Annalisa12

I was just thinking when I finish working I'm going on a big long trip around Europe. Then I thought that I would not want to be away that long. My longest away was 6 weeks and I was dying to get home.

I love the planning and plane trip but once I get to my destination I am a bit ho hum about it all. I'm not sure if I could do a 6 months trip.

How does everyone else feel. Am I weird?

Taoyuan

I was out for 2 months before, and was really tired and ready to go home at the end. But I had a good time, and would have loved to go back after a short time at home.

txflyer77

Two months backpacking around Southeast Asia the summer after I graduated college. I already had a job lined up but they offered me a choice of start dates in June, July or August, so I picked the very last one and bought a ticket to Bangkok.

Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Koh Pha Ngan, KL, Malacca and Singapore. Well worth it.

We had a round of layoffs a few weeks ago and while I wasn't impacted, I did spend the day thinking about where I'd go if I got cut. A month in Spain was at the top of my list.

invisible

I can't remember anything longer than 20 days.

But my colleague and friend is planning to drive from Alaska to end of Chile in van conversion as a self-gift for his 50th birthday. He is planning to budget 6 month on that.

FlossieFlyer

I took my mother and an aunt to Europe for 10 weeks. My mother's 2nd trip OS & my aunt's first.

Gallipoli for Anzac Day
Egyptian Cruise
Paris
London for the Chelsea Garden Show
Italy - Venice, Viareggio and Rome
Abu Dhabi

I needed a 2 week holiday in Fiji after......ALONE....

sethweinstein

I've done a holiday of 3-7 weeks (usually 4-5) almost every year for the past 20. The longest was seven weeks -- 3 in Scandinavia, 2 in the Baltics, and 2 in Greenland.

I always thought I'd want to take a year and work my way around the planet sometime before I turned 30, but it didn't happen and now doesn't seem that important.

Seth

trooper

6 weeks is my limit. Done that twice and was exhausted at the end and very much ready to be home.

I travel for my sport though....and was competing in medium to large events each week...

On the second of those trips we built in a day of absolute rest half way... made a world of difference.

eigenvector

4 months after I finished university. Now I am planning to do another 4-6 months when I wrap up my current job starting August 2017. I will leave the return date open and come back when I'm ready.

Honestly, there is no real reason to do >6 weeks consecutively unless you are on a budget that doesn't allow you to go home (or you have no home to go back to, in my case). Even major mountaineering expeditions don't usually require much more than a month on the ground.

Tchiowa

The last couple of years I have refused to work more than 6 months per year. I have taken 2 to 3 month vacations on a fairly regulat basis.

The_Bouncer

The trip I am currently on will be close to my record. I left my home in Austria 2 weeks ago, and am now on a 4-week road-trip in the USA.

I will then move on to South Africa for 2 weeks, before another 2.5 weeks visiting family in England. Then I'm off to Spain, for 3 weeks on a language course (which I count as a holiday).

I will arrive home in Austria at the end of January - for one night - to pick up my car (if it's still there and driveable) and head to Croatia for 2 months to finalise my dad's estate.

Then I'll go back to work in April for a rest.

Trips like this are becoming a habit - last winter, a family emergency turned a day trip from my (then) home in Bavaria to Frankfurt into FRA-DXB-SIN-MEL-SIN-LHR-SNN-(bus)-ORK-BHX-CPH-MUC-SPU-(train & car)-BHX-CDG-NRT//HND-SYD-MEL-WLG-(car)-AKL-MEL-HKG-ICN-CDG-AMS-BHX-(car)-Home.

All this with no luggage. Everything was bought en-route. I arrived home after 5 months and found my washing still on the line.

Loren Pechtel

Define "holiday".

I was once gone for a whole year. Both of my parents were teachers, my father was on sabbatical, traveling the world. (She was only part time and simply didn't teach any classes that year.)

Another, earlier trip was 7 1/2 months, same concept. We were technically homeless for that trip, we had been living in an apartment and simply put everything in storage while we were gone.

DavidDTW

I think the "how" is more important than the "how long".

My longest trip was 3.5 weeks, and it was all city/hotel hopping. That gets old really fast and why I am now too old to be a road warrior! I would love to rent a flat in Paris for a month, and then move to another city and do the same thing. Much easier that way.

invisible

Does it matter who pays bills for this vacation?

Annalisa12

Nope. Just wondering how long is too long to be away.

Holiday means for pleasure not for work. Going anywhere. That isn't your own home

Duke787

Burned up most of my vacation days for a 3.5 week vacation before going back to business school a couple years ago.

The TR is on FT, was primarily in Australia and New Zealand but had a couple quick stops in Tokyo and Bangkok too.

Length wasn't too much of an issue for me. Had buddies to stay with in Auckland and Melbourne to break up the hotels in Tokyo / Bangkok / Sydney.