Ha, dietz - 5 weeks and dress events are beyond my carry-on packing pay grade 
I have summers off while DH doesn’t. My kids and I plan to be in Italy and Spain for a month and DH will join us for 3 weeks. Even then, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep him offline as much as I’d like.
“@pizzagirl I have an upcoming 5 week trip which includes time in Rome, a warm climate cruise (with truly elegant dress events); inter European flights to cold climates, long days of car travel, stays with relatives, a visit with study abroad kid and knowing my H…goodness knows what else. Would you please come and pack for me!!!”
Hey, I’m a master packer. I can fit anything, for any length of time in two carry ons. A small flight bag (considered a briefcase), and a 20 inch rolling suitcase. I’ll help you pack if you take me with you. Deal?
I heard yesterday that Greeks work on average, more than 2,000 hours per year. Germans, less than 1,350. More Greeks work two lower-paying jobs to make ends meet. It is a country highly reliant on tourism - it needs more home-grown industry.
My British cousins make less, but have a great standard of living. They all own their homes, take vacations in the US/Canada, the Continent, Asia, and Australia. They own cars if they need them, computers, and all the other first-world items. My cousin had cancer and got treatment as quickly as she would here in the US. Suffering? Hardly.
I work 40+ hours a week, get 22 days of vacation per year (the max allowed in my very large company). Last year I took 3+ weeks off to go to Germany, France, and Amsterdam for our anniversary. It was more time than I took the previous 2+ years in total. I can have up to 2 years worth of vacation saved and am typically running up against use-it-or-lose-it. I have things, but the quality of my life sucks. I will probably postpone 1/2 of the 7 days I planned on taking off in August because work schedules changed. A day or two here and there doesn’t do it for me.
Business travel isn’t vacation. I’ve done my share. My husband will go to the UK for 4 days - from the PNW. Work 2 days and fly home.
Sometimes, working less, making less, but having more time is a good thing. I’m only 54 and I can’t wait to retire. Only 4 more years.
“Business travel isn’t vacation. I’ve done my share. My husband will go to the UK for 4 days - from the PNW. Work 2 days and fly home.”
For sure. It is not vacation. I try to make it so, but there is always that lingering issue of work hanging over one’s head.
“Sometimes, working less, making less, but having more time is a good thing. I’m only 54 and I can’t wait to retire. Only 4 more years”
Wow, retire at 58? Awesome!! I hope to be financially stable enough to join you then. That is a great goal.
We had dinner with a bunch of H’s friends. Several are still working now in their 70s. A few are working because they own the company and choose how much (or little) they want to work, while others need the $$$. Working because you WANT to is different from if you NEED to.
Good point, HImom! I’m married to someone who says he’ll never retire. He runs his own business, his idea is to turn over all the day-to-day operations in a couple of years at the latest, and stay on (indefinitely) as the idea/vision person. It’s an absolutely a different decision from the person who has to go into the office just to get the bills paid.
All of these comments just reinforce the cultural elements at play. In general, (based on my observations living and working in US), Americans feel the need (and some actually enjoy) working long and hard hours and are fine with shorter vacation. Many people don’t even take their allotted vacation days every year. In general (based on my observations living and working in England), Europeans may work hard and long hours but they value their holidays more and will almost always take them all, in large chunks, without feeling guilty or checking emails, etc. I used to work in banking in the UK (semi-retired now at 50), and we worked hard, but at 6pm, we all headed to the pub. There was a great feeling of work hard, play hard. In the US, I just felt the “work hard”. I didn’t have the same camaraderie that I had with my UK co-workers. Just a very different culture. YMMV
I used to travel a lot for work, and few times a year for vacation. Knock on wood, I have never lost my luggage. I used to check everything when my kids were young because I only had so many hands.
I always had 4+ weeks vacation. Even thought I worked very hard, I took all my vacation days. One perk I used to have working at a bank was we had to take 2 weeks vacation back to back. During those two weeks we were also not allowed to go into work or answer any emails/calls, so I always booked an overseas vacation. Sometimes when I came back I wouldn’t remember people’s names.
