I’m at 17 years. I’ve traveled to fulfill obligations since, but the last time I planned PTO to go somewhere and relax with no set agenda was 2006.
You’ve got me beat. I’m sorry.
Mine was in 2013. If someone had told me that “being your own boss” meant this, I think I would’ve hesitated.
I guess I’m very different. I went on a trip for a week in May, and have 4 more planned into next year, though I intend to “WFH” during some of them. I don’t want to burn all my vacation time. I’ve worked out a way to force myself to go on more trips for fun and my hobbies.
That said, a trip like this still tends to have some things planned, because you need to buy tickets or whatever in advance a little bit. I am lucky in that I can do this.
Last year I’ve spent a week in an hospital… nah, scratch that, it was unplanned and had my work phone with me.
“Planned, just to relax, no set agenda”, that must’ve been sometime in the 1990s, so at least 25 years.
We all had Penn & Teller tickets (totally worth $100 a pop in '06), but the rest of the long weekend was “fuck around in Vegas with our mid-20s livers and cheap hotel rooms we only want to sleep in.” My college roommate won his and his fiancee’s entire trip costs with five minutes to spare before the airport pickup.
Penn & Teller tickets
That was one of my few reasons to ever want to book a trip to the US… that, and maybe watching some Shuttle launch. Congratulations on living the dream!
2016 for a week in Corfu on my honeymoon.
Unless you’re counting a week off here and there to just chill at home, in which case, April.
We went on a vacation a couple years ago (more than a weekend up the coast), but before that, I can’t think of a real vacation in my adult life. I’m early 40s.
I went on a transatlantic cruise just back in May, next month I’m going to Czech Republic to visit my father.
I try to make plans with extended family every year, to go on a cruise, or go rent a house somewhere. We missed a couple years cuz of covid and scheduling, but I’m hoping we come up with something good for next year. I’ve been to several pretty awesome places starting ten years ago, which is when I picked up the strong urge to travel and see things again.
I’ve almost caught up to you. 16 years for me. Leaving the UK was a mistake (bloody suicidal work culture here in the States).
It was in 2012. Most people where I live think a yearly vacation is a necessity, but I’m a homebody…vacations stress me out.
I’ve had staycations but the last vacation where we were lucky enough to go anywhere was in 2011.
After that my parents lost almost all their life savings in a scam with a “financial advisor”. We aren’t doing too bad all things considered thankfully. If I got a raise it would certainly help but we aren’t going hungry y’know?
The number one thing that concerns me is when I eventually move out my parents will need to move into different accommodations as well. And then at some point they’ll need extra care anyways so I just hope that I can afford them proper care
I’ve been reevaluating what a real vacation is recently. I travel a lot, but at this phase in my life that mostly means figuring out how to childproof and do childcare in a new area. It’s not a bad thing per se, but it does require a reframing of what a vacation means, because it no longer means a time to relax and unwind. If we’re going by the definition I’m working into life now, then it’s only been a few weeks, otherwise, about 3 years or so.
Last February. SAD was hitting real hard, way worse than recent years, so the wife sent me off to San Diego to see my best friend. Must have been the vacation that was supposed to happen, because his roommate was a tattoo artist who had an opening that week and had been looking to do a botanical piece for someone. So now I carry around my favorite plant in all its summer glory everywhere I go.
I tried to go on vacation in the beginning of June. Was going camping in a very remote area in Glacier NP. But lo and behold, the day before I left, my DnD group gave me COVID :) I spent all of June sick and am only just recovering finally. But I have no more PTO, so it’ll be a while yet for me again.
2008
December, and it’s already been long without one. Next one coming up in September, then again around December, then sometime early next year probably