Work Full-Time? 4 Reasons It Shouldn’t Stop You Traveling

With the ever-present temptations of social media and targeted ads teasing us whilst we work, the desire to travel is becoming greater than ever.

Our increasingly busy working and family lives can make it seem like there is little or no time to get away and explore. Whether you enjoyed a university gap-year backpacking or have always longed to see more of the world and never had the chance, that dream of frequent travel now seems somewhat out of reach. With a full-time job to hold down and a family to feed, how on earth are you supposed to find time to get away?

You’ll be pleased to know that travelling and working full-time ARE compatible.

Here are four reasons why full-time work shouldn’t stop you travelling:

You Don’t Work Everyday

You have days off. In fact, many of us have two of them, together, every single week!

Use your weekends to you advantage and take the family on a trip. You don’t necessarily need to go a long way, there will always be nearby locations that you’ve not yet explored together. If you plan ahead to maximize your time, you can travel a little further. There’s no reason why you should not go abroad for the weekend if flight times permit!

If you’re lucky enough to have flexible working hours, clock up the hours through the week or head in early on Friday. This will allow you to leave as soon as the kids finish school, missing the rush hour traffic and getting an extra night away.

Annual Leave Is A Thing

That’s right, many of us get an allocated amount of paid holiday each year, often around five weeks’ worth. If you use this wisely you can easily maximize the time in which you’re able to travel. You could even take five one-week vacations in a year to different parts of the world, or take all five weeks together and explore a continent?

Alternatively, you could take a two-week summer holiday and split the rest of your leave to create several extended weekends. If you’re willing to sacrifice a day each side for travel, it can be surprising how far you can venture for a family weekend break. It is also much more likely that schools will allow children time off when just for a day at a time.

It is much easier to catch up than if they were to take a two week break during term-time.

Use Business Trips To Your Advantage

More and more companies are becoming international, which means that staff are often required to travel between clients. This can be very appealing to prospective employees who are drawn in by the opportunity to travel to new locations on work time. In fact, 39% of millennial and Generation Z workers wouldn’t accept a job that doesn’t let them travel.

However, the reality of this is unfortunately much less glamorous. Many business trips are such efficiently planned affairs that regardless of how far you are travelling, you might only get to see the inside of a meeting room before heading back home.

If you know that you’ve got a business trip coming up, ask for a one-way ticket and book off the following days to extend your trip. You could even invite the family to join you. Although you’ll likely have to book further accommodation, you’ll at least have saved some cash and personal time on your travel.

Work Remotely

Many office-based businesses now offer their employees the option of working remotely a few days a week.

Working remotely doesn’t always have to mean working from home, or even the local coffee shop. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t use this time to travel. Start by taking a day or two a week. As your boss gains confidence that your productivity is not compromised outside of the office, try asking for a week.

Wherever you travel, you’ll need to be certain of a Wi-Fi connection as you’ll still need to fulfil your usual working hours whilst the kids are splashing around in the pool. Your free time, however, can now be spent exploring the location and making fantastic memories with your family.

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