Ooh, I hadn't thought to quantify that, but as an only child living almost 2000 km from my family, it takes me around 7 hours of transit (3 hours on a flight, 2

Ooh, I hadn't thought to quantify that, but as an only child living almost 2000 km from my family, it takes me around 7 hours of transit (3 hours on a flight, 2.5 in a car, an hour or so for airport security, intermodal transitions, and other miscellany). Essentially a full working day devoted to travel each way. To make it worth while, I need to stay at my destination for at least two subsequent days. Thus, this year, I have to budget ~4 vacation days around Christmas, and ~3 around Thanksgiving. If I had the standard American budget of 10 working days of vacation, I would be left with but 24 hours of paid time off for the entire rest of the year.