How to Maximize Your PTO in 2025: 52 Days of Travel for 15 PTO Days
When it comes to traveling while still maintaining a full time job, it can truly be tough to learn how to maxmize your PTO. Personally, I love the stability of having my 9-5 even though I travel a ton, sometimes up to 11 trips in a year. (Yes, some are weekend trips but still.) Naturally, people ask, how do you do this on limited PTO? How can I maximize my PTO?
So, I make it work with a series of hacks I’ve discovered over the years. I’m here to make a series of them so that you can read through and up your travel time without needing to increase your PTO!
When it comes to traveling without quitting your job, your biggest challenge/limiter is most likely time. To make the most of your time, here’s my number 1 hack to traveling more with a full time job: maximizing your PTO.
This is part 1 of a 4 part series on learning how to travel with a full time job via travel saving hacks.
Take 9 Trips in 2025 with 15 Days of PTO!
How Do You Maximize Your PTO? Time Saving Hack 1.
To be fully transparent, it’ll be easiest to travel if you have a remote job. However, it’s not impossible to find a way to incorporate travel in your life if you work fully in person as well.
Use your PTO in combination with holidays & company days off. DO NOT use all of your PTO on one trip/year (unless it’s a huge trip).
This will enable you to have up to 68 days worth of traveling if used wisely. Though most people have 10 days on average, here are all of the options to take to accommodate everyone’s calendars:
PTO Days Listed
In case you prefer a list view, here it is:
- *January, MLK weekend (2 PTO days, 6 day trip)
- *February, President’s day weekend (2 PTO days, 6 day trip)
- *May, Memorial Day weekend (2 PTO days, 6 day trip)
- July 4th weekend (4 PTO days, 7 day trip)
- *September, Labor Day weekend (2 PTO days, 6 day trip)
- *October, Columbus Day weekend (2 PTO days, 6 day trip)
- *November, Veteran’s Day weekend (2 PTO days, 6 day trip)
- November, Thanksgiving week (3-4 PTO days depending on policy, 9 day trip)
- I recommend taking 1-2 extra days on top of this and flying out the Thursday before and the Monday back. This is one of the busiest travel days of the year
- December, Christmas week (6-8 PTO days depending on policy, 16 day trip)
- I recommend taking only one of the holidays instead of both. On that trip, 1-2 extra days on top of this and flying out the Thursday before and the Monday back. That way you don’t blow all of your PTO on one trip.
- This is also one of the busiest travel times of the year
General PTO Tips
On the way out: Fly Thursday night after work to get the most out of it as long as you can get the hotel deal for that night. Otherwise, fly Friday morning.
On the way back: Fly back Tuesday evening if you can.
*Fly from Thursday Night to Tuesday Evening
The weekend trips where you fly from Tuesday to Thursday are the ones that will get you the most bang for your buck. You’ll be able to get the best discounts as well as use the least amount of PTO for the most amount of consecutive time.
Leave your luggage at the hotel at the times you check in/out, and if you’re staying at an Airbnb, try to get a friend in the city to host your luggage in the downtime or find a luggage locker.
Conclusion
This is the main trick you can use to get the most out of your PTO. It definitely requires planning, but I like to try to make it fun by taking a day to plan everything out over the holidays!
This is part 1 of my time hacking series. If you want to see part 2 of the series, all about reducing your travel time, see here. It’ll lead you to a bunch of hacks that you can string together.
I also put together a full process from beginning to end on how to look at PTO all the way through to booking here. It’s the perfect guide for beginners that puts all 4 of these hacks into context!
Otherwise, feel free to continue learning the hacks 1 by 1 below.
