I usually turn the out-of-office reply ON at least two or three hours before I actually plan on leaving the office. I still check the inbox, though. But not everyone gets a reply anymore.

Same here ^

Vacation starts when they force you to turn off your phone before departure. I actually look forward to 15 hour TPAC's because I know that the moment my phone goes off, the world could end and I won't hear about it or have to resolve it for at least 15 hours.

But I do routinely start a vacation by coming in on a Friday at 4:00AM, working till noon, drive strait from work to an airport for an afternoon flight to Asia. Return departing Asia on a Monday, dateline works in my favor, drive strait from the airport to work arriving 4:00PM, work until midnight.

It's like 2 extra days of vacation and my time for travel is very precious to me.

This thread developed differently than I thought from the title. When I read the title, my answer was clear:

Since I started ready FlyerTalk years ago, my trip starts when I get to the airport rather than when I get to the destination! Long live First and Business Class!^

I actually did have a chat with my boss this afternoon. She and I came to an understanding that vacation begins when I get home, not when I leave the office. Both she and I agreed that one should not be expected to start their vacation at 10:30 at night.^

Given the current project we are working on (not as time sensitive as some) she and I also agreed on leaving Monday morning to arrive at the office by late AM and being able to be home at a reasonable hour on Friday night (leaving the office early afternoon on Friday) was a reasonable expectation. Other projects next year (8 weeks in the same location, Monday to Friday) are not going to be as flexible so it may be an either/or with Monday and Friday travel.

The nice thing about my job though is the moratorium on travel the between 12/16 and 12/31. So all I need to do is have my BlackBerry handy. Fortunately, my BB works well in the mountains so I can get some skiing in without taking any vacation .

It all works out

I started doing my own travel scheduling and arrangements when I was working a job with 80% travel, as it was just too risky to leave the planning to someone who did not understand that just because the flight leaves IAD at 2 and arrives SFO at 4 or 5 does not mean it is a 2 hour or 3 hour flight.

This same company assigned me to meet twice monthly with a client in the Pacific Time Zone (I lived and worked in the Eastern Time Zone then) for a 1 - 2 hour meeting every other Friday at noon. Then I had to either take the red eye that night, or spend the night and leave for home Saturday morning, and either way Saturday was pretty much of a wipe out; I'd leave again for the next meeting on Sunday afternoon. Short weekend.

I traveled so much, no one really knew where I was unless they called me and asked. Therefore I could be pretty flexible with defining when my vacation started and ended, and if I finished an assignment on Thursday evening, having begun that week with work travel on Sunday afternoon, no one gave me a hard time if I began my vacation Thursday night, and maybe returned to work Monday afternoon.

Company policy also allowed that if a last minute meeting demanded that I be in California on say a Friday afternoon, ruining my plans for departure from the east coast to Europe on Friday evening, the company "made me whole" - either changing the date/time of the client meeting, or buying me a new ticket to my vacation destination.

I thought the policies were fair, but when the kids got to be teen-agers, I just didn't like being gone from home so much so I changed to a job with only 25% travel, much better all around, even though I had loved the first job.

My vacation starts when the family is packing.. I find there really is no time to be focusing on anything else but the trip at hand, when all the preparations need to be done, and the clock is ticking to get down to the airport..

Often, I'm still working on a trip at times.. which allows me to travel 3 or 3 1/2 weeks on vacation..

My Vacation starts when I log onto FlyerTalk and read about my destination and set my voicemail greeting to vacation Mode.

Then I call Randy Petersen to remind him I won't be answering any e-mails or phone calls as I'm doing my mileage run and relaxing on the beach.

By the time I return god forbid I return the next day to work. I tell Randy that I will be in tomorrow and he needs to have Mai Tais for everyone upon my return lol.

Technically the time between when I stop billing and finish paperwork to the time I start billing again. Realistically, there will be calls, emails, and meals with clients that need to be taken care of.

That is one of the creepiest posts ever.

Your McD's count is unbelievable!

My vacation ends when I arrive home..

What just happened here?

My Vacation starts 24 hours before my flight when I go to print my boarding pass. I check the weather at the destination, call the airline to make sure my flights are on time. Then I do any last minute packing.

When my alarm clock rings the next morning I shower, drink a cup of joe and then wait for the town car service or other ride to the airport.

On the way to the airport I make any last minute phone calls and then let the vacation begin!!!!!!!

Well, I remember being on a 2-week and 3-week vacation schedule and having to lump in floating holidays, etc., and then going wall-to-wall on maximizing out-of-town time within those confines (e.g. taking the red-eye home and then going to work). I guess that's possible in your 20s and early 30s.

Nowadays I usually have to wind down the work and then do packing and a longer and longer list of pre-trip items. Thank the Internet...there's ALWAYS some bit of research you could be using time to do that uncovers some kind of tip that could enhance your trip.). The pre-trip stuff seems like more of a necessary grind than it used to, but I think that's in part due to having an ever-higher percentage of leisure trips as repeat ones (see my travel map). The trade-off in the traveling method is that I get a lot more trips, but most are determined by things like low-fare availability, and that doesn't often get you to places like Easter Island or Bhutan or certain others on the "someday" list.

On some trips I don't let out the sigh until clearing the guard desk at the rental car place.

Qualified +1...

Once I am out of the office if it interests me I will respond.. but as soon as +1 tells me to pull it in I do

I am lucky that I love my job, but I love my wife more...

It's very simple for me, my vacation ends the minute I walk out the door at work and ends the minute I walk back in. I do read the occasional e-mail or even a phone call but I don't actually do anything until I return. Unless there was a dire emergency, (the company is going to go under if I don't return to work within 24 hours) I'm on vacation and I'll deal with whatever when I get back. My vacations are almost never longer than a week though.