Travel is a core tenet of my identity. I’ve prioritized it in every season of my adult life because it lights a fire in me that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
I’ve also been working some iteration of a full-time job (sometimes a job and a half) since I graduated university.
So if you’re also living with wanderlust while holding down a more traditional work/life balance, this post is for you.
The Non-Romantic Reality
For me, the romanticized “digital nomad” aesthetic is just that: An idealistic vision.
Though I love the idea of flexible, fully-remote freelancing, taking Zoom calls from a beachfront hut in Bali, or funding full-time travel from my writing alone, that’s not realistic for me right now. I’m an American living with a chronic illness, so the consistency of an employer-funded health insurance has become non-negotiable. I’m also in love with my home base. I’ve built a strong social network and want to stay an active member of my “village.” I have a cat (and a home) that I want to nurture.
I also find real fulfillment in my job. I’m a professional writer and editor who freelances as a wedding photographer. My work is creative but also consistent, which is exactly what allows me to fund incredible adventures multiple times a year.
As much as I love to travel, I’ve come to appreciate the balance of my current lifestyle. So here’s how I travel while working full-time, and how you can, too.
Learn the Ins & Outs of Your PTO Plan, ASAP
Me, for real.
Before you can plan around your PTO, you have to actually understand it. Learn how you will accrue PTO days. For example, do you get all the PTO days for the year upfront or, like me, will you gain a few every paycheck?
Also, study up on your employer’s specific rules for PTO rollover limits year-over-year as well as blackout dates and whether your unused days pay out at the end of each year.
I prioritize learning all this to the best of my knowledge as soon as I start my job. That way, I can feel confident about it before I ever submit my first PTO request. Plus, understanding the fine print of your PTO plan lets you spot opportunities (and avoid nasty surprises) later on.
As a New Hire, Mention the Trip(s) You’ve Already Booked
Last week I started a new job (yay!). In one of my first conversations with my manager, I made sure to mention the one outstanding trip I already have booked before the end of the year.
My upcoming trip is scheduled for two months after my start date, but I chose to mention it as soon as possible. It was during this initial conversation that I learned I qualified for one floating holiday, which I can bookmark for this upcoming trip.
Technically, in the relatively short window between my start date and my trip, I still won’t accrue enough PTO to cover the full week off. But transparency is often rewarded. Since I brought it up early, my new manager didn’t feel blindsided. He offered to let me “float” the 1.5 outstanding PTO days remaining after the days I will naturally accrue in the next two months.
Leverage Holidays and Other Office Closures…
I’ve become a pro at building trips around the days I’m already off the clock. In every job I’ve had, I was given a list of all the long weekends, floating holidays, and company-wide closures for the entire year.
Planning trips around holiday weekends, or on the front or back end of a work conference, will stretch your PTO and unlock amazing travel opportunities. A well-placed Friday off before a holiday weekend can turn two days of PTO into a five-day international trip. That’s how I explored Iceland for the first time.
…OR Bank PTO for an Epic Trip
Sometimes the opposite is the better move.
If your company offers a rollover of leftover PTO at the end of the year, you can build up a substantial bank of PTO days to take a longer bucket-list trip. At some companies, depending on your tenure, you can build up a monthlong sabbatical and get paid during your whole month off.
Skipping the smaller weekend getaways for 6 months or more might be worth it so you can bank enough PTO to take a full month off. That’s how I plan to see far away countries like Japan, Australia, and Indonesia in the future. (This year, though, I’m quite obsessed with the long weekend trip.)
Make a Travel Wish List & Prioritize It
My goal isn’t just to dream about travel; It’s to actually experience it.
So I keep a running wish list of future trips. I look at this list often and get a rough outline of the logistics required to complete each one. For example, visiting one domestic city would require something totally different than a multi-city tour of a foreign country. Then, once I have a rough idea of how long I would like to spend in any given place and what I would like to do, I plot that trip against my current workload as well as any recurring work obligations like product launches, conference season, and the year-end crunch. As a writer, a lot of my work revolves around cyclical publication dates. So I’ve learned the weeks and months that are more open to travel opportunities and the times where my workload is too heavy to take a bunch of time off.
I like that I can slot my travel in around my busiest stretches, rather than fighting against the workload. Nothing is worse than returning to a frantic to-do list.
Be an Active and Reliable Teammate
I firmly believe that PTO is meant to be used.
I love my job but it isn’t my whole life. So I request time off whenever I want, within the bounds of my allowance. However, I also choose to be someone who my team can count. I don’t want to leave my coworkers scrambling while I’m gone.
So, before I leave on PTO, whether it’s for a long weekend or for 2 full weeks, I always wrap up any loose ends. I am proactive about all the projects currently on my plate, and I make sure to loop in every stakeholder on anything that will come up while I’m out. I also clearly communicate with my team about coverage and set an auto reply for my work email with clear instructions on who is covering what aspect of my job.
Beyond being considerate, these steps also build trust. And trust is what makes your next PTO request a no-brainer yes from your manager’s perspective.
Be Patient
Most jobs have a grace period before full benefits kick in. In the case of my new job, I don’t get all of the annual PTO days up front. Instead, I accrue roughly 2 days of PTO per every one month worked worked until I reach my annual max.
Don’t let that grace period discourage you. Understand how to play the long game, get creative by implementing my suggestions, and remember that the flexibility you want is often just a few months of goodwill and strong work ethic away.
Conclusion
Traveling around a full-time job isn’t as glamorous as the life of a digital nomad. I spend most of my work life in an office building. There’s no viral photo of me quitting my job to backpack indefinitely, and my DMs are not full of brand partnerships to fund a life on the road.
My reality is a lot of spreadsheets, flight trackers, PTO math, and being the kind of employee that my boss trusts enough to say yes to.
But that’s exactly my point. You don’t need to blow up your life to make travel a foundational part of it. You just need to get intentional about slotting it into the life you already have.
If you’re reading this with your own wanderlust and your own 9-to-5 (or freelance hustle, or whatever your version of “traditional work” looks like), know that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Now nearly a decade into my career, I’ve found that there’s more room for adventure inside a “normal” life than the digital nomad aesthetic ever gives it credit for.
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