My 2021 Vacation Time in Review
In case you cannot tell by now, I am obsessive about managing my vacation time. When I’m at work, my job is 100% of my focus, but I selected a career path that would allow me to fish and travel extensively, and I still get mad when I can’t maximize the use of my allotted leave time. After 21 years in the same office, I have a little over four weeks off per year, plus I work an extra hour most days to get every other Friday off. With a little bit of creativity I can take more trips than the average person, and that’s what I intend to do.
Of course, 2021, like the year before it, was not normal. We were still dealing with COVID and with the repercussions of the many changes and closures that occurred in 2020. Hanna and I had spent two weeks at El Salto in November, so we did not take our usual January trip there. I’ve attended every March Bassmaster Classic since it was moved to that month in 2016, but this year it was pushed back to mid-June. Normally I would have gone to El Salto a week or two before, but this year we’d planned to host a big group the same week as the Classic. Accordingly, I missed the big dance for the first time since 2007, and the second time since 2003.
Normally we jam a disproportionate percentage of our vacation into the first half of the year, but the January/March/June changes meant that I had time to spare during the second half. Based on my social media feed, many people think that I’m constantly gone, but the truth is that I’m in my desk chair far more days than I’m away. In the interest of transparency (and to inspire some of you to be equally creative), here’s how it all played out:
Guatemala with Friends
We were supposed to go to Guatemala over Valentine’s Day Weekend, which would have included President’s Day on February 15th, but as we were leaving for El Salto in November one of our traveling partners got his 2021 tournament schedule, which has a derby that weekend, so we switched to the prior weekend. Hanna and I caught a direct flight out that Tuesday night, which required 2 hours of annual leave, plus full days’ vacation on the 3rd, 4th and 5th, a total of 29 hours.
Initial Journey to Panama
My friend Elliott Stark set up a life-changing trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge to pop for tuna. It was supposed to be mid-April, but had to be switched from the 6th through the 12th due to a conflict. I had to take vacation on the 6th, 7th and 8th (9+9+8 hours), and the 9th was my Friday off. I also had to take a vacation day on Monday the 12th (9 hours) for a total of 35 hours.
Bassmaster Northern Open
I hadn’t planned to cover the Bassmaster Northern Open on the James River, but a friend who normally covers those events had a conflict and asked if I could fill in. Since it’s only two hours from home, and I already had that Friday off (the tournament was Thursday-Saturday, I agreed to take a day off to help him out and earn a few bucks in the process. It just cost me 8 hours of vacation.
El Salto in June
In order to fly to Dallas the night before our Saturday morning departure to Mazatlan, I left work 3 hours early on Friday June 11th. The 18th was my Friday off, so I had planned to take 35 hours of vacation that week (9+9+9+8) but an Executive Order while I was gone made that Juneteenth into a Federal Holiday, so the 8 hour day got erased, dropping me to a total of 30 hours (27+3).
Missouri and Michigan
I had meetings in Springfield, Missouri, related to the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame induction ceremony starting Wednesday September 29, and we stayed on with our friends the Morgenthalers through the weekend. I also needed to be in Traverse City, Michigan, from the evening of Tuesday, October 5th through the 9th for a media event convened by Strike King and Lew’s. Rather than fly up on the 5th and lose most of that day, I went straight from Springfield to Traverse City and proceeded to work from a hotel room on the 4th and 5th. That meant I had to take three days of vacation in September (9+9+9 hours) and two in October (9+8), since that Friday was my day off, for a total of 44 hours.
November Return to Panama
Two friends who were scheduled to join us in Panama in April were unable to go when one of them, despite being asymptomatic, tested positive for COVID right before departure. That left them with a credit with the lodge and a credit with Delta Airlines that had to be used by the end of the year. October was too early (likely to be rainy) and December didn’t work, so we shoehorned a trip into early November. Unfortunately it was not during a week when I had a Friday off, but it did include Veterans Day, so my five weekdays in Panama amounted to four full days of vacation, a total of 36 hours.
Quick Trip to Missouri
Right before we left for Panama a friend who works for Bass Pro Shops called to ask if I could help cover the Bass Pro Shops U.S. Open event on Table Rock. I knew that I’d need to spend a few days in the office to get caught up, but it turned out that this event started on my Friday off, so the only vacation I’d need would be a day on Monday the 22nd to fly home. Fortunately my supervisor was gracious about it and I had the 9 hours of leave to spare.
Thanksgiving
We travel to Hanna’s family in Illinois for Thanksgiving every other year. Unfortunately, this year it did not coincide with my Friday off, so I used 9 hours of annual leave for the Thursday through Sunday trip.
The Total and Net
All of that combined comes to 200 hours of annual leave used.
I earn 208 hours in a calendar year, so that means I’ll end up with more than I started with, just shy of the 240 hour maximum. If and when I retire, if I have a balance I’ll get paid for it, but after taxes it’s not a huge sum so if my office allows I may try to work some of this off in the upcoming years.
I also have well over a thousand hours of sick leave available. That’s one good thing about my job – I have separate pools of annual leave and sick leave, but even though I can’t get paid for the leftover sick leave at the time of retirement, I hope that I never have to take it.
