For those who travel 10 days or less

It is mostly work constraints for me.

Back when that applied to us, it was work. I had plenty of vacation, but being out of the plant for more than a week was a problem. My wife did not have vacation beyond two weeks, so only a week could be dedicated to a "longer" trip.

When we did finally take a 3 week trip, it was a revelation, and we never looked back.

Interestingly, we are now at the point we would like to take a 4-6 week trip, but the problem there are things at home (yard, gardens, pets, grandkids, parents) that need attention, preventing us from making the jump.

Before my husband and I retired, we took three trips to Europe that were 10 or 11 days. We both had generous vacation (4-5 weeks), but some years we could only find 10 or 11 days that we could both be off at the same time.

Husband’s work here (well, and he was a touch of a homebody also). Once it was just me, it was still work but I could stretch it more easily to 2 weeks, using weekends. If it’s 2 weeks or less now that I am retired, it is because of a friend’s schedule. My favorite travel friends nor my kids can be gone longer than about 10-11 days usually - because of either work or family commitments. But I am happy to be able to be gone longer. :)

Mostly it is because of my husbands work, but also we have two dogs that we don't like to leave for too long. My husband has 6 weeks of vacation, but due to the nature of the work and his position, it is usually best if we keep our trips to 2 weeks or so. That said, we have taken off a few times for 3 weeks.

BTW, we did two short trips to Iceland last year, 5 and 6 days. We have also done a 3 day stopover there as week as a 2 week trip. Wee will be going for 3 weeks this summer. Those short trips though have been just as enjoyable.

The longest I've been gone in one stretch is about 12-14 (full) days to Argentina. Most significant constraint at that time (2008) was having to save at least another week of vacation time to see parents over the holidays since they lived on West Coast. I had enough vacation for a ~4 week trip but I can't spend it all on my own leisure trips; it has to be split with family time. I can always find a place to fit finances (outside of Europe and even within Europe) so it's more of a matter of time.

Now, I don't have to do the long family trips to West Coast, but I have a pet that I'm really attached to who waits by the door for me every evening whether I'm there or not. So the pet is the biggest driver, and then the desire to split vacation time (cannot dedicate entirely to one long trip).

mikliz97, I kinda worry about the pets, too. We keep them at home and someone comes over to take care of them, but their return is definitely way off compared to when we're there.

I'd also like to go back to Iceland and see some additional sites.

I could technically take two weeks off, but the work waiting for me upon my return would be overwhelming.

If we lived on the east coast where flights to Europe are a lot shorter, or even if we had non-stop flight options, we would have done one week trips. With two weeks of vacation time while working, I hated coming home and going back to work right away.

The longest that I've traveled internationally is 16 nights in Europe (Oct. 2019).

My husband and I have two elderly dogs at home and have made the decision to not travel together going forward while they are still around so that one of us can be here with them. We love them dearly but don't plan on getting other pets when they are no longer with us. I hope that at that time we can start taking 3-4 week trips.

Most of my trips (other than going to California or North Carolina to see my adult children) are taken with one or two friends. They are both still working, so they have time constraints of about 12-13 nights away max.

I often travel solo for long weekends. I'm going to Florence in two weeks on a Thursday, coming back the following Tuesday.

I am a TOTAL homebody unless I'm traveling.

I have a very flexible job so I can travel pretty much whenever I want, but I get paid by the hour, so if I'm not working, I'm not getting paid. I can take a hit for 5-6 days, but not for two weeks.

I have toyed with the idea of traveling somewhere for a week-10 days and working half-time while I'm there - I might do that one day. i do have a husband, college student, and elderly dog at home, though, and after a few days, I start to miss them. My husband won't leave the dog for long, so even when we travel together it's not for more than 4-5 days.

My flexibility allows me to take advantage of off-season, cheaper flights so it doesn't feel like I'm wasting money going across the pond only to stay for a few days. Living on the east coast also helps. I'm an efficient traveler, so I can do and see a lot in a short time.

BigMike--Our dogs also stay at our home. It is almost always our kids who come and house/dog sit for us. They both just bought their own homes though, so for our summer trip our dogs will go to our daughters. She has a dog that thinks she is a sister of ours, so they all get along very well. Definitely try to get back to Iceland. Not sure what you did on your trip, but for those short trips the Iceland Air packages are a good deal. We have done those twice. We skip a few of the things and do our own, but the price is so reasonable that we can justify it.

Stan--We fly from Seattle, so the 5 and 6 day trips to Europe are a bit harder, but we still do them. I much prefer nonstop of course, but when the girls and I did the Christmas Markets last month we had 9 days and had a layover each way. That wasn't too bad, but I still hate any layover, lol.

Definitely work as I can only be gone two weeks. Basically flying takes up two days so it’s really more like 11 days.

I'm retired so have a lot of time, but for me, it's mostly the aggravation of flying, especially from Duluth. It means I either have to fly out of Duluth, layover at MSP and then probably one more European city before my destination. Or I can drive the 2 1/2 hours to MSP (or take an airport shuttle) and then do the rest again.

