15 Practical Ways To Travel More With A Full-Time Job [And Limited Time Off]

Work And Travel Are Not Mutually Exclusive

“Whether You Think You Can Or Think You Can’t, You’re Right.”

Henry Ford

Do you constantly find yourself dreaming of far-off destinations, but feel confined by the constraints of a full-time job and limited time off? You’re not alone. Most people yearn to travel more, but it can seem impossible to fit those personal daydreams in with the demands of professional life. I’m here to tell you that it’s absolutely possible. Not only that, it’s essential. And not only is it essential, it’s a lot simpler than you may think. With a bit of commitment, anticipation, and flexibility, you’ll start making the most of your limited vacation time and maximizing your travel experiences in new ways.

I’ve heard it said before and I know you have too. “Well, find another job!” and “Quit your profession and travel the world full-time instead!” Hey, it’s good advice… just not reasonable or realistic for everyone. Don’t get me wrong, depending on your aspirations, and when all else fails, you may come to find out that a career or job change is the only answer. But as is most often the case, these are merely extreme or romanticized “solutions” to situations requiring a more happy medium and accommodating approach. Believe it or not, some people actually enjoy their careers. And guess what, not everyone wants to live a life of constant travel.

Working full-time and traveling are not mutually exclusive. I mean, they can be if you choose to believe and make it that way but they don’t have to be! If you’re in search of work-life fit as well as the ability to tap into the best of both worlds, regardless of your circumstances, then here are some tips and mindset strategies for satisfying your wanderlust and exploring the world on your own terms.

How To Travel More With A Full-Time Job And Limited Time Off

1) Set The Intention To Travel More

Do you really want to travel? Sure you do, but do you REALLY? Are you sure? Do you actually mean that? Are you just saying that because you think that’s what I want to hear? Most people have an abstract idea of something they’d like to do but lack the determination (or haven’t yet found it) to make that something happen. They inherently think that life’s going to serve them that which they desire on a silver platter and when it doesn’t manifest itself it slowly, but surely, gets perceived as unattainable. Sometimes the stars do align and it’s wonderful when they do! But other times we need to resolve and set things in motion to make them achievable.

Whether your job facilitates things or not, the decision-making power to travel and the ability to take action in pursuit of travel is 100% under your control. Let’s take a minute to really think about that and reflect on the following questions:

• What do you truly desire as far as traveling is concerned?
• Do you want to travel more frequently? Travel for longer? Start traveling, period?
• What is actually standing in your way with work? Is it you? Is it something? Is it someone? Is it a combination of things?

I’m not here to question or examine you! I’m here by your side to help you transform that daydream into an actionable reality remember? Set the intention:

• “I want to travel more.”
• “Scratch that. I TRULY want to travel more!!!“

Alright, now we’re talking and ready to move on.

2) Actually Use Your Vacation Days

As obvious as this may sound, let me drop a statistic on you: less than 50% of U.S. professionals use all their annual vacation days. That is absolutely WILD! I could go on forever but I’ll spare you by not belaboring the point. Needless to say, you don’t have to use your time off to travel but please, please, please take the days you have. If your respective employer lets you roll over vacation days then do so as long as you’re pooling them for a specific reason and not leaving them unused or waiting for the perfect moment. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t exist.

3) Plan Your Travels And Block Your Calendar Out In Advance

As with all things work-related, time is of the essence. Well, use it to your advantage now. Planning a trip and blocking out your calendar weeks or months ahead of time stakes your claim on these days, reduces the chances of your vacation time not being “approved” and mitigates against any competing priorities further down the line that may jeopardize your trip. This also gives you some motivation and something to look forward to!

Avoid surprises and don’t spring these dates up on your team last minute, particularly if you know when you’re looking to travel. Give work the heads-up and don’t wait to have the entire trip planned.

4) Take Shorter Trips

Perfect is and forever will be the enemy of good. Don’t deny yourself a domestic or international weekend getaway just because you’re unable to take an extensive amount of time off now. Work may be inflexible at the moment but that doesn’t mean you need to be. Tack a Friday and a Monday onto your weekend and make your time count! People spend hours at home or at a bar on Fridays and indulge in Netflix all of Saturday but are “too busy” or “don’t have time” to travel. I love a good happy hour after a long week, nothing beats a good Netflix marathon, and the sofa sure beats that dreaded airplane seat but if you really want to travel (like you said you did a minute ago) don’t fool yourself!

