One of the most common reasons I hear about why people can’t travel as much as they would like is lack of time. So the first thing I recommend doing is to maximise your annual leave in 2024.

If you feel like you’d love to travel more, but you don’t have much time, this is the easiest way to increase your holiday allowance.

It’s very simple and basically means booking in your annual leave around bank holidays in order to give yourself more days off in a row, while using as few of your days as possible.

The examples I’ve given below are for people living in the UK. But you can do the same around public holidays in your own country.

Get your requests in early

The most important thing you can do if you want to maximise your annual leave in 2024 is to get your requests in early. Obviously bank holidays are popular times to request off work, so try and book ahead now and get your requests in for the rest of the year.

In the UK most people who work a full-time job are legally entitled to 28 days of paid holiday leave a year. Most office jobs and public service companies will also give their staff bank holidays off.

Unfortunately this hack won’t work if you work in areas such as the emergency services or retail. However, you will often either get time off in-lieu for working bank holidays or extra pay, both of which you can put towards your next trip!

How to max out your annual leave in 2024

If you are lucky enough to get the bank holidays off work, here’s how to maximise your annual leave in 2024:

Easter break – This year Easter falls quite early. So there will be bank holidays on Good Friday (March 29) and Easter Monday (April 1). This is a great one to maximise your annual leave with. Book off either March 25 – 28 or April 2 – 5 and you’ll get 10 days off for the price of 4!

Early May bank holiday – In the UK we have two bank holidays in May and the first one falls on May 6. If you fancy getting a 9 day break while only using 4 days of your leave, book off May 7 – 10.

Late May bank holiday – The second May bank holiday falls on May 27. Book off May 28 – 31 to get 9 days off using just 4 days of leave.

August bank holiday – At the end of August there’s a late summer bank holiday on the 26th. Book off August 27 to 30 to get another 9 days off.

December bank holiday – Christmas Day and Boxing Day are bank holidays in the UK. So book off December 23, 24 and 27 for a 9 day break over the festive period. Or, if you want to extend it even more, add on December 30 and 31, as well as January 2 and 3 for a 12 day break (as January 1 is a bank holiday too.) 

I hope this post helps you to make the most of your annual leave in 2024 and I’d love to hear about any trips you book as a result of using this hack!