How To Ask For 6 Weeks Time Off Work To Travel

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Asking for vacation time is everyone’s right. You have worked hard, and you’ve earned some time off.

For those living in Europe or Australia, it’s not such a daunting task asking an employer for time off, but here in the U.S., people often don’t take their vacation days for fear of losing their jobs, or fear of looking like they don’t care about their job or that they will be replaced.

Asking for time off for six weeks can often go one of two ways, depending on your employer and their flexible mindset.

But you don’t have to give up you job for a life of travel and there is no shame in wanting to keep your job to pay off some bills, and also want to take an extended period of time to travel.

You only live once.

If you’re feeling some trepidation about asking your employer for time off to travel, then here’s some steps you can take to approach the subject and get a WIN-WIN for all parties…

How To Ask Your Employer For 6 Weeks Off To Travel

1. Build up trust with your employer

You will be more successful getting time off if you prove yourself to be a trustworthy, valuable employee before you ask.

I am lucky that in my particular line of work (bookkeeper) I have a lot of flexibility, and I’ve also built up a trust with my employer for 4.5 years, which had helped my cause.

My employer knows me well as a person, and knows whether I am reliable or not.

You might be worried about your employer saying no to your request, but they are worried you might not come back to your job, causing them stress and financial burden in finding a replacement for you.

Don’t forget, the hiring process takes time, resources and finance to do, so they only want to do it once to find a temp for you.

You need to first have a reputation of being a loyal, hardworking, and an invaluable employee. You need to have a good rapport with your boss, so you can be sure your job is there when you return.

2. Give them plenty of notice

Scott was a key employee at his job, and felt it would be tough for his office to get by without him, unless they hired a temp.

Hiring a temp last minute would be close to impossible, since it would take weeks to train somebody and they might not be able to cover all the jobs in his position.

If you have a job that requires someone to cover for you while you take time off, give plenty of…