Domestic trips simplify things considerably but are you longing to leave the country? If a weekend trip from New York City to Los Angeles (6.26 hours) sounds feasible then why not to Reykjavik, Iceland (5.75 hours) or Cartagena, Colombia (5 hours)? Miami to Lima, Peru (5.75 hours)? What about San Francisco to Mexico City, Mexico (4.5 hours)? Atlanta to San José, Costa Rica (4 hours)? Denver to Montreal, Canada (3.5 hours)? Houston to Panama City, Panama (1.75 hours)? It’s amazing what you can encounter and experience in a day or two. Some of the most incredible trips I’ve taken have only been 2- to 3-day journeys. Don’t put your life on pause. Break it down into bite-sized chunks.

5) Travel Locally And Be Flexible With Destinations

As much as society and social media may make it out to be, epic travel is not exclusively defined by fascinating and far-off destinations. Some of my most memorable vacations have consisted of venturing out to previously overlooked spots and underrated destinations. Less distance may also mean less transit time and more leisure time. Rent a car and get out of town for a nearby staycation, go camping (or glamping), hop on a train, or catch a quick flight to a city close by. Every location has its advantages. Do you realize how lucky we are to live in an age where hidden gems can be discovered in seconds with a quick search?! You may be surprised by what’s within your reach.

6) Work A Half Day Or Work Remotely

It’s baffling sometimes how a few hours can make all the difference when it comes to travel. Taking a half day at work can mean the difference between catching an earlier flight or making a long-distance trip worth the effort. Working remotely on a Friday lets you travel Thursday afternoon or evening. The same goes for a Monday, which allows you to stay through the weekend and not have to return home on a Sunday. Working remotely on a travel day also makes the case for greater productivity since you may have had to leave the office early otherwise. Be mindful of when an insignificant and inconsequential amount of time at work can improve a trip, lower its cost, or even make it possible.

7) Plan Trips Between Weekends And Take Advantage Of Holidays

If you think the number of days you have to travel is equal to your vacation days then think again. You can easily spend 4 or more weeks traveling the country or exploring the world while only having 2 weeks of vacation on paper. Sandwich your vacation days between weekends, combine them with a couple of national holidays (most of which are Mondays by the way), and open your world to new possibilities.

8) Optimize Your Travel Plans And Itineraries

One of the best ways to make the most of what relatively little time off you have is to optimize what time you do have. While you don’t have to overdo it or be overly detailed, crafting an uncomplicated travel itinerary beforehand and taking preemptive steps can help maximize your days by saving precious time — sometimes amounting to half a day or more. Nevertheless, don’t be a slave to your plans! Leave room for flexibility and spontaneity. Think of it as a guide to help you wander more and wonder less.

Here’s what you can do BEFORE your trip:

• When possible, book direct flights to save time on layovers.
• If you must take a connecting flight, try and minimize your layover as much as possible.
• Try to choose hotel options with breakfast included to conserve some time first thing in the morning otherwise spent looking for somewhere to eat.
• Pre-purchase any tickets and any tours.
• Scope out some restaurants ahead of time and make a couple of reservations. Consider having a general target timeframe to break for lunch to help anchor your day.
• If you’re counting on taking public transportation, make sure there’s no planned strike action (this is VERY common in Europe)
• Frontrun any other trip research

Here’s what you can do DURING your trip:

• The night before, prioritize your “must-sees” and figure out how to get to wherever you’re going first. This will give you some momentum the following morning.
• Start your day on the earlier end
• Visit the most popular attractions first. If possible, be there right at or around opening time. NOTHING wastes more time than waiting in a queue.
• Skip what doesn’t interest you. Don’t try or feel like you have to see and do everything.
• Stick with quicker and more on-the-go food options for breakfast and lunch while leaving longer sit-down options for dinner when you’ve done and seen everything you wanted to.
• Be smart with taxis/rideshares, public transportation, and walking. One of these options is usually significantly faster than the others.
• Again, don’t feel like you have to follow your itinerary strictly!

9) Catch A Red-Eye Flight

I know, I know. Just mentioning it induces jetlag and makes me sleepy. Still, it’s a great travel hack and in many cases, it’s a small price to pay for a big gain on time. Red-eye flights are not for everyone and they don’t need to become a habit but they let you get in a full day’s work (without using any vacation time), are often cheaper, tend to be on time, often fly well below capacity, are less rowdy, and let you avoid rush hour traffic. If you’re looking to upgrade your sleep during a red-eye flight, these recommended products will help!