I also never sleep on planes so it's a hit to my comfort for the first day or so. So I would rather go and stay for longer periods of time than take shorter trips. Last year I spent a month traveling in Germany and this year I'm taking a 3 week trip to Scotland. One month was too long for me, I decided. I missed my grandkids. 😊

I'm taking a road trips around the northeast US and Canada in the fall, though, and it will probably last at least a month. We'll see how that goes. 😊

@kayla p: thanks for that great reminder about a short, viable travel option - at least viable for me. One of my best trips was short and sweet: London end of October. Actually, 2 days in Bath and 2 in London. I saw Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren in Antony and Cleopatra two days in a row!! I will be sure to move this option to the forefront when contemplating possible trips.

We've made 2 trips ever that were 14 days, the rest all 7-11 days. Two weeks is about the longest we can get away (pets, job, couple of kids still at home with commitments).

I am a terrible homebody. The sweet spot for me for a trip is 10 days. On that 11th day, I am ready to go home. So, I try and aim for about this length when planning our vacations, although my husband talked me in to another 2-week trip this summer (to Greece, which is a long trip from northern Vermont, so he figured we should stay and see it as long as we're going all the way there). I know he's right, but I'm sure I'll be counting the days at the end.

I also at this point have an elderly dog, an elderly cat, an elderly horse, and an elderly parent living with me, so going away for long periods of time isn't in our near future. Our housesitter is a brave soul!

I hate the overnight flight so much that I've only once take a European trip of less than four weeks--and that trip was three weeks. I managed those trips even early in my career by not traveling every year; as a government employee I was able to roll over vacation time. Eventually I ended up in a job that I felt I couldn't desert for longer than about two weeks, so I stopped traveling to Europe until after I retired. But I had two elderly cats when I retired, and by the time I lost them, my mother was declining, so it was 20 years between trips to Europe. So both work and pet/family responsibilities effectively prevented me from traveling to Europe at all. I didn't replace the cats when they passed away, and I now have neither children nor living parents, so I'm making up for lost time. However, a heavy travel schedule makes things hectic while I'm at home.

I hate not having cats, but I'm not willing to desert cats for multiple months at a time, year after year; it just doesn't seem fair.

Our usual limit is a little longer--15 nights. We would love to go for a longer trip, but family commitments make it difficult to be away for more than about two weeks. If it were up to just the two of us, I think we would like to go for about a month.

@Debbie - London is one of the easiest overseas weekend trips from Atlanta. I've done it several times. I can work the better part of a Thursday, board a nonstop in the early evening, and I'm on my way into the city by 9:00 am on Friday. Then I fly home on Monday morning. If I didn't live on the east coast and had to deal with one or two connections everytime I flew to Europe, I wouldn't do these short trips.

Vacation dates & where I want to go. Need to divide my time up between trips to Europe, motorcycle road trips, visiting my mom and visiting my two sons and their families. Less than 10 years until I retire, then I plan on spending months in Europe.

Our April 2022 trip to Italy was originally 16 days - I like to have 2 weeks not counting arrival and departure days. But I was worried about Covid, and a bit about expenses. So I cancelled the 4 nights in Siena and the 2 nights in Naples. We saw the Archeology Museum in Naples as a day trip from Pompei as opposed to staying 2 nights in Naples. We'll get back to you, Tuscany!

There were many upsides. By the time I changed our return flight, BA had resumed a flight that I could book with AA miles for half as many miles as the original AA flight. With 6 fewer nights, we could afford luxuries like car services and private guides. And for the first time I can remember, I wasn't sick on the last few days of our trip.

We prefer to go to Europe for two weeks and three weekends.
When I was working, that was a perfect vacation (from me) for my co-workers.
Those vacations that are shorter than 2 weeks limit visiting to just a couple of places/cities.

I'm fortunate to have been traveling to Europe for 52 years and have been to just about every major city--except Lisbon. Now we return to our favorite city(s) and we're very efficient traveling to cities and neighborhoods we're completely familiar with.

We're also not beyond taking a one week cruise mixed in with our European trips.

During our working years, the limit was my vacation time. We got very used to taking a trip where we left after work on Friday, stayed for 9 days, and returned home on Sunday and back to work on Monday. Worked well for us.

Since retirement, we've found our sweet spot to be about a 2.5 week trip. Any longer than that and we miss being home and we just get tired.

My wife is a nurse and getting PTO approved is difficult for her. Administration is super weird and inflexible about scheduling vacation, and it's been like that at every hospital she's worked at. The longer the PTO, the worse it is

Edwardius, I know what you mean. My daughter has had requested PTO time denied. It can be frustrating.

For us, we’ve never taken a trip that was more than 13 nights away from home. Most were between 10 and 12 nights. I e never had more than 2 weeks vacation time. So that and the two weekends is all I have for the year. Our last two trips incorporated my 4 day Thanksgiving weekend work closure so I didn’t have to use as many vacation days. Also, even for the 10 to 12 nights away I’d be swamped with being overworked upon my return. UGH. Plus, for Europe trips, we come home on a Friday so I can have Sat and Sun to adjust to being home before heading back to work,

Work constraints--for a few years I was able to do 2 glorious full weeks in Europe, then I took on a job I dearly love but has me ridiculously responsible coupled with elderly parents and thus since late 2019 I have made do with 5 day trips, locally in California and I packed in a lot with 5 days in London and also NYC. Managed a solid week in London last spring and happily I now have support so I have booked 5 nights each in Rome and Budapest for late April.

Now that we’re both retired our trips are generally 20-25 days. Prior to that they we’re a little shorter.