending the release of the team schedule. It will be the first time in years we've considered a vacation on such "short" notice. Fortunately very few of my fellow employee's plan or take a vacation in Jan. or Feb. Waiting shouldn't hurt our ability to request time off. It will just be odd seeing what's available only a few months in advance.

 

[GregT]

I think we timeshare types are alike here.

I have everything booked through next summer, and am deliberating which of three options to go with for Fall 2015. I also know where I want to go over Christmas/New Years 2015.

And I know where I'm going in February and Summer 2016, but Spring Break 2016 is open. So, over the next two years, I have two openings (Fall 2015 and Spring Break 2016) that I will finalize soon.

Timeshares rock!

Best,

Greg

 

[csxjohn]

I think we timeshare types are alike here.

...

Not really, there are many different types. I plan my July 4th trip to the beach a year early but only so far as securing the ressie when it's first available. I don't know if I'll go with the kids, let them go alone, go by myself or rent it out. But I do get the unit reserved so I'm sure to have it.

I often don't make plans until a month or two out and sometimes if I see a nice bonus week or cheap rental I'll go on shorter notice. It is nice to be retired.

 

[JudyH]

I plan two years out. Hanging above the computer monitor now are 3 small pieces of paper, 2014,15, and 16, with the 12 months listed. On that I write under each month I write the planned trip.

That way if I see something interesting someplace I easily check on those papers to see if I already planned a trip.

For 2015, I have a six week trip to OZ and NZ, a 4 week trip (includes a TS exchange) in July, a maybe drive out west trip, and another TS exchange in Dec..

In 2016, I have a May TS exchange already, a maybe cruise in April, a maybe drive to Alaska over the summer, and a maybe trip to Europe in the Fall (with a maybe TS exchange if I can find one).

I have poor time and space planning ability so having it written briefly in front of me help me with the reality and the dreams.

 

[DaveNV]

I plan two years out. Hanging above the computer monitor now are 3 small pieces of paper, 2014,15, and 16, with the 12 months listed. On that I write under each month I write the planned trip.

That way if I see something interesting someplace I easily check on those papers to see if I already planned a trip.

For 2015, I have a six week trip to OZ and NZ, a 4 week trip (includes a TS exchange) in July, a maybe drive out west trip, and another TS exchange in Dec..

In 2016, I have a May TS exchange already, a maybe cruise in April, a maybe drive to Alaska over the summer, and a maybe trip to Europe in the Fall (with a maybe TS exchange if I can find one).

I have poor time and space planning ability so having it written briefly in front of me help me with the reality and the dreams.

Wow, Judy! You maybe really busy!

Dave

 

[winnipiseogee]

One of the upsides of timeshares is that getting the locations/properties I want means planning up to 2 years in advance. Some might see this as a downside but I love daydreaming about all the place we will be going in the future.

There have been a few occasions when we've had to cancel because of conflicts but on the whole it works out great!

Oh and I own the company so for the most part I need to have my vacations on the schedule or I end up getting hosed. We never used to schedule this far in advance so I would always end up being the one to cover for others so that they could go on vacation.

 

[Joe33426]

Since I'm tied to a school schedule, I already have most of our reservations for a four-week summer 2015 cross-country (CA, NV, AZ) trip. Even made our Grand Canyon Lodge reservations. In August, we also have a week in Chicago and then two weeks on Cape Cod.

I'm starting to think about summer 2016, but thinking it will a couple of beach weeks in addition to two weeks on Cape Cod.

I'm also starting very preliminary plans for summer 2017 for a 6 week trip to Europe that includes a ten day cruise from Barcelona to Venice.

The school schedule has its pros and cons, but I do like that I can plan ahead and not have to worry about getting time off.

 

[VegasBella]

So I'm wondering: How far ahead do you schedule your time away, and how specific are you about it? How do you manage your time off?

Time off:
We're very lucky that the only schedule we're truly stuck to is the school schedule. Both my husband and I work from home/are our own bosses so we never need to "ask" for time off. There are only a few weeks in the year that we cannot both leave town, but we're a modern couple and have no problem vacationing apart sometimes.

When we plan:
We used to always only plan a few months out but now we're doing more planning 12-18 months out. I'd say we're about 50/50 now. That is, half our trips are planned a year or more in advance and the other half are months or weeks in advance. This is thanks to timeshares because previously we'd make plans then cancel them. But now we feel more obligated not to cancel because more has been already paid for and also because the costs have decreased.

What we plan:
We arrange where we will stay and how we will get there months in advance usually. Then, the week or two before we go I make a list of things to do and suggest days to do them based on weather. I used to make itineraries but the husband freaks out about having to do too much and not getting to relax so I pulled back on that.

Currently:
Considering a couple long weekend trips this Fall. Possibly Disneyland.
Made accommodation plans for family to visit us for Thanksgiving.
We will stay here for most of Winter break and Spring Break 2015. Might go stay with my dad.
Have plans set for two Summer 2015 weeks. May add another week or two in Summer 2015.
Planning Christmas 2015.

