1. Make the most of your paid holiday

Making the most of our annual leave has always been key to us being able to getaway and travel so much whilst working full-time office jobs.

But our main tip would be to spread out your paid holiday throughout the year, rather than using it for one big two-week holiday away. That way you can easily fit in a few different trips away, PLUS you instantly feel like you're able to travel more!

2. Plan ahead!

Planning ahead is also really important for a couple of reasons...

• To get the dates off you want - Most work places or teams only allow so many people to be off at the same time. So planning ahead is key to getting the time off that you want - especially when you're planning around the national bank holidays (see tip number 4 below!)
• You have more time to plan out your trips - this can also mean more time to search around for the best deals. We also tend to find that we get the cheapest flights when we book them when they are realised, so having your time off planned in advance means you can book flights early on too.

3. Extend your weekends

Whether you go away Friday to Monday or Saturday to Tuesday, you can easily have a long weekend away whilst saving a couple of holiday days by travelling over the weekend.

We did a city break to Gdansk which was only a 2 hour flight and we went after work on a Friday and came back late on the Monday - meaning we only had to take one day off work.

Bank Holidays are also great for this - see tip below for more info!

4. Use National Holidays

Through scheduling trips away around bank holidays you can easily double your time off in one go! In fact in 2023, in the UK, you can get 47 days off by using just 19 days annual leave! Plus this means you can accumulate large chunks of time off, instead of a few days here and there.

Note that you will have to book most of your time off around Easter, Christmas and the UK bank holidays in May, June and August to maximise the amount of time off work you get.

5. Travel closer to home

Travel doesn't always have to involve a far-flung destination! Instead, why not opt for a short haul flight or a staycation to easily fit in more trips away...

This was also another top way we managed to fit in so many trips away - I think one year I managed 8 holidays through using this technique a few times!

6. Travel out of season

Another key way we were able to afford to travel so much is through using some money-saving hacks... Because having cheaper trips away means you can afford to have more breaks away - That’s a win-win there!

And one way to save is by travelling to places slightly out of season, meaning it's not only generally less busy but also cheaper.

7. Go self catering!

Another way we saved some money on our trips away is opting for self catering accommodation, as we can prepare our own meals which is generally cheaper than eating out all the time!

Airbnb is our go-to search engine where we always find amazing places that are reasonably priced as well. And if you want to save even more money, then you could look for a guesthouse or hostel, as they tend to have shared kitchen facilities and can be cheaper than fully private accommodation.

Plus, as we spend 90% of our time out exploring new places, so it didn't make sense to us to spend lots on accommodation to basically just sleep!

8. Extend any business trips

If you travel for work then why not see if you can add on a few days to your business trip, to give you some time to explore and have a mini holiday.

I (Helen) once did this when I went to Amsterdam for a work trip and I was able to add on a couple of days holiday onto the end, meaning my return flight was already covered by work! Tristan flew out to meet me and we had a great few days exploring Amsterdam together.

9. Choose flight times to give you the most time away

When booking your flights (or any transport for that matter) why not look at what times are available to enable you to have the most amount of time away on your trip!

For example, you could take a late flight on a Friday afternoon to then come back late on Sunday. This means you would get 2 full days somewhere to explore over the weekend - perfect for a short haul city break away!