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An interesting, if slightly dated, comparison between 22 countries’ vacation taking habits (including US + some of Europe). Remarkable how little vacation allo

An interesting, if slightly dated, comparison between 22 countries’ vacation taking habits (including US + some of Europe). Remarkable how little vacation allowance the US gets. No wonder only around a 3rd of Americans own passports. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2015/11/06/british-workers-holiday-takers-world https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/articles-reports/2015/11...

myroon5 4y ago
American passport rate over time if anyone's curious: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/01/11/the-share-of-americans-holding-a-passport-has-increased-dramatically-in-recent-years-infographic/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/01/11/the-sh...
- MikeTheRocker 4y ago
  Wow, as someone who loves to travel and has the good fortune to do it often, the idea of not being able to or not wanting to leave one's home country is unfathomable.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - croutonwagon 4y ago
    This is the main reason I keep a passport. I have used each passport exactly 1 time in the last 20 years, once to the British Virgin Islands and once, recently to Vietnam. But I keep one handy because the process to get one is months and frankly, there may be scenarios where you may want to leave the country without months of beurocratic delays first.
ghaff 4y ago
>No wonder only around a 3rd of Americans own passports. The US also has a ton of attractions within its borders. And other than going to Canada or Mexico, you're talking about relatively expensive flights to travel internationally.
- andybak 4y ago
  I'm in the UK and a lot of my travel over the years has been to places relatively far away (Asia, Americas). Travel in Europe is expensive when you're there so a lot of people from Europe travel to SE Asia and similar destinations (althought the cost differential is reducing)
  - amrocha 4y ago
    I'm very confused by this comment. Travel within Europe is insanely cheap compared with North America because low cost carriers exist and the distances are way smaller, not to mention you can take buses if you're really on a budget. You're not finding flights in the US between major cities for less than 3 digits, and buses take several hours. In Europe you take a 2 hour bus ride and end up in a completely different country whichever way you go. There's a reason your stereotypical university student backpacker goes to Europe.
    - andybak 4y ago
      Sorry. Typed in a rush and wasn't clear I meant the total cost in Europe. Food, accommodation etc.
      - amrocha 4y ago
        Huh, in my experience food costs around the same. Maybe fast food is cheaper in NA? Looking at my bookings in northern Europe and US major cities, they're also roughly the same price, but there's a lot more cheap hostels in Europe if you're willing to go that route. Southern Europe is cheaper by over 50% though. Interesting how we could come to basically opposite conclusions given the same data.
        andybak 4y ago
        I'm comparing Europe with Asia. (Typing on my phone which is never a good idea)
ArteEtMarte 4y ago
That survey makes a lot of sense to me, as a Brit. If I don't take my PTO my boss's boss gets nagged by HR, so they nag my boss, who nags me. Our PTO year runs from 1 April, so the only (unwritten) rule about vacation is that we should try to spread it over the year. This is because we're only allowed to carry over 5 days to the next year, not taking PTO is frowned upon, and HR don't want everybody to be using up their PTO at the same time at the end of the year. A few days ago we had a Zoom town-hall meeting where our CEO thanked everybody for taking time off.
- stevekemp 4y ago
  I moved from the UK to Finland, and while the overall process is similar there are some niggles. Generally you'd have a similar amount of time off here, 4-5 weeks, and it would run April-April as you said for your own. The biggest difference is that you must take two consecutive weeks at least once a year. That said there are pluses I think I'm allowed to stay home to care for a sick child 11 days a year, paid. That's a nice bonus, and it has been useful as a parent. When our child was a baby, or toddler, sickness mostly meant that he stayed asleep all day and was lethargic and quiet. Now he's older there's no chance that I'd be able to work from home and take care of him, so those days come in useful. (Helps that I get my 11 days, and my wife gets a similar amount too.) Otherwise it feels like most Finnish people take a month off in the summer, to the extent that a lot of shops/places in the city close down due to no staff, so there's often a bit of negotiation within teams about who can be away, to make sure there is cover. But it feels pretty relaxed and friendly.
  - aix1 4y ago
    > The biggest difference is that you must take two consecutive weeks at least once a year. I had this in the UK when I worked in finance. As I recall the two-week rule was commonly written into employment contracts in banking. There was some FCA guidance around this, possibly in the wake of the Jérôme Kerviel scandal (I am not sure, it's been a while). The idea was to make it a harder for a single rogue trader to perpetrate fraud as they would have to collude with someone to look after their books while they were out for two weeks.

myroon5 4y ago

American passport rate over time if anyone's curious: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/01/11/the-share-of-americans-holding-a-passport-has-increased-dramatically-in-recent-years-infographic/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/01/11/the-sh...

