Eleven days off: how to make long weekends worth it

62% of Americans don't use all their PTO

The typical American worker gets about eleven paid days off a year, and many don't use them all. The research we read puts it at about six paid days left unused a year, with 62% of workers not using all their PTO. When people do go, the pattern is clear: long weekends, one bigger trip, and both planned around holidays like Thanksgiving, July 4th and spring break.

Some of those unused days come down to workplace pressure, not to a lack of places to go. That's a real problem, and no calendar trick fixes it. What a good plan can do is make each day you take count, so a three-night weekend feels like a vacation and not just a lot of time in airports.

According to my boss anyone who takes it is [...] not “a team player”.

The Monday holidays give you three nights for one day off

The federal calendar hands you three-night weekends without using much PTO. Here are the next ones: MLK weekend, Jan 15–18, 2027. Presidents' Day weekend, Feb 12–15. Memorial Day weekend, May 28–31. Fourth of July, Jul 2–5, since Independence Day falls on a Sunday in 2027 and Monday is observed. Labor Day weekend, Sep 3–6. Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples' Day weekend, Oct 8–11.

Thanksgiving comes first. It's Thursday, Nov 26, 2026, and the travel window runs Nov 25–29, a four-day escape for very little PTO. MLK weekend is the first long weekend of 2027 and a good time to head toward 80°F sunshine. The October weekend is the fall-foliage holiday, with leaf-peeping up north and comfortable hiking weather in the desert Southwest.

Thanksgiving and Presidents' Day are price peaks; the shoulder days cost less

Not every holiday costs the same. Thanksgiving week, Dec 20 to Jan 3, Presidents' Day, spring break (mid-March to early April), Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day are all price peaks. Around Thanksgiving, airfares and hotel rates reach their highest point of the year. Presidents' Day brings winter-peak prices for flights and resorts almost everywhere.

The cheaper days are the shoulder days around those peaks. If your boss is flexible, leave a day before the rush or come home a day after it. At Thanksgiving, flying out early on Thanksgiving morning is one of the smarter moves. For Labor Day and the October weekend, demand fills resort towns and fall-foliage routes, so book rooms and rental cars months ahead.

What a two-night trip for two cost when we checked

Here are four trip pages we published, priced on Oct 15, 2026. All of them are totals for two, with flights including taxes and fees plus the hotel with taxes. Nashville from Miami, Oct 30–Nov 1, 2026: $903 for two, with $604 in flights and $262 at the Holiday Inn Nashville Airport by IHG. San Diego from Denver, Oct 23–25, 2026: $1,178 for two, with $756 in flights and $373 at the Hilton Garden Inn San Diego Mission Valley/Stadium.

New Orleans from Buffalo, Oct 30–Nov 1, 2026: $1,471 for two, with $790 in flights and $590 at Le Meridien New Orleans. And for the Thanksgiving weekend, Miami from Houston, Nov 27–Dec 1, 2026, four nights: $1,004 for two, with $236 in flights and $684 at Casablanca Residences Miami Beach. That's what we found on that date. Prices change, and the booking site's checkout is the price you actually pay.

When the booking site lists a resort fee the hotel collects at the desk, we add it to the total, so a total can come out higher than flights plus hotel. Las Vegas, one of the top 2026 bookings on one big booking site, is a city where checking for that fee matters.

Those are luxury-trip numbers, not average-trip numbers. Social media makes them seem common, but for most Americans they definitely are not.

With three days off, protect the hours

On a long weekend, the flight decides the trip. Book a nonstop, pick departure times that don't wreck your first or last day, and choose a place within reach. Before you book, count how many full days you'll actually have there. A connection that eats a Friday evening and a Monday afternoon can leave you with one real day.

Driving works too, as long as the distance is reasonable. Between 64% and 71% of Americans will drive on their next vacation, and 52% to 54% will fly. 61% won't drive more than about 5 hours without stopping at a hotel, and on a three-night weekend that's a sensible limit. From New York, Chicago or Los Angeles, there are plenty of nonstops to New Orleans, Nashville, Miami, San Diego and Las Vegas, which is why those cities show up so often as long-weekend picks.

Save the real week for the trip with a reason

Plan the long weekends around the calendar. Plan the one longer trip around a reason. 76% of Americans plan trips around a birthday, an anniversary or a wedding, and that's the trip worth spending a full week of PTO on. About 80% of vacationers plan domestic trips, while only about 25% plan an international trip in a given summer. Most people's big week is still a trip at home, and that's fine.

Whatever you spend, know the full cost before you go. Our totals leave out a checked bag (priced by each airline), seat picks on basic fares, food, transfers and tickets. Lots of travelers plan around exactly those costs, and there's nothing to apologize for in that.

We will fully take advantage of the motel breakfasts provided, and maybe take a little extra for snacks during the day. (Please don't judge us.)