ShortList is supported by you, our amazing readers. When you click through the links on our site and make a purchase we may earn a commission. Learn more

How to get a 16-day holiday by booking just seven days off this year

Hack your annual leave

How to get a 16-day holiday by booking just seven days off this year
04 January 2018

If you’re like me, then you’ll really like taking a bit of holiday, because you don’t have to go to work and you can do what you want, with no worries (only joking lol, there’s still loads of worries). It’s a lovely fun thing to do and I love it.

So what about if I told you that you could DOUBLE your holiday this year? You’d be surprised, perplexed, excited, and perhaps sceptical - but I wouldn’t blame you, because it sounds too good to be true, and also I have a very shifty face. Guess the mac doesn’t help either.

But I can, I do possess that knowledge and I will duly send it your way, if you’re willing to receive it. 

But before we start, to be clear: you’re not going to be doubling your holiday in the traditional sense - so, I’m not going to tell you how to somehow gain an extra 20-odd days of annual leave for free, sorry. Instead, this is all about maximising your proficiency in taking holiday: getting longer stretches by only taking a few days off, for example. Taking advantages of bank holidays and the lark, it’s all very cold and calculated, but it brings the rewards.

Essentially, take a look through your calendar and if you get your booking in quickly, then you can nab the following big stretches:

Grab a 16-day holiday by booking eight days off

(24 Mar – 08 Apr)

Cop a 24-day holiday by booking 14 days off

(5 – 28 May)

Get a nine-day holiday by booking four days off

(25 Aug – 2 Sept)

Swipe a 16-day holiday by booking seven days off

(24 Dec – 6 Jan)

Of course, if you take your holiday like you normally do, taking the odd Monday here and there, maybe a Friday off because you’re in Prague for Boggsy’s stag, then a week off in November where you do nothing but sit in your living room, because you haven’t used it all up yet; then, yes, you’ll get the same amount of time off overall. Only thing is, it’s splattered about your calendar like a Pollock, and you don’t properly feel the benefit. 

Yes, everyone has the same bank holidays and roughly the same annual leave, but if you take a coupla big chunks and you get your rest in properly, it’ll make you more productive at work. 

In theory, anyway - I know what you’re like, sleeping in the broom cupboard at lunch, playing solitaire until lunchtime, going to the ‘loo’ - I’ve got your number, Lazy Susan.

(Image: Benjamin Voros)