MikeTheRocker 4y ago
Wow, as someone who loves to travel and has the good fortune to do it often, the idea of not being able to or not wanting to leave one's home country is unfathomable.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- croutonwagon 4y ago
  This is the main reason I keep a passport. I have used each passport exactly 1 time in the last 20 years, once to the British Virgin Islands and once, recently to Vietnam. But I keep one handy because the process to get one is months and frankly, there may be scenarios where you may want to leave the country without months of beurocratic delays first.

ghaff 4y ago

>No wonder only around a 3rd of Americans own passports. The US also has a ton of attractions within its borders. And other than going to Canada or Mexico, you're talking about relatively expensive flights to travel internationally.

andybak 4y ago
I'm in the UK and a lot of my travel over the years has been to places relatively far away (Asia, Americas). Travel in Europe is expensive when you're there so a lot of people from Europe travel to SE Asia and similar destinations (althought the cost differential is reducing)
- amrocha 4y ago
  I'm very confused by this comment. Travel within Europe is insanely cheap compared with North America because low cost carriers exist and the distances are way smaller, not to mention you can take buses if you're really on a budget. You're not finding flights in the US between major cities for less than 3 digits, and buses take several hours. In Europe you take a 2 hour bus ride and end up in a completely different country whichever way you go. There's a reason your stereotypical university student backpacker goes to Europe.
  - andybak 4y ago
    Sorry. Typed in a rush and wasn't clear I meant the total cost in Europe. Food, accommodation etc.
    - amrocha 4y ago
      Huh, in my experience food costs around the same. Maybe fast food is cheaper in NA? Looking at my bookings in northern Europe and US major cities, they're also roughly the same price, but there's a lot more cheap hostels in Europe if you're willing to go that route. Southern Europe is cheaper by over 50% though. Interesting how we could come to basically opposite conclusions given the same data.
      - andybak 4y ago
        I'm comparing Europe with Asia. (Typing on my phone which is never a good idea)

ArteEtMarte 4y ago

That survey makes a lot of sense to me, as a Brit. If I don't take my PTO my boss's boss gets nagged by HR, so they nag my boss, who nags me. Our PTO year runs from 1 April, so the only (unwritten) rule about vacation is that we should try to spread it over the year. This is because we're only allowed to carry over 5 days to the next year, not taking PTO is frowned upon, and HR don't want everybody to be using up their PTO at the same time at the end of the year. A few days ago we had a Zoom town-hall meeting where our CEO thanked everybody for taking time off.

stevekemp 4y ago
I moved from the UK to Finland, and while the overall process is similar there are some niggles. Generally you'd have a similar amount of time off here, 4-5 weeks, and it would run April-April as you said for your own. The biggest difference is that you must take two consecutive weeks at least once a year. That said there are pluses I think I'm allowed to stay home to care for a sick child 11 days a year, paid. That's a nice bonus, and it has been useful as a parent. When our child was a baby, or toddler, sickness mostly meant that he stayed asleep all day and was lethargic and quiet. Now he's older there's no chance that I'd be able to work from home and take care of him, so those days come in useful. (Helps that I get my 11 days, and my wife gets a similar amount too.) Otherwise it feels like most Finnish people take a month off in the summer, to the extent that a lot of shops/places in the city close down due to no staff, so there's often a bit of negotiation within teams about who can be away, to make sure there is cover. But it feels pretty relaxed and friendly.
- aix1 4y ago
  > The biggest difference is that you must take two consecutive weeks at least once a year. I had this in the UK when I worked in finance. As I recall the two-week rule was commonly written into employment contracts in banking. There was some FCA guidance around this, possibly in the wake of the Jérôme Kerviel scandal (I am not sure, it's been a while). The idea was to make it a harder for a single rogue trader to perpetrate fraud as they would have to collude with someone to look after their books while they were out for two weeks.