 

[WinniWoman]

Yesterday at work I was daydreaming about my upcoming vacations, (a frequent activity, when I have a few minutes to sit and do nothing), and it occurred to me that I didn't yet have all my vacation (PTO) days on the department vacation calendar. If too many people schedule vacations at one time, others aren't allowed to take time off then. I can't have that!

So I sent my Manager an email, laying out my "PTO SCHEDULE" (my words) for the next twelve months. I didn't exactly request the time off, as much as I let him know when I would be on vacation. It's become something of an office joke that I'm "always" going on vacation. My response is you have to plan things ahead, because great vacations don't happen by themselves. It takes work to have fun.

My email described the two weeks I'm taking next month, the week in dead of Winter after the Holdays, two weeks next June, and an as-yet unconfirmed week or two next Fall. After I sent it, I got to thinking that I was lucky to have the time to take off, but also wondering if it's odd to plan so much so specifically this far in advance. I don't waste my PTO taking a day off here and there - I save it for a vacation week or two at a time. I also tend to work on the odd single holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day) so I don't burn a PTO day for no reason.

So I'm wondering: How far ahead do you schedule your time away, and how specific are you about it? How do you manage your time off?

Dave

I do this EXACT same thing!

 

[senorak]

I'm stuck to the school schedule, (work as a teacher), so I try to plan as far out as possible (year to two). However, this summer.....my plans for our annual trip to Hilton Head, (booked back in Feb. '13), had to be altered, (originally booked 2 units at Sea Crest), when daughter had to take a summer course @ college & oldest son had job interviews. Instead of 8+ (w/ kids' friends) going.....turned out to be just 4 of us.
Right now, I have nothing booked......can't remember the last time I didn't have a timeshare vacation confirmed/planned. Checking everyday, (several times, in fact), for summer '15 and even looking ahead to summer '16. My youngest graduates in June '15, and I will have to work around both his and my daughter's college schedules: orientations, sports team preseason/tournaments, possible summer classes. Not so easy anymore planning the trips.

Deb

 

[dioxide45]

Yesterday at work I was daydreaming about my upcoming vacations, (a frequent activity, when I have a few minutes to sit and do nothing), and it occurred to me that I didn't yet have all my vacation (PTO) days on the department vacation calendar. If too many people schedule vacations at one time, others aren't allowed to take time off then. I can't have that!

So I sent my Manager an email, laying out my "PTO SCHEDULE" (my words) for the next twelve months. I didn't exactly request the time off, as much as I let him know when I would be on vacation. It's become something of an office joke that I'm "always" going on vacation. My response is you have to plan things ahead, because great vacations don't happen by themselves. It takes work to have fun.

My email described the two weeks I'm taking next month, the week in dead of Winter after the Holdays, two weeks next June, and an as-yet unconfirmed week or two next Fall. After I sent it, I got to thinking that I was lucky to have the time to take off, but also wondering if it's odd to plan so much so specifically this far in advance. I don't waste my PTO taking a day off here and there - I save it for a vacation week or two at a time. I also tend to work on the odd single holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day) so I don't burn a PTO day for no reason.

So I'm wondering: How far ahead do you schedule your time away, and how specific are you about it? How do you manage your time off?

Dave

My experience matches your almost exactly, right down to the office joke of me always being on vacation. We too rarely take a single vacation day at a time and almost always in whole week or weeks increments.

Many others in the office will take just a long weekend, or add a singled vacation day around one of the holidays. I almost always work the day after Thanksgiving while the office is only 50% full. The only exception would be if we took a vacation the whole week of Thanksgiving, which we haven't done in a few years.

We start planing and thinking about our trips about two years out. If we are cruising, we often book 12-18 months out. Once the reservation is firmed up, I put it my work calendar. So right now, I have vacation time on the calendar for October 2015. I also have vacation time out there for our trip to Boston next June.

One year I had a vacation planned in November and added one for the November of the next year. My manager even asked me if I had changed my November vacation plans. I said no, I had placed vacation time out there for the next November.

I am part of a team of only four people. The other three are all managers of large teams while I am the business analyst for the department. I don't have a backup. So I have to be careful about when I take the time off. The beginning of the month is not usually good because I process a number of reports for upper management. Though I can take off the beginning of the month as long as I can either a) get the reporting done before I leave, or b) am back before the 10th of the month to process the reporting.

So, I really don't need to be concerned about taking time off when someone else is off. Though I avoid taking vacation during the same week that my direct manager would be off. For two reasons, 1) mainly because you NEVER want to take off the same week as your manager. Doing that is like losing an extra week of semi vacation 2) You also can usually get a lot more done when they are not there.

Even if I was concerned about taking time off at the same time as someone else, I would usually win out anyway since it is first come first serve and my vacation time is out there long before others even plan on putting theirs out there. The only time they may beat me is for the day after Thanksgiving or around Christmas which we don't schedule anyway. None of my colleagues plan as far in advance as we to, they usually put theirs out there about only a few months out. And for the most part my colleagues are a day here and a day their vacationers. They however are required to plan at least one full weeks vacation during the year as are most of the other people in our department. I am sure that many people wouldn't do this unless they were required to.