10) Keep A Watchful Eye On Deals

You’ve heard the old proverb that “Good things come to those who wait.” Well, “Good travel deals come to those who search.” Maybe I’ll coin that. It’s true that once in a while an incredible deal will smack you over the head while you’re looking the other way. More often than not, however, it’s about seeking them out actively and not passively. If you’re open to amazing travel deals but truly don’t have the time to search for them then Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) is the answer you’ve been looking for. They alert you and grant you access to the best flight deals out there which they consolidate on their platform. No need to move a finger. Let them do the legwork for you.

11) Act Fast And Don’t Overthink It

There’s no point in coming across an amazing deal if you don’t act on it. Don’t be overhasty or impulsive! But don’t overthink it either. Trust me, I have a talent for overthinking something into eternity. But paralysis by analysis is not going to teleport you there. Sometimes a last-minute deal comes along that doesn’t require using much vacation time which in turn doesn’t require too much of a heads-up notice either. Don’t be unprofessional or drop the ball on anything that’s business-critical at work but snagging a last-minute day or two won’t change anything in the long run, particularly if you’re a high performer and top contributor. Be flexible. If you want it, make it happen!

12) Travel During Off-Peak Seasons

Speaking of flexibility, no time of year offers lower rates, greater availability, and the chance to book last minute as the off-season does. Additionally, it’s likely that most of your coworkers will choose to travel during peak seasons which avoids overlapping absences in case there’s coverage needed. If you’ve got some wiggle room, bust out your bucket list. You’ll save money, avoid the crowds, and sidestep the need to lock down vacation dates months in advance in the process.

13) Take Part In Solo Travel

One of the biggest (and frankly saddest) mistakes I see some professionals, especially young professionals, make is they deprive themselves of the opportunity to travel because they’re unable to align their vacation days with friends or family. This results in them having “no one to travel with.” There are usually several other reasons for individuals foregoing solo travel:

• Concern For Safety: This is always the number one concern and more so for female travelers. As it should be! Yet, when you dive deeper into the matter you come to see that it largely comes down to heightened awareness, conservative planning, and common sense. Make smart decisions, including staying connected and only sharing your travel plans with trusted individuals, not going into the wilderness by yourself, securing your valuables, getting travel insurance, staying in more nights than you go out, and keeping your alcohol consumption to a minimum (if any).
• Fear Of Loneliness Or Boredom: There’s a misconception with “solo travel” that you’ll be by yourself the entire time. While you can choose to have it this way as a lot of solo travelers do and prefer, in reality, the common practice is to meet and join up with other solo travelers. Hostelworld, for example, lets you connect with fellow “Roamies” staying in the same hostel or destination city before you even get there.
• It’s Expensive: Having no shared costs doesn’t mean more expensive. Besides, this primarily pertains to accommodations. You can simply seek out smaller and more inexpensive accommodation or an affordable hostel. As noted, this also has the dual advantage of letting you meet other solo travelers.
• Planning By Yourself: If you’re not used to or have never had to plan a trip it’s never too late to start! Perhaps the thought of putting together an itinerary and navigating a foreign place on your own can sound stressful but nothing will make you prouder after the fact. Taking the lead with planning helps you understand your destination more deeply and grants you the power to curate the trip based on what YOU enjoy and the experiences that are personally significant to you. Check out my Travel Resources page for everything you’ll need to start planning.
• Being Perceived As Antisocial By Others: Sorry… give me a second. I’m still catching my breath from laughing. This is a bunch of nonsense and you know it. If anything, it’s the complete opposite. It demonstrates having the social courage to meet new people and being comfortable enough in your own skin to not hide behind the familiarity of those you know.

Solo travel isn’t for everyone and you should never take part in anything you don’t feel comfortable doing. Just make sure you’re not refraining from giving it a try for the wrong reasons. Time spent with yourself in an unknown environment is an amazing opportunity to gain greater self-awareness and learn more about who you really are.

14) Request A Specific Work Schedule

We have NEVER lived in a time of greater work flexibility than today. Depending on your role, the industry you work in, how long you’ve been in your current position, your overall performance, the size of your team, etc., you may be able to establish a different schedule for yourself than the one you have now. It doesn’t need to be extreme either. Perhaps you can put more time in Monday through Thursday and have every Friday or every other Friday off. If your job usually calls for being in-person then maybe you can request to be remote on Mondays or Fridays to simplify weekend trip departures or arrivals.

Remember the intention and personal resolution you set earlier? Here’s a chance to make it happen! It’s not always feasible, I know. But you’ll never know unless you attempt it.

