More than half of Americans have gone 12 months without a vacation

No wonder it is so low. Many on east coast go to the beach which could be less then 100 miles and what is wrong with staycation? I like that type just as much sometimes.

5 years.

Everything else in your life can be shit, but that one week you can spend with family and/or friends puts everything in its proper perspective.

Maybe that explains a lot.

What is this vacation you speak of?

away from their hectic lives of sitting around the pool sipping mixed drinks, awaiting word from their investment brokers.

My dad just wanted to stay home for vacations. The first time I traveled anywhere it was with my sister, and we flew to visit our grandparents.

By this definition many many of us will have a vacation if we continue to elect pro-oligarch politicians.

We will be

Unemployed and homeless

Some of my best times were taking 2-3 days off around the weekend and staying near home.

It's more relaxing to stay at home and boat, visit the beach, fish, etc. without all the hassle of traveling.

even that they're entitled to, in the cases of people who get paid time off as a benefit.

oh well.

A week off? A 100 miles? I think that happened in 2006. I get hard-on for a fricken' weekend off grilling burgers in the back yard.

But it's a bullshit defintion.

I flew out to Utah to go hiking by taking 3 days off next to a weekend.

I took a week off and stayed home to relax on the beach and go boating here in Florida.

I plan on taking another week off here in a month to go sailing but it's within a 100 miles of my home.

Lots of fun trips and vacations but none count by their silly definition of "vacation"

My last "vacation" was in 2000 (belated honeymoon trip one year after getting married -- which was an "elopement" to the local courthouse - no reception, etc). The last "vacation" before that was in 1985. Going by my track record, I won't be due for another one until 2030, but I'll be 69 years old by then and probably living hand to mouth on Social Security alone. Don't even have enough after paying for the essentials of living at this point to put anything into a savings account, so I doubt if I'll ever be going on a vacation again in this lifetime.

Edit: I did a lot of traveling while in college - backpacking with a 3 month railpass in Europe, driving crosscountry and to Canada several times - and was an AFS exchange student to Tehran, Iran (... yes, really!) in high school, so I'm glad I have those travel memories from an era when college, day-to-day living, and travel were actually affordable.

and take care of a severely autistic brother while his caretakers go on vacation....that will be the first "vacation" I have had in some time

Indeed.

how about that?

In spite of the fact that I'm a high school teacher and get 10-11 weeks off every summer which I choose to spend at home.

But in 2010 I had two. Hey, livin' large.

One of those 2010 vacations was when I went out of state to deal with my father's suicide and estate, and get the ball rolling on my mother's guardianship hearing. At least the blood was cleaned off the garage floor before I showed up. Fun times, those. If that's a vacation, please ... No mas.

The second was when I went back for all the guardianship/conservator crap--finishing up stuff with the court, reviewing filings, preparing my case, presenting it, and then filing papers with everybody. It was entertaining hearing my mother rant how I kept crawling out of the AC ductwork at night, waking her up at night and showed her my penises. Who knew? Again, such a vacation. LSD wouldn't have provided a stranger trip.

May I humbly suggest that their definition of "vacation" is whackadoo. Yes, that's the technical term for it.

But that's by choice. I'm not a traveler. Prefer staycations, which I do at least three times/year, at least once for an entire week.

When I'm leaving work for time off and people ask me where I'm going, I say "To bed!" Sleepin' in and goofin' off is my vacation of choice. I'll be off Labor Day week coming up. Will have lunch with my friend Cheryl who left our office for a different job a couple of years ago and on another, my best Hey-Let's-Do-It-Whatever-It-Is friend and I have tickets to see Cirque du Soleil. I will allow myself one day when I go nowhere and do nothing but bum around the house, do crosswords, play with the critters and get a pizza delivered for dinner.

Spending my time off thus is relaxing and enjoyable for me and I don't feel the least bit deprived. I may head out to Texas again to visit family and friends again next year.........or not. We'll see. At least I'm lucky enough that I can make that choice.

Oops. Dr. Strange will be pissed off.

Does going to your in-laws home with your family count? I don't count that as a "vacation".

...too many think its a "badge of honor" not taking a vacation.

I make a point every year to get the hell out of dodge at least once. Everyone in my vanpool says "you always take nice vacations!"...well, yeah. I work to live...not live to work. Of course, they all have nicer cars, more "toys" etc. The wife and I just don't see any value of having "more stuff" and focus more on life experiences.

Life is short and I know I won't be saying at the end of my life "I wish I spent more time on that report".

I would LOVE to take a trip somewhere. Costs money. Can't do it if all you earn goes towards rent, utilities, food, car insurance, gas, phone/internet. Can't remember the last time I could afford to buy new clothes. (At least I've got Medicaid now, so that's one less worry.)

I hope you aren't painting everyone in this thread with that brush. Some of us just CAN'T take a trip anywhere that uses up needed gas and/or requires staying at a motel (or even paying for a camping space).

No.

But it baffles my mind, why people who have vacation time and make plenty.....don't use it....and think, its a good thing. Then there are those who have vacation time, but "cash it in" to pay for their big 3D TV, new surround sound system, etc. and then wonder why they don't have time with family and friends.

And no offense to you, I've heard the same statement from others that they can't afford a vacation...but drive a much nicer and newer car than I do....or live in a much nicer area.

Even if you have to stay home, using your vacation time is important for your overall mental health (I also couldn't afford to go somewhere at one time...but after I came back with a week off, everyone stated I seemed happier...all I did was sleep in and visit a few museums and a zoo...roughly the cost of gas of going to and from work)

If you don't get paid time off...sorry to hear. But even then, I know people who moved to areas they wanted to visit and used their days off to do so. And I might just be doing the same, applied for a job in another state that is close to a lot of places I want to see (can't afford the airfare).

Again, you might be working 7 days a week and on subsistence, and I don't fault you for that. But you have to ask yourself, is it worth it? And should be thinking about how to change circumstances. I know it seems I'm discounting your position and I don't know what you are up against, but this is just me, I would walk away from so called "obligations" and travel on foot if need be.
But again, that's me. Now if you have family, that makes it even harder....but again, I've known people who have said "to hell with it" and moved somewhere where their family has a "better life"....but not economically.

Its a life choice...and I'm a person who refuses the norm. And I know that's not for everyone.

Working here there are some pretty amazing travel opportunities, I was trying to encourage a girl who was going to Toulouse to take an extra day, fly to Saint-Tropez (Toulon) take the ferry to Saint-Raphael and then take the train to Toulouse instead. She looked at me like I was insane and said she had two seasons of Mad Men to get through. Shrug.

This is just nuts, this is one of the things I worked my arse off to get a clerical union started in Wisconsin in 1973. I for this country. Everyone needs time away from their job....it's just that simple.

Because I am under-employed and do not work enough hours to be eligible for paid vacation, just health care benefits, I have to use paid time off when I don't come to work due to a holiday. Naturally, I have to bank these, and have been doing so for 8 years.

I don't know when I'll get a nice vacation, but it won't be soon enough.

Sure there's been extended weekends but never far away or they revolved around working trips - haul a horse to NY and take 3 days to explore NYC. Husband in a major event in FL, go two days ahead and take the kids to Disney. Go try a horse in CA and take a day to soak up the sun at Huntington Beach.

But take a designated week? An entire week to just be....away?!



The "joys" of owning a working horse farm...

I'm devising a five year plan - get out and finally travel for weeks at a time. I'm already chafing. Almost 30 years and it's getting seriously hard to stay in harness...

but i have had some nice trips, long weekends, and time away from work.

dumb definitiom

sometimes a staycation is the best.

who decided that 100 miles makes a trip?