The three colleagues and myself are left pretty much to schedule our vacation time as needed. Though since they have people that report to them, they have to make sure that senior or team lead members are there in their absence. So this can usually become an issue for them around the holidays when they may have to either not take vacation themselves or deny a request from one of their senior or team lead members. Fortunately for me, I am a team of one.

 

[LannyPC]

If too many people schedule vacations at one time, others aren't allowed to take time off then. I can't have that! ...How far ahead do you schedule your time away, and how specific are you about it?

I'm in the same boat regarding requesting time off.

I usually plan my vacations around other activities and see what window I have to take vacations. When I have that window, I start mulling where and when we should go.

Afterwards, I start comparison shopping and calculating how much it would cost to go there and do what we want to do. The comparison shopping can start about three months in advance.

 

[slip]

We always start planning about a year to a year in half ahead. At work in my
Department I'm the manager and have the most seniority so I get my choice of
Vacation anyway. I don't take any around holidays. We're empty nesters so I
Let everyone else take the holidays. I'm known for my long yearly trips to
Hawaii and they think I'm rich but I let them think what they want.

 

[easyrider]

Im 13 months out with some and 10 months out with others. I have requests in at RCI and have had requests in with II and SFX that search 24 months out. This is working for us. RCI and SFX seem to make the play for us. II hasn't really done anything but take my money.

Bill

 

[dwojo]

My wife and I usually plan 6 to 12 months out. Being a Buffalo Bills and Sabres fan I travel to a few away games each year. Planning those trips requires waiting for their schedules to come out.

 

[Timeshare Von]

For me/us here at Casa Bennett, we do a little of short and long term planning.

Unlike some, I plan for vacation time off even when I'm unemployed. LOL

If we are doing a timeshare trip, especially if out of the USA; or if we're planning for Alaska, those are often 18-24 months out.

Sometimes we plan "leftovers" (left over time off or unused timeshares) rather last minute. I just put together our December 2014 vacation to Myrtle Beach over the Christmas holiday because we had our Wyndham points for this year to use or bank at RCI.

I had been holding them and the points for 2015 and the ones banked with RCI for 2013 until I had some work trips figured out and whether or not I'd be able to use the timeshares for work (for which they reimburse me).

I'm using the 2013 RCI banked Wyndham points for Las Vegas in June 2015 and my 2015 points for San Antonio in January 2015 . . . both for work.

We have our Hawaii T/S committed to others through 2016 to accommodate those who made our recent Alaska trip possible. (We bartered 2014 & 2015 for the RV for two weeks; and gifted our 2016 to the couple who took us out fishing for three days/two nights on their lovely 38' boat.

So now I sit, with no timeshares available for a couple of years . . . and TONS of frequent flier miles for use next year and 2016. I suppose, it is time to start planning!

 

[pumba526]

Planning is half the fun!

I/we plan at least a year in advance and often well into the second year. By planning far in advance, we have a better chance of getting the resorts we wanted to exchange in to, good deals on airfare and car rentals and the ability to utilize and plan our vacation budget. It's nice to always have a vacation(s) to look forward to!

I also used to get teased at work when asking for time off so far in advance...but I tell you, I was envied when people heard about our upcoming vacation schedule. I remedied the teasing problem...I retired this past June! My husband will retire in June, 2015, and then we won't have to worry about work getting in the way of having fun.

 

[lprstn]

I do concrete bookings 1 year in advance and start day dreaming about the coming vacations possibly 2 years in adance

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

We try to book 10-12 months in advance. Closer to 12 (or more) if we are going to attempt an exchange of some sort.

As for that work email to the boss that the OP mentioned, I have sent those in the past and been laughed at. For instance, I sent an email last year, around June to: remind my boss of my Nov trip last year, tell him of my May trip and tell him of my July trip. His response was something like, "How the #uc& can you schedule this stuff so far in advance? I can't schedule more than a few weeks ahead. And, who knows if I'll even be alive 1 year from now."

For the curious, he is still alive.

 

[DaveNV]

We try to book 10-12 months in advance. Closer to 12 (or more) if we are going to attempt an exchange of some sort.

As for that work email to the boss that the OP mentioned, I have sent those in the past and been laughed at. For instance, I sent an email last year, around June to: remind my boss of my Nov trip last year, tell him of my May trip and tell him of my July trip. His response was something like, "How the #uc& can you schedule this stuff so far in advance? I can't schedule more than a few weeks ahead. And, who knows if I'll even be alive 1 year from now."

For the curious, he is still alive.

Hmm. I wonder if your boss and mine are the same person?

I catch grief over all of it, but I most always get the time off I want. Probably because I advertise it so far in advance. The bugger for me is I often have to send multiple reminder messages to him, stating again and again that I'll be gone over a certain period of time, and it needs to go on the calendar so everyone else knows.

I talk to my coworkers, so they know I'll be gone, but it seems the boss is the one feigning cluelessness. Now that I think of it, maybe he's not feigning. LOL! :hysterical:

Dave