The secrets to maxing out your annual leave days, revealed.
For full-time employees in Australia, 20 days of annual leave is the legal minimum. If you think that 20 days is too few, then we have a secret that can see you push that 20 days of holidays up to 55 in 2018.
No joke.
It all comes down to careful planning around paid public holidays in your state and organising your travel around as many weekends as possible.
While this isn't exactly a money hack, it's one that's too good to pass up – and hey, it means you don't have to take any unpaid leave to score 50+ days worth of time off.
Who could say no to that?
The hack
In short, you want to take as many days off during and around public holidays as possible. If you can take multiple public holidays off in one trip, that's where the money's at.
To increase the length of your trips, leave as late in the week as possible; Friday if it's a public holiday or Saturday if it's not, and return as early in the week as possible; Monday if it's a public holiday or Sunday if it's not.
What you want to avoid is leaving mid-week. It might be cheaper flight-wise but you're short-changing yourself in terms of consecutive holidaying days.
By organising your year's worth of holidays this way you can push the number of days you're on leave up to 50+, no matter which Australian state you live in.
How many days can I get off in my state?
This hack works differently in each state as it's reliant on public holidays to push the number of "days off" up.
On average, you're looking at around 53 days worth of trips, with ACT residents singing all the way to their resorts with a possible 55 days of trips under their belt.
NSW residents, on the other hand, are cringing with only 51-days to travel in 2018. You can blame the lack of public holidays for that one.
We break the possibilities down state-by-state below:
Those living in our national capital win the most next year with 11 public holidays working in their favour on top of the mandatory 20 annual leave days.
In total, we've worked out ACT-residents can push their leave up to 55 days in 2018. There's a possibility of a 17-day trip in May and June by only taking 9 annual leave days if you cash in on the Reconciliation Day at the beginning of their trip and the Queen's Birthday at the end of it.
Western Australians can take 54 days of time off next year for the price of all your annual leave using this hack.
We've calculated that it's possible to take 8 holidays, three of which are 9-day breaks. The longest trip you can make though is 16 days over Easter, which will only cost you 8 annual leave days.
With 11 days public holidays in your arsenal, it's possible to snap up 53 days of holiday time in 2018 without going into unpaid leave.
With this, you can take a handful of short, 3-day weekends as well as a 24-day trip in March and April, which encompasses Labour Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday, for just 13 annual leave days.
Tasmania is riddled with public holidays, though these differ depending on your city. Those in Hobart can take 53-days worth of holidays thanks to the Royal Hobart Regatta and the Royal Hobart Show.
The longest trip you can take to max out your holidays is 18-days between Australia Day and the Royal Hobart Regatta. It'll cost you just 10 days annual leave.
Thanks to Ekka Wednesday, Brisbanites have 10 public holidays to abuse in 2018, giving them the potential for 52 holiday days throughout the year without digging into unpaid leave.
With this, it's possible to take two 9-day trips in August and December, a 10-day trip over Easter and a 17-day trip in April and May between Anzac Day and Labour Day.
Work in a couple of long-weekend breaks next year and you can work in some longer trips without going over that precious 20 annual leave day mark.
The longest trip we came up with here was a whopping 24 days off for the cost of just 13 days of leave. This has to be done in March where you can cash in on not one, not two but THREE public holidays in a row. Namely March Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Unfortunately, New South Wales gets the short end of the stick with this hack as the state only offers 9 public holidays per year. This equates to a maximum of 51 days of holiday time, including your 20 days annual leave.
The longest trip can be had over Easter, where you can score a 16-day break for 8 annual leave days.
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