15) Capitalize On Work Travel

If you travel regularly or occasionally for work then don’t miss out on the opportunity to do more. A lot of companies such as consulting firms let you alt travel (i.e., travel to a different destination on the weekend instead of returning to your home city) which lets you travel more by saving serious travel time and money. For example, if work requires you to travel from Boston to Dallas for a week or a couple of days, you can visit San Francisco or go skiing in Colorado for the weekend instead of returning back to Boston. Even if you choose to stay in the same city, you can always extend the trip by a day or two. Regardless of your company’s expense policy or the type of work trip you’re taking, there’s always a chance to squeeze as much value out of every opportunity as possible.

Prevent Burnout By Reprioritizing Work And Life Routinely

I know what you’re probably thinking, “That’s all great, Max, but my situation is unique.” Alright, well let’s hear it.

• “I’m too busy at work. I actually don’t have time to travel.” Certainly, there will always be busy stretches and short-term sprints. Perhaps it’s a matter of taking shorter and more frequent breaks that are closer to home now and longer breaks to distant lands down the road. I would also assert that if you’re working endlessly for long periods of time then it’s probably attributed to some deeply rooted issues like mismanagement, inefficiency, inadequate work distribution, lack of capacity, overpromising, unrealistic expectations, and/or unsustainable work habits.
• “No one on my team takes vacation.” Just because they choose not to for reasons of their own, doesn’t mean you have to make that same choice. Every work culture is different and indeed there are times when it’s best to follow suit. But don’t be part of that statistic I cited earlier, especially if your vacation time is fixed and not “unlimited.” Adapting to team dynamics is important but just because something is common practice, doesn’t make it “normal”. Be wary of a toxic status quo and what effect it may have on your health in the long run.
• “I just started a new job.” That’s fair. There are protocols and expectations around not taking time off immediately but who says you can’t start planning your next vacation? In the meantime, leave a little earlier on a Friday and/or leverage weekends for domestic getaways or international destinations in closer proximity. You’ll have a wider margin of freedom in no time.
• “I have to prove to the team that I’m a hard worker.” For starters, working hard doesn’t mean working 24/7. Moreover, it’s a slippery slope when you start to measure your merit to a great extent by how others perceive your devotion to work. You can be an exceptionally hard-working top performer and still take time off to travel. How long will your team need to get this proof? A quarter? A year? Usually, it’s top performers that end up taking on more work and being held to higher standards precisely because they’re top performers. Give anyone an inch and they’ll take a mile.
• “I need to put in the time if I want to succeed.” The fallacy here is that grinding away and prioritizing work over life now will reward you with uninterrupted rest someday. Last I checked, “someday” is not a day of the week, and that end-all finish line never comes. Of course, there are career junctures that matter more than others for dedicated diligence, sustained growth, and trust-building but I assure you something always comes next and something else always follows that.

Look, I get it. It’s not always black and white and sometimes it’s a fine line to navigate. By no means am I promoting complacency or mediocrity either. Work is all about give and take and oftentimes requires that we sacrifice what’s in our best interest for the interest of others or something greater. That much is true. Set some boundaries for yourself and others and don’t sacrifice more than you’ll regret! Time flies. And it flies faster every year.

Regain Control And Perspective To Travel More With A Full-Time Job

It’s no secret that we Americans are OBSESSED with work and productivity. We typically love being (and staying) busy. Why? Because it makes us feel valuable. It defines who we are. As a capitalistic society, it gives us meaning and brings purpose to our lives. And you know what? It can be addicting. But instead of finding pride in running (or virtually hopping) from meeting to meeting, staying later than everyone else, working weekends, or bragging about never taking a vacation, try shifting your perspective.

Instead of viewing your travels as “unproductive time,” repeatedly remind yourself that the time you take to disconnect is earned (not gifted), well-deserved, and time you owe yourself to reset, recharge, and refresh. Cherish your travels.

Without sounding too literal, there’s a reason I explicitly said “work-life fit” and not “work-life balance” earlier. We will rarely strike a steady split and perfect 50/50 balance between work and life. Nevertheless, we can remain self-aware enough to scale our work up and down continuously and fit our travels in as needed. Live to work but work to live too.

Even if you absolutely love what you do, a job or current work setup that leaves you no time for travel (or friends, family, and passionate pursuits) is bound to burn you out eventually. Despite all the reasons, justifiable or not, you may choose work over travel, how can you start to create the work-life fit you want (and need)?

Don’t let work define your life. There’s a whole world out there waiting for you. Here’s to many more out of office odysseys!

In addition to those resources mentioned, be sure to check out my Travel Gear page for a list of travel tools you can benefit from traveling with.

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