I now have 6 weeks vacation. I don’t think I will be able to use all that time.
I have 5 weeks paid leave which includes sick time (knock wood, I hardly ever use that).
A few years ago I somehow ended up losing 6 days of PTO. I have vowed to NEVER let that happen again. I am in no danger of that this year!
"WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG HERE??!!! "
-We are working, and in France, they are doing what with the economic result of it is…
Do not forget that we have to feed about 48% of population also and support ever growing out of any proportions government, somebody got to work…work is a privilege that everybody cherish. And France would not be my choice of vacation. it is NOT a vacation in my eyes, it is a visit. It is not relaxing for ME, so opinion of French is irrelevant for me.
“Sometimes, working less, making less, but having more time is a good thing. I’m only 54 and I can’t wait to retire. Only 4 more years”
Wow, retire at 58? Awesome!! I hope to be financially stable enough to join you then. That is a great goal."
I am retiring at the end of this year right after I turn 51. But I have had a great career - no regrets. Possibly I’ll do bits and pieces of consulting.
It’s interesting to see that we are all at different places in our lives. I took 10 years out of the workforce and went back in at age 50. I’m 58 now and enjoy working (most days). We can afford to retire soon, but I plan to work at least 5 more years and likely longer.
I own a small business. I give 2 weeks vacation, 1 week sick leave, 6 days paid holidays, my employees pay 20% healthcare, I provide a 3%matching 401k. How much more would you like to pay for the goods and services I provide so my employees can have more time off than their 1 month?
Right. Everything comes at a cost.
I am past full retirement age and not ready to retire to a boring and low income existence at all. There is nothing out there more entertaining than a job. Many people do not realize what they are doing and going under ground prematurely for this reason. there are few examples in our department. Very sad!
Well, eyemamom, in the European system, you wouldn’t be paying their health insurance, so it might balance out.
The funny thing about these discussions, is that so many Americans defend the long hours and lack of vacation as necessary, while there doesn’t seem to be much of any yearning for them in Europe. Some how, they soldier on with their supposed lower standard of living and long vacations.
There’s nothing wrong with American entrepreneurship. I don’t envy the lives of the Europeans. I have a well balanced life of hard work, family, friends and other fun and travel. But anyone can cut back and live smaller if they choose. I don’t choose that for myself as I value success and hard work, but if touring museums and sitting around for 6 weeks is more important to do than by all means have at it. Just don’t ask me to subsidize it.
My DH “works like a dog.” I don’t know how much vacation time he is allotted annually, but if he took 1/3 of it, I’d be surprised. I can’t remember a “vacation” where he hasn’t had a laptop with him and been consistently checking emails, working on documents. He has always felt that if he isn’t available to his clients pretty much 24/7, that they’ll go elsewhere for someone who will always be available. He is 65 years old and this is still going on. I worry about him constantly and have been pushing the retirement discussion for a couple of years, but he is afraid that we don’t have enough saved for retirement. Trust me, by anyone’s measure, we do.
If we go away at all, it is for one week a year, and the place has to have internet access. I think that our three children, in their 20’s, who are usually on these vacations with us, have grown up with this and I think that at least two of them do not want their “adult” lives to be like this. The third is planning on med school, so his life might not conform to that of his siblings.
My H is always on call. He gets a ton of vacation, plus personal days and he hasn’t taken more than a few days, here and there off in years. His phone is always in his hand and there is always one crisis or another. It doesn’t help that his big boss (Gov. Cuomo) is a raging maniac and everything needs to be done immediately. His job is extremely stressful and I worry about the effect it is having on him. Even just going on a day trip can be interrupted. We went to a family ReU a few weekends ago and he was on the phone the whole time because of stuff needed in Dannemora for the manhunt.
After Sandy he worked at least two months straight with an avg. of 3-4 hours of sleep and less than that in the first few weeks. The year before was Irene and Lee and while not as bad as Sandy - he worked a good month with those kind of hours.
He has 5 more years until he can retire at full pension. He’ll never stop working as he doesn’t want to - but it will be consulting type of thing